College For Police 1

College For Police:

Police officers should be required to have a minimum of two years in college.

Maldonado, Maria G

Salt Lake Community College

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Abstract

Police officers should have a college education. College has great benefits that will aid a police officer.

The requirement should be two years minimum, an Associates Degree. This is not exempt to any

position within the police force. All officers must have a minimum of two years of post-secondary

education. However, current police officers may be grandfathered in. Higher positions within the police

force need a higher pay rate. Overall, we will examine why police officers need to have a college

education.

Keywords: Education, Benefits, Associates Degree

College has its many benefits such as a long-term career and a better lifestyle. As expressed in

the following: “Education enables people to coalesce health-producing behaviors into a coherent

lifestyle that improves health.” (Schafer, M. H. & Wilkinson, L. R. & Ferraro, K. F, 2013, Pg. 1007-1035)

Therefore, a lifestyle with a college background improves not only your career but your health.

A policeman with a college background, criminal justice preferably, will have a better

understanding of a life as a policeman. They will be educated in a criminal justice field,

harassment from the public will come to no surprise to them when they start as a policeman. An

education on discrimination and conflict makes a better police officer, because they become a

more diverse person.

The time taken to finish a criminal justice program is two years, graduating with an

Associates Degree in Criminal Justice. Therefore, all new applicants will have the knowledge of

what it takes to be a cop. Already being a better police officer understand the material within the

work area.
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Pertaining to higher positions such as, SGT.’s, LT.’s, CAPT.’s, and Chiefs will be

required to have an Associates Degree. Unless grandfathered in the position they hold.

Eventually, with time the entire police force will have a background of college education.

Of course, having a college background does not necessarily mean you will be promoted

in to a higher paid position. “Promotions serve two important and distinct roles in organizations

(Milgrom and Roberts 1992, 364). The first is to motivate workers (incentive role), and the second is to

sort workers into jobs that best match their abilities (sorting role)” (Chan, E. W., 2018, Pg. 83).

Therefore, education is an ability to play a certain role within the department. However, reinstated will

not depend on education however it will be a factor.

Having a college background results in a healthy lifestyle, an educated mind, and the knowledge

of how it is as a policeman. For these reasons, police officers need to have a two year minimum college

education (Associates Degree) to serve as a policeman.

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References

Chan, E. W. (2018). Promotion, Relative Performance Information, and the Peter Principle. Accounting
Review, 93(3), 83-103. doi:10.2308/accr-51890

Schafer, M. H. & Wilkinson, L. R. & Ferraro, K. F. (2013). Childhood (Mis)fortune, Educational

Attainment, and Adult Health: Contingent Benefits of a College Degree?Social Forces 91(3), 1007-1034.
Oxford University Press. Retrieved August 4, 2018, from Project MUSE database