Criminal Justice 1010

If Society Wants an Effectively Protected City, They Must have a Requirement of Education For

All Police Officers.

Writing Assignment Choice 4: ​“Do police officers need a ​college education​?”

Written by Joaquin Moreno

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Joaquin Moreno

Mr. Butler

Criminal Justice 1010

14 December 2019

For many years people have debated if it’s necessary for police officers to have a specific

requirement of college education. With most jobs in today’s world, having a specific type of a

college degree such as an associates or bachelors degree is usually a requirement. That is for

most career life long jobs. Medical doctors are a great example of this specific requirement.

Those doctors must complete on average of around 8 years of college/medical school to finally

get a good paying job at a residency. The requirement ensures that the doctors know everything

they need to know before starting the job and are well prepared. They couldn’t just pick up a

random person off the street and train him at the residency, it would be a waste of time and they

would never know if that person is truly able to do such a job.

Even though police officers have a much different job than a medical doctor, I believe the

process for becoming one should be the same for police officers. Both jobs have an equal amount

of importance and we will need professional, intelligent people for each job. I don’t think police

officers will need as much schooling as a medical doctor but I do believe they will need some, to

really build character and ensure that when the police department is hiring jobs, they know they

are choosing somebody who is able. If people want to be protected in their city they need to push

for police officers needing an education requirement. Without a college education police officers

may not be as knowledgeable and informed on powerful information, they might not be able to

think critically as much as someone with a college education could, and they may not value
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certain things somebody with an education would. Having an education builds discipline,

intelligence, character, ability, etc. I personally would want to know that the people who are

enforcing the laws in my city are well educated so that I can trust and rely on my police officers.

In the article, “Do Cops Need a College Education?” the authors Chuck Russo and Kevin

Duffy discuss why it is important for police officers to receive both a college education and

in-service training. Both authors being directors and chairman of Criminal Justice at their school

they are able to really see the differences in behavior and actions police officers have when they

do and don't receive any college education. After analyzing a study conducted in florida they

stated, “The International Association of Chiefs of Police found that officers with only

high-school educations were the subjects of 75 percent of all disciplinary actions. Officers with

four-year degrees accounted for 11 percent of such actions” (Russo, Duffy). With this statistic

we are able to see just how much of an impact a few years of school can do to somebody.

Education especially for a job such as police man is necessary to ensure that the officer has the

ability to think critically and use their now strong knowledge to go about a situation correctly.

There are many different situations where a police officer can choose to use

disciplinary behavior (physical force, weaponry, etc.) or try to stay calm, be more relaxed, use a

softer voice, and try to find common ground. There is always more than one way to go about

doing something but from what the statistic says the police officers with only a highschool

education resorted to disciplinary behavior more often than not. They would use the easy way,

abuse of authority. Knowing that the officers with college education used that kind of behavior

less just goes to show how much of an impact their schooling truly had on them.
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Officers face horrible traumatizing things everyday, someone with only a highschool

education may not have the knowledge and experience provided in college to assess the situation

effectively and find the best way to act upon it. In college most police officers take classes such

as criminal justice, psychology, sociology, criminology, etc. all classes that will help understand

humans and how they may behave in certain situations. Without the information taught in these

classes police officers would only get the in-service training, which mostly consists of teaching

the officers all of the laws they are enforcing. Which is also necessary for the officers to know

but in these training sessions the police officers don’t taught how to analyze human’s and

society’s behavior like those classes in college will. Which I think is also necessary for a police

officer to know, if they are going to help protect a community/city, then they need to understand

how they work and why certain things happen. They need to understand the things they are

dealing with everyday.

When I say that I would rather police officers have a college education I don’t mean for

them to have to go eight full years like a doctor, but rather just two years (Associates degree).

There already is some police departments that require a two-year degree but the most common

requirement is a highschool diploma or GED. In the article, “Cops and College: Do Police Need

Book Smarts?” by Melinda Burns, she provides a percentage of different departments

requirements. She states, “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” (Burns). I would have to say that I don’t think any should require a four-year

degree, it just doesn’t seem necessary with all the different things you can learn with a two-year
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degree. Knowing there is only 8 percent that require a two-year degree worries me. I believe that

should be higher.

To help promote being a police officer they could create a standard associates degree that

has a focus/major in being a police officer. So that getting into a police department after is easy

and everything you need to learn you’ve covered. By creating a degree everyone can follow to

get into a police department, we would also be able to equalize the starting pay and have many

differences. Because if somebody right now gets a four-year degree for their police officer job

they are going to want a higher starting pay than the rest who only have a GED. By simply

having a required two-year focused Associates degree everyone will come in as equals and earn

their higher wages and rankings through their work on the job. This would make the adjusted

salaries fair and competitive once on the job.

This then brings up the question, “Will captains, chiefs, and other high ranked officers

need more education than the rest?” If we follow the idea I had, then the officers will have

learned everything they need education wise before they are given the job, which means that if

they wish to rank up it will simply be from the job and from experience at the job. Education

won't change what ranking you are given, or be mandatory to rank up, that will all be through

working at the job and training.

This will also help with giving everybody an equal chance, so that its just based on

performance and experience. There are many people who can't pay for four-year college but who

are actual really great unrecognized leaders. Giving this equal opportunity to everybody allows

more people from different class levels of society (poor, rich, young, old) to have the same

opportunity and chance as others. Also making way for more diversity and variety with their
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police officers. If we removed the 1 percent of police departments that require a four-year

college different people from different cultures will be able to work the job of their dreams and

succeed in life. Making it an even bigger opportunity for more deserving people.

After analyzing all the statistics, articles, and my own personal experiences I do believe

police officers should have a college education. People living in those communities protected by

police departments will know they are in good hands and will be able to trust and support the city

they live in. Police officers will be more disciplined, knowledgeable, have better morals and

ethics, be more understanding and caring, and have better values. A college degree can really

change people for the better and give them the skills and abilities to do great for whatever career

they choose to pursue, especially law enforcement. The protection of our people and cities is

necessary and it must be done by people who care and that have proven their motivation to do so.
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Bibliography:

Burns, Melinda. “Cops and College: Do Police Need Book Smarts?” ​Pacific Standard,​ 2

Sept. 2010, ​https://psmag.com/education/cops-and-college-do-police-need-book-smarts-21852​.

Michigan State University. “Do Cops Need College?” ​MSUToday​,

https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2015/do-cops-need-college/.

Russo, Chuck and Duffy, Kevin, “Do Cops Need a College Education?” ​In Public Safety​,

7 Sept. 2017, ​https://inpublicsafety.com/2017/04/do-cops-need-a-college-education/​.

USA Today​, Gannett Satellite Information Network,

https://classifieds.usatoday.com/blog/careers/8-requirements-become-police-officer/.