Do Police Officers Need a College Education?

By Chelsea Mockli December 1, 2013 Criminal Justice 1010 | Gregory Butler

Police officers are there to protect and serve the communities they live in, they are put in situations that many of us could never imagine getting through. Unfortunately, there are those cops out there, the corrupt cops who have given police officers a bad name, so not as many people respect them. I think by requiring police officers to have a college education, we would acquire more ethical cops and weed out the corrupt ones. In a 2010 study by Police Quarterly, they learned that police officers who had a college education were less like to resort to force than those who did not have a college education. Force included verbal threatening suspects, grabbing, punching, use of mace or pepper spray, throwing to the ground, handcuffing, or pointing a fire arm at them. While the study did not find a difference when it came to arrests or searches, it did show that in encounters with a crime suspect, officers with a college education resorted to use of force 56 percent of the time, while officers with no college education used force 68 percent of the time. William Terrill, an associate professor of criminal justice at Michigan State and a co-author of the study states, "We found that a college education significantly reduces the likelihood of force occurring. The difference is real. It truly is because the officer was more educated, not because the suspect was more resistant. A college education changes your way of thinking, you are more logical and have a better way of problem-solving. Rather than resorting to force to get a suspect to cooperate, an educated officer knows how to have a logical conversation with them. This allows the suspect to have a better sense of respect for the officer, which in turn allows society to gain a better sense of respect for law enforcement officers as a whole. By requiring police officers to have a college education, we are going to have a better educated, mature, honest task force.

In a Bureau of Justice Statistics study from 2003, it shows that 83 percent of all U.S. police agencies require a high school diploma, but only 8 percent require some college. Only 1 percent of police agencies require a four-year college degree. Terrill states, "High-school educated officers are more apt to say, 'I'm the law and I have the authority to make you do it, and I'm going to put my hands on you and make you do it.' Officers with a four-year degree are more skilled at resolving problems without having to resort to force. They're giving the citizen alternative means of compliance. They're not just relying on the stick. I think this shows just how important it is to require police officers to have a college education. Law enforcement officers should want the society they are protecting and serving to trust and respect them. By saying things such as, Im the law and I have authority to make you do it, society is not going to respect them. It is reasons such as this that society disrespects law enforcement officers. As a society, we want to feel safe and protected, but we also want to be respect just as much a law enforcement officer does. Past studies on the merits of a college education for police officers have also shown that college educated officers hold less authoritarian beliefs than officers with no college, they receive higher ratings from their superiors and fewer complaints from citizens. In addition, they take fewer sick days, have fewer injuries, place a higher value on ethical behavior and are more skilled in verbal communication. As mentioned before, having a college education changes your way of thinking. You learn how to problem solve by communicating, you are better tempered, you are more mature and ready to work hard at your job. They do not feel like they hold more power than another person, and do not use that power to try and get civilians to cooperate. They are more respected police officers by the people they are working too hard to protect.

I think at minimum they should have an Associates Degree, but as an officer wants to grow and be promoted I think having a higher education should be taken into consideration. Going to college changes a persons way of thinking, it matures them, and it shows that they know how to really work for what they want. I think this would eliminate those who may become a corrupt officer from even joining the force. I also believe that those with a college education should be better paid than those without, and the more education you have, the more pay. This would motivate officers to continue their education and learn more. By requiring a college education for police officers, we will be recruiting honest, hard working, ethical, problem solving individuals.

Work Cited Burns, M. (2010, September 10). Cops and college: Do police need book smarts?. Pacific Standard, Retrieved from http://www.psmag.com/legal-affairs/cops-and-college-do-policeneed-book-smarts-21852/