The conversation and research around law enforcement training have primarily centered on the instruction provided in academies and in-service trainings

The CNA Corporation will receive $978,449 under a cooperative agreement from the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs National Institute of Justice to conduct a multi-site evaluation of a field training intervention for law enforcement officers. As part of the National Institute of Justice Research, Evaluation, and Development Project Grants program (CFDA 16.560), CNA will partner with the National Field Training Officer Association and Polis Solutions to select three law enforcement agencies to participate in the study. CNA will assign field training officers within each agency to either a treatment or control group, with the treatment group receiving training from NAFTO. CNA will then collect administrative and body-worn camera data on recruit officer outcomes over 4-, 12-, and 24-month periods to evaluate the short, intermediate, and long term impacts of the field training program on measures such as arrests, uses of force, and complaints. In addition to conducting process and cost effectiveness analyses, CNA will disseminate findings through scholarly publications, briefs, and conferences to improve field training practices across participating and other law enforcement agencies.

There has been less attention to improving and studying field training (i.e., the "on the job" training recruit officers receive immediately after graduating from the academy). Field training officers (FTOS) are responsible for preparing recruit officers for careers in law enforcement by reinforcing lessons taught in the academy, demonstrating real-world applications of policing techniques, and modeling appropriate behaviors and interactions with community members. Research has found that FTOS have a direct impact on the development and future behaviors of the recruit officers participating in their field training. CNA, along with their partners the national field training officer association (NAFTO) and POLIS solutions (POLIS), will conduct a rigorous, multi-site evaluation of a field training intervention. CNA and NIJ will select three law enforcement agencies to participate in the study from the agencies who have provided a letter of support. CNA will use stratified randomization to assign all FTOS in each of the three participating agencies (N=30 to 75 FTOS per agency) into either a treatment group or control group. NAFTO will provide training to the FTOS assigned to the treatment group, who will then be better prepared to provide field training to recruit officers. CNA will collect administrative data on recruit officer outcomes (e.g., arrests, uses of force, and complaints). POLIS will collect body-worn camera (BWC) footage on recruit officers' pedestrian stops and employ novel natural language processing (NLP) analysis to process and transform the BWC footage into additional outcomes related to procedural justice. The team will measure all outcomes at 4-, 12, and 24-month follow-up periods to determine the short-, intermediate-, and long-term impacts of the program. CNA will also conduct interviews with FTOS and recruit officers at multiple points during the study. The CNA team will conduct a process, impact, and cost effectiveness evaluation of the field training intervention. They will analyze interview data with reflexive thematic analysis methods. They will also analyze the administrative and BWC-based outcome data using random-effects panel models to estimate site-specific impacts and latent growth models to estimate aggregate/pooled impacts. Their dissemination plan includes scholarly journal articles, practitioner briefs, and conference presentations. This program has the potential to improve the field training process, and subsequent recruit officer outcomes, in the participating agencies and in the field more broadly. Note: this project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law,"" and complies with part 200 uniform requirements - 2 CFR 200.210(a)(14). CA/NCF