Building the Evidence Base for Effective Tutoring of Police Recruits - Phase 1 Report

Abstract

Policing is experiencing substantial change. New ways of articulating and delivering police
knowledge and skills, combined with an ambitious programme of recruitment, have prompted
a re-evaluation of the police tutoring role. There is a growing need to ensure that ‘knowledge
into competent practice’ becomes a defining characteristic, and outcome, of the new
educational framework of policing. Similarly, whilst police resources might be partially
strengthened by the Police Uplift Programme, future challenges over retention and attrition
remain. Furthermore, recent work into ‘Police Onboarding’ conducted by the Centre for
Policing Research and Learning (2022) found that new recruits’ expectations of policing as a
profession might be increasingly at odds with certain cultural and structural elements of police
work. Taken together, these developments highlight that police tutoring remains an overlooked
but central aspect of the development journey of police officers.