A critical discussion of police training is necessary in order to talk about the causes of violation of justice by the police force. How is the police force organised? Under what conditions does violation take place? Where are the deficiences in the police force which enable or even promote violation?
The basic requirements of entry into police training are, among others; a minimum age of 16, high school qualifications and the guarantee that you will always stand up for free, democratic basic order, that is, in the sense of the law. In order to be accepted into police training all applicants must pass written, physical and oral exams. The normal length of training to become a beat officer (middle rank) is 2 and a half years. The first year involves basic training including subject specific lessons (e.g. law), general lessons (German and English) and psychology seminars. Weapons training, the application of police work and especially sport are of high value along with having lessons in theory which is characterised by learning by definition and looking at the facts of the cases. Sport is a regular part of the curriculum in the second and third years of training as are psychology seminars, and both finish in career exams (1st and 2nd subject exam).
The trainees are largely taught by police officers in the middle or high ranks of the police force. Teachers from‘normal’ schools which are not connected to the police service, are only involved in the training of police cadets in subjects like English. Police training was completely incarcenated in the work of the riot police up to the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. Nowadays the majority of police schools, that is high ranking colleges, carry the responsibility for police training. Despite the abolishment of a military style of training, training will still continue to be mostly carried out by police officers, that is, it will be seperate from other social structures.
Police training has certainly changed in the last 20 years, specifically in the case of the military characteristics of training, however there are still significant problems that are a result of the current methods of police training and so police training is still, in the most part, run by internal police officers. This social structure makes it hard to bring new knowledge into the police force and therefore hinders reform. At the same time this compartmentalisation does not encourage critical discussion or communication between police officers, but leads to conformity.
On the one hand the internal training of the police force and therefore the compartmentalisation of the police force from the rest of society, and on the other hand the neglect of social sciences, political and psychological subjects in the curriculum (noticable by the concentration on law subjects) leads to a deficit in the work of the police officer further down the line. This idea is strengthened by the small percentage of women and ethnic minorities in the police force. (further information in the article: An Attempt to Explain).
© Anti-Diskriminierungsbüro (ADB) Berlin e.V.
Ausstellung: „Vom Polizeigriff zum Übergriff”
www.polizeigriff.de