EP 12 The Effectiveness of the Evidence-based Oregon State Basic Police Academy Curriculum with Dr. Staci Yutzie

The most important goal of police academy training is the retention and transfer of knowledge and skills. In this interview, Dr. Staci Yutzie, training manager at Oregon’s statewide public safety training academy, Department of Public Safety Training, or DPSST discusses the evidence-based, adult learning approach that was undertaken at the Center for Policing Excellence in Oregon to completely overhaul the state academy training program. Staci explains the rational to move away from the para-military style stress-based approach and adopt the collegiate approach to training. Dr. Yutzie also explains the process undertaken by her and colleagues to redesign the law enforcement curriculum which included the move away from block or siloed training and adopting a truly interleaved methodology. Topics covered in this podcast are the building blocks of evidence-based training, the philosophies used to approach training design and implementation, and the necessity of retention and transfer analysis. In this interview, valuable perspectives are shared regarding how law enforcement trainers, curriculum designers and academy executives ought to approach the significance of appropriately designing a law enforcement educational syllabus and instructional pedagogy for their trainees. Listeners to this podcast can download a copy of the research paper, which was published in the textbook,  Interventions, Training and Technologies for Improved Police Wellbeing and Performance, at Trainersbullpen.com.