Policy brief on the documented training deficit in island law enforcement agencies and evidence-based interventions.
Policy brief on the documented training deficit in island law enforcement agencies and evidence-based interventions. Free under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 — no registration required.
Summary of the paper
"The Training Gap" is an ISPI policy brief on why island law enforcement agencies cannot reach the professional development their officers need. Distance from training centers, travel costs and small agency budgets limit access to the specialized investigative training that continental agencies can more readily use.
The brief argues the gap compounds over a career. Officers who cannot keep up with evolving criminal methods become less effective investigators, and agencies carry more liability. It proposes virtual delivery and pooled training resources as ways to close the gap without requiring travel.
What the paper finds
- Access, not willingness, is the barrier. Geography, travel cost and budget size keep island officers out of specialized courses.
- The effect compounds. Missed training accumulates, reducing investigative effectiveness and increasing liability exposure over time.
- Off-island training is costly. When specialized courses are offered only in person and off-island, airfare, lodging and lost roster time can put advanced investigative training out of reach.
- Virtual delivery depends on connectivity. Effective live virtual training requires bandwidth that some island agencies lack.
What it recommends
- Establish a Pacific Island and Hawaii Law Enforcement Training Cooperative that pools training budgets and develops island-deployable courses.
- Fund virtual training infrastructure, including connectivity grants that meet bandwidth needs for live participation.
- Require federal training programs open to state and local agencies to offer virtual delivery options suited to island agencies.
Who it's for
Police chiefs and training commanders, county and territorial governments, Hawaii and Pacific police academies, and federal training program administrators.
This research connects to the 39 Small Island Developing States worldwide through the Samoa Pathway and BPOA+30 framework. Every ISPI research product carries a mandatory SIDS global bridge per the ISPI Research Architecture.
Further reading
Cite as
Pulley, Warren (2026). The Training Gap: Why Island Law Enforcement Agencies Cannot Access the Professional Development Their Officers Need (ISPI PB-13). Island Security Policy Institute, Honolulu. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/pb13-training-gap-law-enforcement https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23450023
BibTeX
@techreport{ispipb132026,
author = {Pulley, Warren},
title = {The Training Gap: Why Island Law Enforcement Agencies Cannot Access the Professional Development Their Officers Need},
institution = {Island Security Policy Institute},
address = {Honolulu, HI},
number = {ISPI PB-13},
year = {2026},
url = {https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/pb13-training-gap-law-enforcement},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23450023}
}Related analysis
AnalysisWhy Island Police Departments Face Structural Officer Shortages That Continental Solutions Cannot Fix →AnalysisThe Island Law Enforcement Workforce Crisis Is Not a Hawaii Problem →AnalysisCommunity Policing in Island Communities: Why the Continental Model Requires a Different Framework →PaperPB-12 — Hawaii Law Enforcement Recruitment Crisis — Policy Response →PaperPB-14 — K-12 School Safety in Island Communities →GuideHawaii Law Enforcement Workforce & Recruitment: Research and FAQ →Pulley, Warren. "Training Gap in Island Law Enforcement Agencies." Island Security Policy Institute, 2026. https://ispiglobal.com/papers-landing/pb13-training-gap-law-enforcement
