AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF DEFENSIVE TACTICS TRAINING ON POLICE RECRUITS’ SELF-EFFICACY IN HANDLING VIOLENT ENCOUNTERS

Police officers are often required to use physical force to effectively protect themselves as well as the public. To prepare officers for these physical demands, recruits receive training in defensive tactics and physical fitness during their Police Academy instruction. The present study aimed to explore the impact of martial arts training and police defensive tactics curricula on self-efficacy. Additionally, the study aimed to develop a reliable scale for measuring an officer’s self-efficacy and use the scale to evaluate the impact of the Academy training on recruits’ self-efficacy. Most of the participants credited the academy defensive tactics (98.5%) and fitness training (88.1%) with improving their self-efficacy. These results support the importance of martial arts and defensive tactics training on improving recruit officers’ self-efficacy toward handling violent encounters prior to entering the law enforcement workforce.