Getting the Warriors and the Guardians to the Table: The Dual Role of Cultural and Structural Factors in Implementing Police Reform for Youth

Background and aims: Police reform is notoriously challenging. Despite overwhelming evidence that negative interactions between young people and law enforcement have lasting social, economic, and health consequences, with youth of color disproportionately affected, changes to policy and practice have been minor or piecemeal, if existent at all. One potential intervention for addressing this problem is to provide police with training on adolescent development and to capacitate police to engage with youth in ways that prevent escalated encounters, legal system involvement, or physical or mental harm. This paper presents an implementation analysis of the Policing the Teen Brain (PTB) training program, designed to improve officers’ understanding of adolescent behavior through a trauma-informed lens and developmental science. Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), we examine the internal and external factors that shape training adoption and sustainability within law enforcement, providing insights necessary for researchers, practitioners, and policy makers interested in police reform

Methods: This mixed-methods analysis drew on qualitative interviews (n = 17), non-participant observation (76 hours), and survey data (n = 73) from a multi-year evaluative study across 21 police departments in Contra Costa County, California. Data were deductively and inductively coded, using CFIR constructs as an initial guide for deductive codes and generating, more specific descriptive codes inductively. Codes were visualized in matrices and figures to identify patterns within and across law enforcement agencies. Data and researcher triangulation were used to authenticate findings.

Findings: Implementation of Policing the Teen Brain was challenged, as indicated by an unwillingness to participate (7 of 19 departments) and ultimately little reach to potential participants (n = 51 of 924). Findings reveal a paradox: the very structures that impede reform can also enable it. Hierarchical decision-making slows adoption when leadership is resistant but accelerates change when reform-minded officials take initiative. Departmental and police culture, often a barrier to youth-centered policing, can facilitate implementation when aligned with broader institutional priorities. Officers’ skepticism toward the training reflects an entrenched policing culture shaped by a warrior orientation. Yet, officers who participate in the training report increased confidence in their ability to engage youth more effectively, suggesting a shift—however tentative—toward a guardian-oriented model of policing. This tension between warrior and guardian motifs captures the complicated terrain of reform, where the tools of the institution are both obstacles to and instruments of change.

Discussion: These findings highlight the tension between institutional inertia and cultural and practical change, underscoring the need to strategically assess structural and cultural factors that may be both barriers and facilitators for change, while identifying the necessary levers for overcoming barriers and harnessing facilitators. By identifying the conditions under which Policing the Teen Brain succeeds or fails, this research informs efforts to embed developmentally informed policing practices and reduce racial and ethnic disparities in police interactions.