Instructing and training Gen-Z officers successfully has required academy staff, FTOs and supervisors to stretch beyond tradition and into new realms of innovation. The inquiry, concern and level of effort generated by police trainers and instructors around this topic parallels many other eras of societal shift during which the policing profession has moved to accommodate what often feels like “the next thing.”
Preparing for and increasing our knowledge of future generations of officers is not wasted effort. Exploring and understanding generational differences, and then applying the findings to when, how and why we train and instruct new officers, keeps policing ahead of the curve as a viable career choice for young adults. The challenge is to accomplish this without compromising the time-tested set of core competencies, characteristics and abilities that officers must possess.
One way to apply generational knowledge of new officers in a way that benefits the profession is to recognize something that is lacking, seek understanding of that lack, and then identify ways to instill what is needed to close the gap.
The resilience gap among Gen-Z recruits
An interesting piece of generational knowledge we know about Gen-Z from social science research, and that has also been cited as a challenge by instructors, is a set of characteristics consisting of hesitancy, fear of failure and low resilience among young officers. These characteristics are widely attributed to the idea that Gen-Zers were essentially robbed of the opportunity to make mistakes — and learn from them — and then missed out on cultivating the resiliency gained from those critical moments in human development.
Jonathan Haidt, psychologist and co-author of “The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure,” stated that Gen-Z parents were well-meaning but overprotective. This led to a lack of “unsupervised time” for Gen-Zers with their peers. Gen-Z parents and teachers consistently intervened when challenges arose instead of letting problem-solving and negotiating take place. Ultimately, Gen-Z’s struggle with managing challenges independently and a fear of failure were the result. The most damaging by-product of this phenomenon is argued to be a lack of resilience that can only be gained from making mistakes and learning to overcome the consequences.
Building self-efficacy into police training
In the process of conducting research for our book, “Recruitment and Retention of Gen-Z Law Enforcement Officers,” we spoke to police trainers and instructors from across the country who almost unanimously identified the same challenges with new officers and recruits. Our goal in writing the book was to provide actionable ideas for instructors to overcome these challenges. One way to overcome low resiliency is to understand and build the concept of self-efficacy into training.
| RELATED: Book excerpt: “Recruitment & Retention of Gen-Z Law Enforcement Officers”
Psychologist Albert Bandura developed and named the concept of self-efficacy, defining it as “the belief in one’s ability to organize and execute the actions necessary to achieve specific goals.” Bandura found that self-efficacy is bolstered when an individual’s own actions and capabilities are interpreted by them as successful.
Creating a training environment in which mistakes result in success via controlled, educational critiques of an action is a way to mitigate the hesitancy and low resilience seen in Gen-Z officers. The central message to the officer is that even though a mistake may have been made, we are going to use the mistake to learn more about the skill or topic at hand. This leaves the officer with the feeling that the door is open to try again, this time with the benefit of the knowledge the instructor imparted while correcting the mistake. These types of learning experiences are what Bandura called “mastery experiences.”
The role of modeling and vicarious learning
Bandura also proposed that an individual can develop self-efficacy through vicarious experiences and modeled behavior. This is especially true when the individual is observing someone they respect perform a task or model a behavior. As police instructors, and especially as FTOs, we have ample opportunity to effectively model the behavior we want to see from new officers in classrooms, training areas and in the field.
Using no-fault training to reduce fear of failure
Today’s recruits and students often experience a palpable fear of the unknown. By providing opportunities for students to observe one another in small groups during ungraded practice sessions while problem-solving in simulated scenarios, they lose the fear of failing. They may be encouraged to apply policy knowledge learned in class to the simulations and learn from instructor debriefs.
This not only encourages students to “fail forward” — learning and growing from mistakes — but it also allows peers to gain valuable insights through observation. Cycling through student attempts, interspersed with appropriate methods demonstrated by instructors, allows peer instruction through both failures and successes.
The no-fault training approach allows students to learn important processes that are outcome-based, with an emphasis on mastering subject material rather than testing within a specific timeline. Important subjects such as use of force, conflict resolution and other training situations can be slowed down and repeated until the student fully understands and shows proficiency. This method requires a paradigm shift from traditional police academy instruction.
Driving skills as a training challenge
Emergency vehicle operation training may be one of the choke points of student attrition from academy training. Today, Gen-Z applicants may struggle with basic driving skills, obtaining their driver’s license later in life than past generations, or even eschewing driving altogether in favor of ride services.
