The term projects have yielded surprising and inspiring results. The work groups have produced plays about police/youth interaction with groups of teenagers of color, created a sculpture of a tree representing the experiences of families with mentally ill children, shot a video from the perspective of a homeless mentally ill individual, and generated a three-dimensional representation of the experience of domestic violence. At least some of the police participants have developed long-term relationships with service providers and community members that continue to inform their work as officers.

"The masks brought out different features and emotions and forced us to think, when we go on a scene, what is this person going through?"

For example, many former students developed a long-term relationship with a mental health access team that works with homeless clients. What used to be frustrating interactions with officers who had little understanding of or patience for the agency’s clients has become a working partnership between agency staff and some police officers.

Police academy students are often resistant to the term projects, particularly at the outset. They question the projects’ relevance and validity. The reactions of veteran police officers schooled in a more militaristic style buttress the students’ resistance. Community members’ skepticism about the value of working with the police mirrors the students’ initial reactions. This resistance can be overcome, at least in the short run, once the relevance and the value of the term projects becomes apparent. This requires careful selection of the problems addressed by term projects, strong support from leaders within the policing organization, and institutional recognition for successful participation.

Term projects are time and resource intensive. They cannot succeed without sustained interaction over a number of weeks, participation by experts and community members, and strong support from the top. The department leadership needs to communicate the value of the term projects within the department and to the public.

State curricular requirements impose heavy workloads on policing students, in addition to term project work. A time crunch, or undue stress associated with getting the work done, can undercut the creative and transformative potential of the term projects.

No training or educational program can alone transform the culture of an organization. If police academy students graduate into an organization that does not value respectful interaction, community involvement, and problem solving, the impact of the term projects is likely to be short-lived. Also, police academy students must learn how to square problem solving and community participation with the more militaristic aspects of their role (firearms training, defensive tactics, etc.) This is a larger problem, which can only be addressed as part of an overall organizational project.

The success of the term projects depends on active participation over a sustained period of time with community members, social service providers, and artists. If racially and professionally diverse community partners do not exist, or if potential partners do not have working relationships with the police, the bridge-building aspects of the term project program will be quite difficult to attain. Similarly, a police department that cannot build diversity into its workgroups, preferably with both policing students and community members, will lose a crucial dimension of the term project experience.

Genuine learning often requires skill in facilitating difficult conversations, in interpreting silence, and in sustaining meaningful participation over time by all participants. Some artistic and community participants may have limited experience with this form of facilitation, and may be tempted to steer clear of what they don’t know in order to avoid conflict or failure. Attention to process and to the challenges of facilitating open, honest, and productive conversations about race, gender, and other forms of difference may be necessary to enable term project groups to deal effectively with conflict that inevitably accompanies multi-racial problem solving.