The police is different from other branches of the civil service in that a police officer starts his career at the bottom of the totem pole and then is promoted according to his performance (in theory, at least). This is different from, let’s say, the city planning department where a master’s degree in this field will allow you to begin your career on a higher level.
Police officers on the other hand will usually begin their careers arresting shoplifters or folks who drop their pants in front of elderly ladies. They don’t start out as homicide detectives or supervisors.
This is somewhat like the military. However, in the military, there are basically two distinct career paths (enlisted and officer).
What’s the situation with the police these days? Will a bright and tough kid fresh from high school be accepted into a police department and be able to rise to the top without a college degree? Does an individual with a bachelor’s or master’s degree who joins the police force have better chances to advance?
(Please feel free to correct me if my assumptions are wrong).
It depends largely upon the size of the department.
In a small department, the only pre-requisite for hiring is the ability to obtain certification as a police officer.
The larger the organization, the more necessary a degree will be in order to advance. Larger departments may require applicants to possess a 4-year degree. Many police administrators and command staff at larger departments have Master’s degrees.
Unlike the US military, police chiefs almost universally work their way up through the ranks from patrol officer. The leaders of the PD in NY, LA, Houston, and Detroit all joined their police forces out of high school. The chief in Chicago started with the NYPD as an officer at 22 and spent 25 years working up the ranks, becoming chief first in Newark, NJ and later Chicago. The chief in Philadelphia started as a cop in Chicago at 18.
It also depends on what you mean by “police chief.” For example in New York City, there is a “Chief of Department” who is a uniformed, sworn officer to my knowledge always promoted up through the ranks. This is the highest “sworn” position in the NYPD. But the New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the NYPD, but is actually a civilian appointed by the Mayor. This position almost always is filled by someone with a law enforcement background, but not necessarily someone who has a history with the NYPD. For example Howard Safir had a long career in law enforcement but all of it with various Federal agencies, he had entered retirement as a Federal LEO when Rudy Giuliani appointed him to be Commissioner in 1996.
Many county sheriff’s departments, the sheriff is a directly elected position, and there is usually no requirement that the candidate have any law enforcement background at all. It’s not uncommon that long time police officers who have been active in political activities run for those positions though, but in smaller counties that is less important and all kinds of yokels win those positions in open elections.
In larger counties with a situation like this, oftentimes there will be direct assistants to the elected sheriff who are career officers (and usually long time administrators at that point) who will handle a lot of the stuff some random elected person off the street would not be familiar with when it comes to law enforcement and civil administration.
Just reading the news… in Canada, it seems to be 50-50. he police chief may not rise through the ranks, but rather be hired away from a different police force. So, sort of like CFO - should be an accountant, but not necessarily from your company. I think the last time I read about this, it was a search committe from the city in question, a collection of people from the department and the city hall who weeded through candidates - very much like any other serious senior corporate/civil service position.
But if you hire a police chief away from another city to your police chief… did he or she spring fully-formed and top-ranked as a police chief in that “donor” department, or did he/she rise through the ranks there… or some other earlier department?
While many CxO-level executives in the corporate game seem to start at least as professional vice-president-level executives, I don’t know of any law enforcement equivalent.
I always get a kick out of small-town police chiefs, supervising maybe a dozen people, show up on the TV news with four stars on their collars, like they’re General Douglas MacArthur or something.
But to answer the question, I think it’s inconceivable that a reasonably large city would hire a police chief without a college degree, unless he had done something really spectacular, like winning a Medal of Honor.
It’s fairly common for smaller municipalities in Canada to use the Mounties (or the provincial police, for those provinces) as the force if the local force would be Andy-of-Mayberry sized. You get access to all the resources of a large force, replacement personnel and training, vacation coverage, etc. Personnel are regularly roatated so they don’t become too “comfortable” with local politicos.
