Trends and Challenges for Law Enforcement Training and Education: the German Perspective

  • Matthias Zeiser

Abstract

The ever faster innovation cycles of social, political, scientific and police-related developments make specific demands on the job of law enforcement officers. This will be explained by the example of four crime-strategic mega trends. This situation calls for high-quality education work, both in terms of basic training courses, the tertiary education sector as well as in the field of lifelong learning, the quaternary education sector. In this context, the area of non-formalized education is also of considerable importance and will be the subject of discussion. Here decisive importance is attached to electronic social communication forms.
Bearing in mind that the half-life of knowledge is getting shorter and shorter, education and training shall qualify law enforcement officers to fulfill their tasks and their mandates for the community in the light of citizen-oriented police work, particularly when it comes to actions of considerable intrusive character. Based on the concept that the state holds the monopoly on the use of force, the police – as part of public administration – have the possibility to infringe the rights of the citizens in a comprehensive way. Therefore police work is governed by specific impact but also control mechanisms as well as questions of legitimacy.
Against this background policing is based on value judgments enshrined in the German constitution. They are ethical rules of conduct to be applied to policing.
We need a target system of corresponding education and training work developed and permanently aligned between client and training institutions. Moreover, we need an increasing transfer of knowledge and competences, and defined abilities must be extended and strengthened. For this purpose, concrete methods, competences and capabilities will be dealt with. Here the presentation will deal with the challenges and describe developments and solutions from the German point of view with the help of presently six impulses.

Published
2017-11-22
How to Cite
Zeiser, M. (2017). Trends and Challenges for Law Enforcement Training and Education: the German Perspective. European Law Enforcement Research Bulletin, (3), 79-83. Retrieved from http://bulletin.cepol.europa.eu/index.php/bulletin/article/view/284