The program used financial incentives to attract full-time sophomores in New York City colleges to a program of training and police work for the remainder of their college careers and for 2 years as a police officer after their graduation. The program's major objectives were to increase the education level of officers, the representativeness of the uniform force, and the orientation toward community policing. Other objectives were to improve the leadership skills of new officers and test a more rigorous selection process for recruits. The evaluation found that only 9 percent of the applicants took and passed all aspects of the screening process for becoming cadets in the corps. White applicants were significantly more likely to become cadets than were Black or Hispanic applicants. Still, the racial and gender distribution of the cadets was more representative of the city's population than current sworn personnel or the 1986 regular recruit class. The evaluation concluded that although fewer cadets completed the program than originally intended, it has shown promise in motivating college students to consider becoming a police officer and in training them in the tenets of community policing before they enter the police academy; however, the extent to which the program achieved its long-term objective of creating a "new elite corps" of future police leaders with an enlightened community-oriented approach to policing awaits further investigation. 79 tables, 18 figures, appended program materials, and 90 references
New York City Police Cadet Corp Evaluation Technical Report
NCJ Number
249018
Date Published
September 1992
Length
317 pages
Annotation
This report presents the findings and methodology of an evaluation of the implementation and performance of the New York City Police Cadet Corps, which was established in 1985 to attract college students to careers as police officers.
Abstract