Accelerated College Learning for Law Enforcement: Marketability-Vs-Quality?

This paper examines the question of educational quality with respect to the accelerated or "speeded up" learning format at the college level, for law enforcement personnel. Accordingly, the largest law enforcement college program ever created in the Northeast is carefully evaluated.

The methodology employed incorporates the use of an intensive survey of faculty, asking them to compare their experiences under the conventional and accelerated formats.

The outcome of the survey revealed that the majority of faculty felt that the accelerated format was largely unsuccessful in the program as a result of three major factors: (1) the lack of adequate selection and placement devices for students; (2) the lack of proper training of faculty, and; (3) the lack of learning resources specifically geared to a law enforcement educational program of this nature.