Should Law Enforcement Officers required to have 4 year College Degree?
Why or why not?
While an initial reaction is to say yes, I don’t know what any effect this would ultimately have. There is something that many LEOs are lacking, but it won’t be fixed with a General Studies Degree.
Not in the least bit? What jobs make sense to you that they do require a college degree?
So what do you think would “fix” what “many LEOs are lacking”? Any idea?
Most police departments seem to require only high school diploma (“a high school diploma or equivalent education”).
Some cities, like Chicago, require minimum 2 year degree:
I’m not sure I understand why one would ask for a college degree. I can see why one would ask for a specific college degree, but not a college degree without further specification.
Is it because people with a CD are more likely to have the mental capacity and attitude to perform well as a police officer? Even if we grant that, it’s a crude proxy. It must be possible to devise tests which don’t require 4 years.
Job requirements should have more than a vague link to desired performance.
It would leave out plenty of people who are adequate candidates but don’t have the money, temperament or aptitude, for college. It would also retard entry into the job by 4 years for people who are adequate candidates as they are while being willing and able to go to college.
If specific skills and expertise have such an impact on performance that it’s worth excluding those who don’t have them, require/teach specifically those.
No. The extension of requirements for college degrees for more and more jobs is ridiculous.
One of my temping jobs was tutoring a combination of people who were having problems with math at school and of people preparing the tests to become firemen or policemen. This second group was HS graduates (usually from “vocational” HS, rather than college-track HSs) and had problems with fractions or percentiles; I had to convince them to go a few steps back from the tests’ specific requirements because these involved things like “fraction multiplication” and my students couldn’t even understand that 2/3<1
Some of them are now in the local FD or local/regional PD; I don’t think any of them will ever make captain (which does require a college degree, in all three departments), but neither the ability to multiply fractions nor the capacity to memorize calculus proofs seem to be very relevant to giving directions, standing in one spot for hours without falling asleep, directing traffic or getting people out of their house using a window - which are some examples of what the people at low-level positions have to be able to do, they don’t investigate any crimes more serious than parking in the wrong spot.
The FD does have a requirement to be trained in one construction trade, so that firemen will be able to assess whether it’s ok to go into a damaged structure or not. That makes sense, but requiring them to have a college degree doesn’t make sense either for firemen or police.
I don’t think it should necessarily be an absolute requirement, because experience and other types of training can go far, but I do think it’s very useful overall, for most of the same reasons it’s useful for a social worker to have a college degree.
I have a B.A. in Law and Justice, so I went to school with a lot of current and future LEOs and learned a lot of things that I think police officers need to know.
What is a college education? How does it change a person in what way, ie, compared to people with no college degrees? Does it represent a measurable difference in character and integrity of a person? What is in the decision of Chicago Police Dept to change the minimum requirement to 2 year college education?
Besides, directing traffics, a cop can make decision to stop you, arrest you and cause havoc to your life and family. You mean you never felt any, though unfounded, fear in the presence of a police or a squad car behind you? If you have not, is this really an unusual reaction? So, a public servant, who we give that kind of ‘authority’ to trigger fear in us (that can be abused and have been abused before), should we have a standard that a person does possess acceptable qualities?
College degrees are often overrated. Education, however, is not. Anyone in any kind of law enforcement needs education - not only with regards to laws, but also dealing with people of all kinds or all sorts of situations. In fact, you can say that about a lot of jobs - you don’t need a degree to be a janitor, but you do need to know not to mix ammonia and bleach when you’ve got a mess to clean. Training and education don’t need to result in a piece of paper to be of value.
Agreed. I’m technically supposed to have a degree in my position but my experience and skill more than outweigh the lack of one. It also helps that I read everything I can get my hands on, so I know more about my industry than 95% of the people I work with.
I know for California Highway Patrol a college degree isn’t required, but they pay more for one. Also, because they pay so very well it’s pretty much a requirement now. They can afford to pick people who are college educated and have military experience.
Ethics courses would be a good start. Training that emphasizes that the general public isn’t your enemy or plaything. You’d need a really good teacher, because it might take an extraordinary effort to teach cops that you shouldn’t pepper spray helpless and harmless citizens. Maybe even something, and I know I’m reaching here, but something that lets you know that enforcing the law doesn’t mean you’re above it. Oh, and also a few weeks spent drawing your taser, then your gun, so that you eventually figure out the difference between a half pound piece of plastic and a 2 pound piece of metal. It would be nice if those things never get mixed up.
A college degree, not so much.