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State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies’ Training Topics and Instructors, 2022

NCJ Number
310041
Author(s)
Emily D. Buehler
Date Published
June 2025
Length
25 pages
Abstract

This report describes the number and types of basic training curricula of state and local law enforcement training academies in the United States in 2022. Conducted periodically since 2002, the findings in the report are based primarily on BJS’s 2022 Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies (CLETA), the fifth iteration of the data collection.

CLETA collects information from training academies that are responsible for administering mandatory basic training to newly appointed or elected law enforcement officers on recruits, staff, training curricula, equipment, and facilities. These academies are operated by state, regional, county, and municipal agencies, and by universities, colleges, and technical schools. Academies that provide only in-service training are excluded from CLETA.

Highlights
  • Eighty-nine percent of academies required recruits to complete a separate field training after their basic training and 29% of those academies oversaw the field training.
  • Nearly all recruits (99%) were trained on responding to persons with mental illness or behavioral health issues, receiving an average of 21 hours of training.
  • Sixty-eight percent of state and local training academies were responsible for training 75% of all recruits with use-of-force training simulators.
  • About 97% of recruits were trained in role-play scenarios of arrest control tactics (98%), verbal tactics (97%), and tactics to respond to persons with mental illness or behavioral health issues (97%).