Educating police recruits for democratic policing

Charles Sturt University has been an international trailblazer in the university model of police recruit education. In collaboration with the NSW Police Force (NSWPF), it provides two university pathways into the force. This paper discusses some findings from a three year study of students enrolled in these two programs. It examines their attitudes to their chosen career at entry and again after they have been on field placement in a police station. Using the framework provided by Wenger's (1998) theory of 'communities of practice' it examines the ways in which policing and academic communities of practice work together, at times in tension, at times in complementary ways, to produce the 'generational change' and then 'cultural change' in NSW policing observed by Chan and Dixon (2007). The change to a new professional, university-level training program was recommended by the Wood Royal Commission. This study explores the resulting engagement of police recruits simultaneously with industry and academic communities of practice and provides a snapshot of the early stages of this process.