Date of Submission

5-16-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Advisor

Alexandria Guzmán, Ph.D

Keywords

Law Enforcement Training, Mental Illness, Substance Abuse, Domestic Violence, Victim Services, Juvenile Offending

MeSH

Mental Disorders, Substance-Related Disorders, Domestic Violence

LCSH

Police training, Mental illness, Substance abuse, Intimate partner violence, Family violence, Victims of crimes--Services for--United States, Juvenile delinquents

Abstract

With the growing presence of the media, almost every situation mishandled by law enforcement can become available for anyone to see. This subsequently influences public perception of law enforcement, often in a negative way. The purpose of this study was to assess public perception of law enforcement training in five areas pertaining to human relations: mental illnesses, substance use disorders, domestic violence encounters, victim services, and juvenile offending. This study used a pre-post survey design including a video intervention to evaluate public perception of law enforcement training in the five categories. The results of this study indicate that citizens do not deem training for encountering juvenile offenders to be sufficient and support additional training for this category. Additionally, participants view public perception as important for officers to effectively do their jobs. Future research directions and public policy recommendations are considered, including suggestions for additional training for guiding officer encounters with juvenile offenders.

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