September 3, 2025
The Center for Social and Behavioral Science (CSBS) and the University of Illinois Police Training Institute (PTI) are working together to bridge the gap between traditional policing and cutting-edge academic inquiry. Through this collaboration, PTI’s decades of training experience is being paired with CSBS’s research support to create new opportunities for innovation in law enforcement education. Under the leadership of PTI Director Joe Gallo, a former deputy police chief with more than two decades of law enforcement experience, these research-practice partnerships can ensure research insights are directly connected to the realities of training and ultimately practice.
For seventy years, PTI has been the backbone of law enforcement education in Illinois. Founded in 1955 as a 4-week program and now expanded into a rigorous 16-week curriculum, PTI has continually adapted to meet the evolving needs of agencies across the state. Today, each Basic Law Enforcement cohort brings in 100 recruits, with three classes running annually. That means roughly 300 new officers graduate each year, completing 640 hours of intensive instruction and entering departments prepared to serve their communities. Beyond these recruits, PTI also trains the state’s firearms instructors, ensuring consistent standards of excellence across Illinois.
Gallo’s own journey from patrol officer to deputy chief with the Champaign Police Department, and now PTI Director, embodies the institute’s philosophy of blending practical experience with forward-looking vision. He first joined PTI in 2001 as a fitness instructor while still on the force, later becoming assistant director in 2018 and director in 2023. “One of the philosophies that we’ve had here is continuous improvement,” Joe explains. “We don’t look to just do it the same way because that’s the way it’s always been. We want to make sure that we’re on the cutting edge.”
That philosophy is visible in PTI’s scale and operations today. With more than 100 part-time staff (including instructors, facilitators, and role players), each cohort of 100 recruits experiences immersive training that spans classroom instruction, firearms work at the Tactical Training Center, and vehicle stop and control tactics training at Willard Airport. It’s a complex but comprehensive model, designed to give officers realistic preparation for the wide range of challenges they will encounter in the field.
PTI’s growth in research capacity has strengthened this work in important ways. The addition of research assistant Jen Whiting brought another analytical lens to training. Joe shared, “She came into my office and said, ‘I’d like to sit through the entire Basic Law Enforcement class.’ That’s a huge commitment of 640 hours plus fitness training, and she went through every single block of instruction.” This immersive approach has already produced curriculum changes, particularly in report writing, where studies comparing peer and machine review methods have led to the development of new online training modules. For Joe, this represents a fundamental shift: “We now have the ability to test what works, improve it, and measure the results. That’s the kind of evidence that really matters.”
Research collaborations span the campus, connecting PTI with the College of Education, the iSchool, and other partners. Projects include artificial intelligence–driven interview training systems and interdisciplinary workshops that bring law enforcement together with students from health and human service fields. These initiatives allow officers to practice complex interactions in safe, controlled settings while giving researchers valuable insight into learning and behavior. As Gallo notes, “We have the ability to further research and have evidence-based research to help us with our police training. But we can also serve as a resource to other departments on campus that are looking to study law enforcement.”
For CSBS researchers, PTI offers unparalleled access to active training environments — from classroom instruction to live scenario work at specialized facilities. For PTI, these collaborations ensure that training remains current, rigorous, and reflective of the latest social and behavioral insights. “When you’re talking about making change in policing, it’s not going to happen in a vacuum,” Gallo emphasizes. “Partnerships like these are how we move forward.”
To foster even more connections, PTI and CSBS are hosting Innovation Day this October supported by Arnold Ventures. The event will give researchers the opportunity to observe training firsthand, explore project ideas, and begin building long-term collaborations. It reflects PTI and CSBS’s shared vision: that law enforcement education is strongest when informed by research, and that research has its greatest impact when applied to the challenges of public safety.
For more information about Innovation Day or to explore research opportunities with PTI, please email Elsa Augustine at elsaa@illinois.edu or csbscience@illinois.edu.
Rose Keane