Police’s Voice: A Need Analysis of ESP for Police Trainees in Malaysia

The research was to investigate the needs of the former police trainees at a local police training centre (PULAPOL) in Kuala Lumpur for the English course under the Basic Police Training Program (PLAK) in helping their policing tasks on the ground.  This was a mixed-method study, employing both needs analysis survey and semi-structured interview as the instruments and were developed based on Hutchinson and Waters (1987)’s Target Needs focusing on Lacks, Wants and Necessities. This study involved 183 former police trainees who used to undergo police training at PULAPOL Kuala Lumpur before; Cadet Police Inspector (CP1) series one (1) and series two (2) 2019 who are now serving as the Inspector Officers (IOs) at various Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) departments nationwide. There were three main findings in this study; firstly, the former police trainees’ Necessities for the English course at PULAPOL were to perform their policing tasks on the ground and to speak with English-speaking clients when solving their problems. Secondly, their Lacks of knowledge in police terminology, grammar and speaking confidence limited their performance in the English course. In terms of Wants, they wished to learn all the English skills equally, but rejected the grammar teaching per say. The outcome of this study will aid the English coordinators at PULAPOL in revising the existing English course and developing a police-based English syllabus or English for Police Purposes (EPP) in accordance with the target needs of the police trainees.