Do Police Officers Need a College Education?

Do Police Officers Need A College Education?1It is said that one of the most neglected areas of
professional education is police work. Let us talk a little about the history of education and its
involvement in police work. The police education bandwagon began rolling in about 10 years
ago, when Congress established the Law Enforcement Education Program. (LEEP)
(SHERMAN 1979) The Law Enforcement education program was designed and made to help
create a bond between the education programs and the law enforcement agencies. I believe that
this sprouted numerous ideas about a higher education requirement for police officers.
Policemen and women should be required to have a college education. A 2 year
Associates Degree involves a completion of General Education courses. General Education
course expose you to a variety of subject you are not going to enjoy. Even though you may not
enjoy the course, it is required that you complete it anyway. There are going to be many times in
the police force where you are going to have to do things that put you in an uncomfortable spot
or situation. A 2-year degree will help you deal with those uncomfortable and difficult times. To
complete your General Education courses you have to learn how to work hard, prioritize; set
attainable goals. These skills are invaluable in a career as a police officer. This varies on if you
are working the streets or in the office but still apply to both positions. There are countless
benefits that come from working hard in the classroom. Using a 2-year degree as a pre-requisite
to becoming a police officer will help cops immensely. To name a few benefits: . . . knowledge
of the fundamentals of fingerprinting, ballistics, handwriting identification, microscopic
evidence, spectroscopic evidence, and interrogation is imperative to the modern police man.
(Mirich, Voris 1965) Police officers with a 2-year degree will naturally have more respect for the

law and law officers. A higher education will help the officer be more aware of public relations
as well.
The more a cop can learn about police work the better. If you want to achieve greatness in police
work you must first' plunge yourself into "our studies and then learn everything you possibly can
about it. People who are the most successful in their particular careers are generally the most
knowledgeable.
It is a common argument that police officers need to be paid better before people with a
2-year degree will have any interest in applying. Far too many years we have expected local law
enforcement to recruit its manpower from the ranks of the unqualified due to not only public
disinterest and neglect, but also to a serious lack of communication between law enforcement
and the citizenry. (Mirich, Voris 1965) The police force tends to get the short end of the stick
when it comes to applicants at times. Dont get me wrong, there are some absolutely amazing
police officers but, on average there are more people who apply because it only requires a high
school level of education. The FBI has had a college degree as a requirement to apply for years
and they havent seen a shortage of applicants. Although a higher salary would be a nice
incentive, money is generally not why people want to be in the police force. Being a police
officer requires you to have exceptional people skills. Cops deal with people every day that may
or may not like them. That is part of the job. In earning a degree, there are many group projects
that an individual would complete where they would have to learn to work with others, whither
they like them or not.

There are many that say being a police officer requires a lot of hands on training and that
it is only available in the Police Academies we have now. Yes, being a police officer requires a

lot of hands on experience but, learning these skills in a Police Academy is not the best way.
Potential police officers with degrees are more likely to master those hands on tasks more
quickly than a police officer who tries to learn through trial and error or experience on the job.
One of the first effective Police Academies was built in New York City. New York City
has made great strides with its police academy. Not only are the officers of that city being tained
so that they may serve the people better but they are teaching others, and the methods of the
Police Academy are being copied by other departments who have sent their men to be trained in
New York. (Vollmer 1931) Police Academies are great but, the program the police are put
through is too short and has minimal demand when it comes to education.
To be a good police officer it takes good communication skills and the ability to think fast
on their feet. Does this mean police officers absolutely need a higher education to get a job?
Maybe not, but it is highly beneficial. A local officer must enforce the law on a split second,
many times, whereas the district attorney or the judge may have hours, weeks or even months to
ponder over an eventual decision in a given matter. (Mirich, Voris 1965) A police officer would
have a very tough time learned these vital skills through experience on the job. These are skills
that you develop over time, but to learn completely requires a classroom setting. Having a
college education plays a huge part in whether a police officer is average or exceptional.

A college education teaches a person good work habits and good life skills like reading
and writing. Police officers need to know how to write correctly and clear because they write
police reports almost every day. Police write reports to help the lawyers out if the case gets
brought to court. Im sure it is very frustrating for the lawyers trying to put a case together when

they have to deal with uneducated officers who dont know how to communicate effectively.
When writing a report an officer has to know how to think critically and write effectively.
I believe that a college education should be required for someone to serve our public and
keep our streets clean. A major reason why you sometimes get below average police officers Is
because it only requires a high school diploma. I dont know how high school was 30, 40, 50
years ago but I know how they are now. Getting a high school diploma is not a hard task. If you
are responsible and turn in your work, you can graduate. I just graduated last year from
Bonneville High in Ogden. There is no way that I would be ready to become a police officer. For
many, it is a great alternative because it is a solid career path and you dont need a degree. If
police officers were required to get a degree as a pre requisite, it would weed out a lot of
mediocre cops before they even applied. College stretches people to reach their highest potential.
Living on my own and going to college even for only one semester has taught me so many life
lessons. There are police officers in the force right now that have been there 20 plus years and
have no high school education. Do they get by? Yeah, they probably do but think about how
much more successful they could be if they had a 2-year degree to start with. Police officers with
a degree almost always excel their way up the ranks faster than the officers who dont.
Every career path is requiring more from us as the years go on. Our world is evolving and
changing, we have to adapt with it or we will be left in the dust. Every job that is worthwhile and
stable requires some type of degree. It is time that all city and state police departments hop on
the educations boat. Without an education in todays world you simply cant compete anymore.
We must not stop our efforts to require a 2-year degree to police officers. Finally in this matter
of police and education, there remains a further education opportunity. (Alderson 1980) There

will always be opportunities for us to learn and grow in our individual lives as well as in our
careers.

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and Criminolog". -7.;oris' F. F. (1,<=). %he Fournal of Criminal aw' Criminolog"'
and Police +cience. ==7=