Evaluación y plan de mejora para el proceso de formación de Patrullero de Policía a partir de los hallazgos identificados en la práctica profesional

Abstract

Police patrol officers play a fundamental role in ensuring social harmony, public safety, and the protection of community rights. Consequently, the training process for these officers is crucial for ensuring effective performance in police service and an appropriate response to both institutional and public needs. Therefore, police training must go beyond theoretical knowledge to strengthen practical competencies, procedural proficiency, and communication skills. These enable officers to act clearly and appropriately in the various scenarios they may encounter on duty. Accordingly, it is important to implement continuous assessment mechanisms during training to identify shortcomings and provide feedback on teaching-learning processes, using deficiencies observed in actual police work as a reference point. These assessment mechanisms serve as vital tools for analyzing the effectiveness of the training process for aspiring patrol officers. In this regard, Stufflebeam and Coryn (2014) note that evaluation does more than measure outcomes; it provides valuable information for the continuous improvement of the educational process. This aligns with Díaz (2006), who states that evaluating the training process helps identify difficulties and allows for necessary adjustments to foster learning and the development of competencies, enabling officers to perform effectively in their operational environments. Furthermore, social dynamics in Colombia require police officers to possess the ability to make decisions, correctly apply police procedures, clearly understand regulations, and interact assertively with citizens. However, observations of professional practice reveal that some officers struggle with certain procedures and lack a firm grasp of regulations, indicating a limited connection between theory and actual police work. Therefore, this study focuses on evaluating the training process for police patrol officers, taking into account findings identified in professional practice, with the aim of designing an improvement plan to strengthen the quality of police training processes.