OTOH, I recall reading about a small municipality somewhere in western Canada where the police chief helped cover up a fellow police officer’s minor drunk driving causing death escapade. He ensured that the officer did not get tested and so the charges were dropped. At the inquiry several years later, the upshot was that the entire small police force was dissolved and the Mounties took over. Fortunately for him, the guy had quit and gone on to sell real estate for Remax before the fan got squishy. He just screwed everyone else’s career.
I wonder too if a specialized degree is more likely to rule someone out of a police chief job? After all, if you specialized in forensic accounting or cybercrime and spent your time at that, would you have the breadth of knowledge to “chief” all aspects of a police service? I imagine street knowledge - what the average officer faces - is a vital part of the job.
they wouldn’t necessarily hire a chief from somewhere else. The guy/gal may have been an up and coming star in town A and realize that the person above is not moving for a while, so a trategic relocation is in order. Much like the rest of the corporate world, an assistant chief or task force leader gets an opportunity somewhere else to be chief… say hire the “Head of Detectives” from NYC to be Chief in Binghamton? (Does that make sense?)
Bear in mind that a cop can join the force out of high school, and pick up a college degree along the way (night school, online, taking a few years off to study, etc.). That still counts as going up through the ranks.
Apropos of nothing except the opportunity to quote Mamet:
Malone: Why do you want to be a police officer?
Williamson: To protect the… people and the… p…
Malone: I’m not looking for the textbook answer. Why do you want to join the force.
Williamson: The force?
Malone: Yeah, why do you want to join the force.
Williamson: Because… I…
Malone: Yeah?
Williamson: …think I could help.
Malone: You think you could help.
Williamson: …with the force.
Malone: Thank you very much, you’ve been most helpful.
[Williamson leaves]
Malone: [to Ness] There goes the next chief of police.
In my experience, government agencies (including police departments ) generally have two points of entry for line personnel. You either start as a police officer, firefighter, city planner, social worker ,etc and work your way up via civil service promotions ( sergeant- lieutenant-captain, city planner 2- city planner 3 or social work supervisor -social work manager- that sort of thing ) or you come in above the civil service ranks as an appointee ( regional director, deputy commissioner, assistant chief etc). Appointees may and often do have related experience , but it is not strictly speaking necessary - although Howard Safir had Federal law enforcement experience prior to his appointment as police commissioner , he had no firefighting experience prior to being appointed fire commissioner
Yeah, that’s always good for laughs…I also realize, as I get older, how silly 50 year-old men look dressed up as police.
I am aware of one large-ish department where any staff above the level of street supervisor wear business attire on a daily basis. It looks sharp, and I think it’s actually more appropriate to the executive function of those officers.
I guess in the years following WWI and WWII a uniform carried a certain level prestige and importance. However, in the last few decades a uniform is more associated with more menial jobs - rentacop, burger flippers, mechanics, bus drivers; heck, even gas station attendands tend to not wear unifroms any more.
(To reinforce this mentality, the actual in-action “uniform” worn nowadays by the army on the news, does not look anything like the fancy-dress uniforms that we associate with doormen, gas jockeys and crazy dictators. Combat cammo looks more like casual wear.)
Look at cop shows - how many are actually about uniform cops? 90% of TV cops in the last few decades (since CHiPs and ADAM-12) have been plainclothes, the business suit attire mentioned.
It also should be noted that NYPD service is particularly prized when big cities choose chiefs or commissioners. Besides McCarthy in Chicago, Bratton in Boston and Timony in Miami got the top job because of their New York experience. Whether it has to do with the NYPD’s good reputation, or just New York’s prominence and influence, is another question.
That’s really not the case either; everyone starts low to some degree, barring family money, extreme nepotism or other things that skew the game.
That’s not to say that the CEO started out on the factory floor, but chances are, he started out of college somewhere at an entry-level professional job and worked his way up from there, just like few military officers started as raw E-1 recruits and moved all the way up. Most came in at O-1 and moved up from there.