Police Academy 3: Back in Training is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Jerry Paris. It is the third installment of the Police Academy franchise and the sequel to Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment.

Despite receiving generally negative reviews, it was an overall box office success, earning $107 million against a budget of $12 million. It is the final directorial effort and film appearance of Jerry Paris, who died 10 days after the films release. The film was followed by Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987).

In an unnamed city, the governor announces that, for budgetary reasons, one of the state's two police academies—run by Commandants Eric Lassard and Ernie Mauser, respectively—is to be closed. Mauser, along with his dim-witted captain, Carl Proctor, conspires with two unscrupulous officers from Lassard's academy, Chad Copeland and Kyle Blankes, to ensure Lassard's institution fails, in exchange for career promotions. Meanwhile, Lassard enlists his current instructors—the glamorous Lieutenant Debbie Callahan, soft-spoken Laverne Hooks, and prankster Larvell Jones—along with a trio of successful former cadets to serve as trainers: the laid-back Carey Mahoney, the towering and strong Moses Hightower, and gun enthusiast Eugene Tackleberry.

New recruits arrive for training, including bumbling Sergeant Douglas Fackler's wife, Violet; the meek Carl Sweetchuck; erratic but reformed ex-gang leader Zed McGlunk, who used to harass Sweetchuck's store; Tackleberry's brother-in-law Bud Kirkland; and the beautiful Karen Adams, whom Mahoney quickly takes a liking to. Mauser transfers Officer Tomoko Nogata, a Japanese exchange officer from Tachikawa, Tokyo, to Lassard's academy, hoping that his ethnicity and broken English will reflect poorly on the institution.

The cadets undergo several weeks of training. Nogata becomes smitten with Callahan, who is impressed by his combat skills. Meanwhile, Sweetchuck, overwhelmed by having to share a room with Zed, decides to quit, until Tackleberry convinces him to stay, promising protection and support. During a training exercise, the recruits' clumsy performance fails to impress the oversight committee evaluating the academies. However, Bud redeems their standing by winning the inter-academy boxing match.

Mauser directs Copeland and Blankes to sabotage the recruits, keeping them sleep-deprived and assigning them premature fieldwork in front of the committee. This leads to a committee member being briefly abducted by Zed's old gang and Violet flipping a police car during a pursuit. Later, when Mauser arrives at a bar to mock Mahoney and the others, they retaliate by applying strong tape over his eyes, which rips off his eyebrows when removed.

Lassard and Mahoney rally the cadets with an uplifting speech, restoring their morale, leading to Karen reciprocating Mahoney's attraction, while Tomoko—following Jones' advice—successfully seduces Callahan. At the policepersons' ball, after being insulted by Proctor, Mahoney enlists an old prostitute friend to trick him into stripping and locking him out of his hotel room. Proctor flees toward the academy but mistakenly stumbles into the Blue Oyster Bar, a notorious gay biker establishment.

Meanwhile, Mauser's sycophantic behavior toward the committee prompts Commissioner Hurst to reveal that Lassard's academy has not impressed the evaluators. Gloating over his apparent victory, Mauser is undercut when Mahoney deceives the committee and attendees by telling them that Mauser suggested basing the final decision solely on the last day's field exercise.