Should police officers have a college degree??

You know, before I took a criminal justice class at my college I would have probably said no to this question. My teacher worked for the police department and he said that every year they get a TON of applicants so it's a very competitive field. Since there are so many applicants, you need to be the best you possibly can be in order to make it. If both candidates were perfectly qualified for the job, why wouldn't you pick the one who just happens to have a bachelor's degree over the one who doesn't? I prefer people who are more educated to be a part of my city's police force.

 

Policing is not an inherently academic career. I'm not sure if it would do any good for police forces; criminologists don't need to go out to arrest people, and the police working in the more practical, physical side of things don't need to know how to, say, conduct a prosecution to be able to do their duty.

I would say that policing as a whole combines both blue and white collar jobs. The actual work of enforcing the law is not the same as the more educated aspects of governing law enforcement, solicitors who advise (and barristers where prosecution counsel are permanently employed and formally part of police departments) and a variety of other careers that work together with police, but aren't on the ground or aren't employed by police forces directly.

Though including more academic things such as understanding the broader legal implications of police actions and the ethics of law enforcement in police training would do no harm, I think, even if police officers shouldn't need to be university-educated.

 

Yes and no.

Yes, in the sense, any extra education is nice. But, honestly, one can pass a class and perform terribly in the field. Also, one can bomb a class, but perform well in the field.

No, in the sense, most Criminal Justice courses, are just what you'd learn, anyway, on the job. If you want to be a police officer, go to the academy, and skip college. At the same time, though, more education isn't a bad thing.

My Criminal Justice professor said it best: "It's easy to get an A, when you're sitting in a quiet room, only faced with a piece of paper. It isn't so easy to do the job well, when you're chasing down a suspect, in an adrenaline rush, faced with any possibility, like the suspect being armed."

That's paraphrased, but the point still stands. A class isn't going to teach you, the make or break, of being involved in police work. It isn't strictly a paper-pushing or shelf-stocking occupation.

 

Would it be nice? Sure. We have jobs that decades ago wouldn't require a formal education, and of less "importance" than police work, so it would definitely be a nice addition. In an ideal world, everyone would have degree of school smarts, but that isn't reality, so in this case... as long as they know how to do their job and do it well, that's what matters in the end. Who knows? Maybe this will change in the future.

 

police academy.

i personally hate the education system, specifically in the united states. you should have to take classes and only classes that pertain to your future job. followed up by on-the-job training. i believe that's what makes a successful employee. and that's why places who promote-within are often times so successful. if you want to be a lawyer, there's no need for you to learn how to balance chemical equations and dissect a frog. there's so much wasted time and money spent on excess education, it's ridiculous. don't get me wrong, i know that it makes for a more well rounded and educated america, but i believe that we would have people who are 500 x's better at their job if their post high school career wasn't half based on learning things that are irrelevant to their future profession. instead, focus all that time and money on educating them directly on their major / future job.

 

I'd have graduated in 2009. It's nearing the end of 2014. I'd already be a detective, working with juvenile delinquents, or an attorney by now.

But I can't fucking do the Math! I ace my Criminal Justice classes, and even the professor says I'm one of the best students, he has had, in his 20+ years.

But I can't fucking do the Math! I can solve a hypothetical crime scene in minutes, I can read facial and bodily expressions, and I can "stall" a lie detector.

But I can't fucking do the Math!

You have no idea, how much I agree with you.

 

that's the reason why i'm not currently in college. i went to college for a semester and it was a huge fucking joke. maybe because i'm the kind of person that doesn't have to study to get good grades. i stopped going to class, i'd just nail the exam and be done with it. i had good grades at the end of the semester but i just stopped going because i genuinely felt like i was wasting my time. my major was information technology and the only class i had that was even moderately close to that was a fucking typing class that taught you how to use microsoft office and a bunch of other junk that would be completely out-dated in 2 years. it was all busy work and a waste of my time.

---------- Post added 25th Nov 2014 at 12:19 PM ----------

there's absolutely no reason for you to be a math aficionado going into the criminal justice field. what are you going to have to do? find the circumference of someone's asshole so you can pull pills out of it? sheesh.

 

And you think those pills are analysed by people who don't know how to do maths and chemistry?

 

It's called "playing the game" -- it may seem like bullshit to you but having the credential is important in the real world, regardless of if it makes sense or not. A college education isn't just to train you in your field of expertise it is to train your mind. In addition to that, it's to prove you can "do the work." If you had continued on further you would have likely gotten past your general education classes and gotten into classes relevant to your major.

Math trains critical thinking and problem solving skills.

 

A college degree? No.
Thorough training (including some academic elements)? Yes.

 

Just requiring basic ethics and morality would be a step in the right direction, judging by recent events. And a promise not to kill unarmed citizens.

 

I am getting my degree in criminal justice. I wouldn't say it's required but the more knowledge and different view points you learn about helps.

 

No those cops need to learn to stop doing open season on black people :tantrum:

 

If it's any concelation stories like that are rare. Media only reports negative news.

The other day when doing my internship we pulled over some people who just filmed us to catch something bad. And of course afterward they didn't feel it necessary to film when they needed a battery jump

 

They shoot mentally ill folks as well, not just black people. The surest way to avoid ever getting killed by police is to be a white guy in a business suit. That probably works better than a bullet-proof vest.

 

I agree. There should be more of a focus on temperament and psychology before progressing to actual knowledge of the law, but that's just the opinion of someone who has little understanding of the police in general.

---------- Post added 26th Nov 2014 at 01:29 PM ----------

'White' and 'guy' probably being the two most important words in that sentence. Isn't that sad.

 

I'm sure you could make an argument that it'd be better if burger-flippers had a college degree; or hotel maids; certainly office assistants.

But if we require a college degree for every job, regardless of whether advanced education is necessary for the performance of your duties, then only those who can afford a college education, and are smart/mature/disciplined enough to make it through will be able to be employed. And they'll have a moral obligation to support the other 85-90% of the population who can't get a college degree.

I think we'd be far better off if instead of trying to get everyone to college, and trying to make college a requirement for as many jobs as possible, we could get off our stupid idolization of education and start properly valuing (and paying) the people who do the blue-collar and low-level work in our society.

Nowadays, people seem to think you *need* a college degree to get a decent job with decent pay. I don't know if that's any more right than it was 30 years ago. But if it is, then we're a country heading in the wrong direction.

Not everyone should go to college. Not everyone enjoys learning in an academic environment. Not everyone has the attention, the discipline, the skills, and in some cases, the basic intelligence to make it through college. And yet when the only decent jobs require a college education, everyone will try. And that puts pressure on colleges to slacken their standards (or rather, to change their instruction styles to accommodate differently abled/oriented students) so more people can make it through. That weakens the experience for those who *do* enjoy learning for learning's sake, and makes the degree less worthwhile for everyone who has it, and all jobs that require it.