When I ride along with you, I see a new world: Investigating the influence of ride-along program with police officers on students’ perception of police

Experiential learning, attitude change, community engagement

This session will present an experiential learning exercise involving student ride-along with police officers. Given the gap that exists between the younger generation and law enforcement in general, this exercise is an important aspect of being a productive citizen, as well as understanding different perspectives and attitudes. The session will provide an overview of the set-up and implementation of this specific exercise, then move into an audience discussion of the generalizability of this exercise, other types of venues for this type of immersive experience, and the challenges in this type of exercise. The session will end with a summary of what we have jointly learned in the discussion.