According to 2024 U.S. Department of Transportation statistics, “data shows that Generation Z no longer values driver’s licenses the same way past generations did. Only one in 25 licensed drivers in the U.S. is 19 or younger — a decline from more than two decades prior, according to data from the Department of Transportation.”
Some law enforcement applicants may obtain their licenses only because it is a requirement. To address the gap in their driving skills and experience, emergency vehicle training should be paced more deliberately, beginning with foundational driving skills taught first. This allows students to become more comfortable with everyday driving before progressing to high-stress scenarios such as pursuit driving and vehicle stops.
| Looking to fill open positions in your department? Post your job opening on the Police1 Job Board to reach thousands of qualified law enforcement professionals.
Practical strategies for building self-efficacy
Committing to instilling self-efficacy among Gen-Z recruits and new officers is a worthy effort. By knowing where the lack of self-efficacy stems from, we can overcome frustration and develop training experiences designed to close this gap and improve performance.
Examples of ways to build self-efficacy into training:
“Force” the decision
Recall that in the formative years of many Gen-Zers, well-meaning but over-involved parents and teachers intervened in adversity before the child was able to practice critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This has resulted in a generation of officers who, with the lack of self-efficacy that is normally gained from executing decisions and navigating the outcomes, are hesitant to make those decisions. When it is safe to do so and when time permits, let the new officer work through adverse or challenging situations and resist the urge to intervene. Admittedly, this can feel uncomfortable and even unnatural for some, but the goal is to ensure young officers get ample practice in decision-making without calling for a supervisor unless it is necessary.
Set up on-shift scenarios for quick skills practice
Allowing a new officer time to practice skills that need improvement with other shift members is a great way to not only improve, but also to establish working relationships with department members — both of which are effective for building self-efficacy. This is also a great way to pair a new officer with agency members who are especially competent in specific skill areas. Short, 10- to 15-minute practice sessions in which the officer is learning skills in digestible chunks are also in alignment with successful adult learning theories. Handcuffing, MDT familiarization and safe building searches are a few examples of skill sets that can fit this model.
No-risk quizzes
Quizzing a new officer or recruit without the possibility of penalty fosters critical thinking, reflection and positive communication. From the classroom to the patrol car to the field, this is a highly portable tool. Removing the anxiety that often accompanies formal quizzing and testing quite simply allows the brain to work better. The more questions the new officer answers, the more they will acclimate to the exchange and recognize mental pathways to find the right answers. The more correct answers they are able to give, the more self-efficacy they will build. Later on, adding realistic stressors such as time restraints, ambient noise or compounding situational factors can imitate a more accurate environment in which officers are accustomed to making decisions.
Group decision points exercises
Particularly in academy settings, decision points exercises are an impactful way to build self-efficacy. Problem-solving activities in which recruits can apply their newly gained knowledge to specific types of calls provide contextualized, applied learning and enhancement of camaraderie — two elements Albert Bandura would applaud for their self-efficacy-building powers. Using domestic incidents as an example, the scenarios given to recruits can range from a “verbal-only,” in which the parties do not want to answer the door, to a course of conduct type case in which there has been a history of offending behavior.
In the first case, decision points could be as simple as recalling appropriate Criminal Procedure Law to determine whether officers have legal authority to pursue interviewing the parties involved, to enter the home and so on based upon the facts they are given in the scenario. In the latter case, what questions would the recruits need to ask the victim to establish a course of conduct crime such as stalking? Each scenario should have multiple decision points that are crafted to spur debate and send recruits flipping through their notes and law books to find answers. This is self-efficacy building at its strongest.
Other self-efficacy building methods include creating short-term achievable goals, celebrating incremental achievements and providing honest feedback from respected instructors.
The bigger picture for police instructors
The roles of police instructors and FTOs have grown immensely. Some may feel that closing character gaps should not fall to them if the right recruits were being hired. The reality is that these challenges reflect a larger societal shift in accountability, self-responsibility and delayed milestone attainment.
We cannot control the entire picture. However, if we accept that closing character gaps is part of molding a young person to be serviceable in the police profession, we will reap and retain the rewards.
For deeper discussion on these ideas and many others directly impacting trainers, supervisors and FTOs, please check out our book and let us know your thoughts and experiences.
“Recruitment and Retention of Gen-Z Law Enforcement Officers” is available in digital and print formats at Blue360 Media.
What strategies have you found most effective to help recruits build confidence? Share below.
| WATCH: Gamification, curiosity-driven engagement and adapting to a tech-savvy generation — the authors discuss how to connect with the next wave of law enforcement recruits in this episode of the Policing Matters podcast:
