Should College Be Required?
Frank Borelli
Editor-in-Chief
Officer.com
I recently attended a meeting which included officers from agencies all over a given state and from varying levels of rank. Chiefs of Police, retired Chiefs, retired Sheriffs, Captains, Lieutenants, Sergeants and the rest were all represented. One topic of conversation in the course of the meeting was the requirement some agencies have for college education. The agency in question requires a two-year degree (Associates) and would not wave said requirement.
That same agency was apparently considering whether or not a citizenship requirement was necessary. Yeah… you read that right: the same agency was pondering doing away with the requirement for its officers to be American citizens. Hmm… It made me wonder: are we putting too much emphasis on the value of a college degree?
I went to school with some people who were amazingly smart. I’m talking freshman in high school who were taking calculus. But some of them didn’t have enough common sense to tie their shoes or close a door when they got out of a car.
I don’t believe that college education is the end-all-be-all determining factor in applicant qualification. In fact - and this is just my own personal attitude - I’d rather have the guy next to me in uniform be a military service veteran than a college graduate. Book learning doesn’t teach you how to handle combative individuals. Book learning doesn’t teach you the courage required to go hands-on with such folks. Book learning has a purpose: to share and pass knowledge that can be used in the line of duty (or profession). However, the mastery of such knowledge doesn’t, in any way, reflect an equal mastery in the application of it.
I know a Chief of Police whose education is Doctorate level. I have the utmost respect for him; not because of his degree but because he uses his knowledge to better himself and his leadership skills as a Chief. I’d work for him every day of the week and twice on Sunday - and wouldn’t hesitate to go through a door with him. I’ve known other Chiefs who had Masters degrees and it seemed like the more book-smart they got the less street-smart they became. It was almost as if their head could only hold so much information and the added book-smart material pushed out the older street-smart experiences they’d had.
So, what are your thoughts? Should college education be a requirement to be a police officer? If you think that it should, then let me ask: should any of it be waivered in light of military service or past police experience? I am curious as to what you all think about this.
Give similar and substantial monetary bonuses over a base salary for college degrees and military service. A good agency is not made up of clones, but is made of a healthy mix of individuals that work together to be more than the mere sum of their parts. I agree that I prefer military vets if charging through a door, but police work is so diverse, we need a little of everything. Excluding individuals from serving the community based on their lack of a college education or lack of military service seems foolish. The idea of offering real bonuses to attract individuals with either or both experiences only improves the retention of quality individuals in an agency and therefore provides the agency with the greatest potential.
I don’t see how a college diploma will ensure that an officer can handle any given situation. I’ve had the pleasure to work with many, many officers and detectives who know more about policing and investigations than their college educated counterparts. With the downturn in available qualified candidates for this profession why restrict it even more just for the department and city/county/state to say we only hire the “best college graduates we can find”. Some are just not meant for the confines of the higher education classroom. Its only a piece of paper that states that this individual can pass the required coursework needed to obtain said piece of paper.
I have a B.A….Utterly worthless on the job and my agency doesn’t require any college at all. It’s only usefulness to me may be in obtaining some bonus points for promotion and some incentive money. No I don’t think it should be required but rather encouraged. I know plenty of good cops that have only H.S. education and the academy.
I know a lot of fine officers who do not have 4-yr degrees, but in general terms, a department that requires college (and pays accordingly) will attract a higher quality applicant. The benefits of a college degree go far beyond “book smarts”. In my experience as an FTO, degreed trainees tended to exhibit better interpersonal skills and more creative problem-solving. I attribute this to being exposed to diverse peers and cultures in college that most high school graduates wouldn’t be exposed to. Military service could waive some of the college requirement, but in the long run, a better educated police force is a win/win for everyone.
I am sick to death of heairng how great the military is at preparing cops. I ahve the upmost respct in the world for our vets, and thank them for what they do. However, police work is NOT the military. I have known officers who are vets that were fantastic. I have known officers who are vets that were a disgrace to the police department. College, military service, etc. do not alone qualify an applicant. you must examine the total package.
Successfully completing college not only demonstrates book smarts, it also demonstrates the ability to plan, think critically about situations, set & meet goals, and (in many cases) deal with others you don’t like and don’t agree with. There is a certain process of “aging out” that is associated with college, I was much more mature when I came out at 23 than I was when I went in at 18. I think college also gives individuals time to think about a career, before attending an expensive training academy and deciding that L.E. isn’t for them.
I don’t think it should be a requirement. Some of the best police officers I have ever worked with barely graduated high school. A degree on your wall does not make you a good cop. However, I do like incentives for those that do have or are pursuing a degree (i.e. extra pay and tuition reimbursement).
In the state I working you need at least a 2 year degree to put your self in the academy. Also 99% of the departments require you put your self threw the academy. It seems to me the more college an Officer had the dumber of a cop they are. This is not always true however. Some guys with 4 year degrees are awsome officers. Like the last guy stated we need a mix of people working the streets. Should college be a requirement? The answer is no way! It a nice thing to have but does not make some one a great officer.
College should never be a requirement for all law enforcement officers. However,it wouldnt be a bad idea to give incentives to officers to gain a college education,as many departments now have. Military experience (in no way bashing the military) should not be a requirement either in lieu of a college degree. At the time of applying for police officer,some people dont have or cannot afford to go to college at that time and,many good people apply every day to agencies who have neither college nor military experience and are very good candidates for police work. College and military experience does not the best police officer make.
Yes, I do think that a college degree should be required to become a Police Officer. If for one reason, it shows that the applicant can reach a short term achievable goal. As far as being a veteran, nobody respects them more than me but, just because you are a veteran does not mean you can do police work. Most of the time the work in the military has nothing in common with everyday police work. I have seen too often that the gung ho attitude one gets from the military often causes a lot of trouble when that officer first gets on. I have also seen that if that officer is properly trained after getting out of the military, that gung ho attitude goes away. As far as I am concerned, I would like a stand up guy who isn’t a rat or a spectator going through the door with me. At that moment, I could care less if he graduated magna cum lauda or was on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
A police department is excluding a large pool of potential applicants by requiring a college degree. However, I feel that many applicants fresh out of high school may not have the maturity level or “life experience” to deal with the various aspects of law enforcment. Military experience should be allowed to cover atleast some of the requirement for college.
I do believe in having a college degree. When you go to superior education, you meet people from all walks of life, poor, middle class, rich and also from different cultures and ethnias; this allows you to interact with different kinds of peoples from different social strata, etc. and that is a invaluable tool for a police officer. I have a JD degree and planning on obtaining a Master in Criminal Justice, and I’m just a patrolman.
I think there is a value to both military service and college. Being a four-year college graduate with no military experience, I do not think that I am any less of an officer without military experience. Being in the military does not equate to being a good cop. However, there is value to military service, just as a college educated officer has value to a department.
I work for a university police department and we do require college hours for hire (30). Let me be the first to say that requiring college hours ASSUMES that the officer actually received a decent university education. Due to my employment, I see students in their graduating semester filling out affidavits that contain an 8th grade vocabulary and have no main idea or directional flow. These students (and there are MANY) are entering the work force with a degree obtained from what should be considered a secondary high school, not an institute of higher education. College and universities are concerned about numbers, whether it be- number of students, number of graduates, or the total of the numbers at the bottom of your billing statement. Make no mistake, higher education is now a business not an added opportunity for enlightenment.
That being said, it astounds me that department administrators who require their officers to obtain education are so uneducated in their thought process to think that an accounting degree will be a necessity for those moments of sheer terror that require the “intestinal fortitude” to run head long into a threat that everyone else is running away from.
Truth be told, administrators like education hours because the public equates them to departmental professionalism.
Required educational hours are the diamondique gold plated rings you think about buying on QVC at 0300 hours on those sleepless nights – they look great, but in reality its just costume jewelry.
I agree with Vern. To add to that, sure a criminal justice degree (for example) would create an individual who knows HOW to do the job. However, it does not mean this person CAN do the job. There is a huge difference between knowledge and nerve. Books can only go so far and can never come close to OJT. If these agencies are worried about the knowledge part, perhaps their academies and FTO’s are not getting the job done right. I say drop the college requirement, and offer tuition assistance/salary increase for those interested in degrees. That’s actually how Rochester, NY is doing it.
Most of the people who criticize college degrees are people who don’t have them. College is more than just learning from books, its a socialization and maturing process where one learns to communicate and relate to others. Furthermore, students learn invaluable skills on time management, meeting deadlines, research, etc… These all translate well into policework. For years some have debated that policing will never become a true “profession” without the requirement of education. I agree with this and believe that increased education is necessary to deal with the modern dynamics of policing.
I feel that having officers with higher education and more life experience can only be beneficial. While a 21 year old officer fresh out of the academy may be better able to chase down a suspect, a thirty-five year old on their second career, with significant life experience and education would be much better equipped to communicate and build rapport with different communities.
An associates degree should be required, and agencies should offer additional pay based upon educational experience. Most all professional careers require at least an associates degree, why should LE be any different?
I work for an agency that requires 38 semesters units, our state (California) gives you 22 semester units for just completing the Academy. College education is good, so is military experience. Nothing can replace combat experience. On that same thought, Law Enforcement and the Military are not the same thing. Policing a community has at times very militaristic aspects and there times when having a gun on your hip is completely pointless. Most of the recruiters I have met and talk to agree that it really is the “total package.” Requiring some college, like an AA, is no different than the various standards on drug usage. Every where is different. So if San Jose Police want to have 60 units of college credit and San Francisco PD has no requirement then that is what the cities want. College at any level, exposes you to critical thinking and writing skills. That is vital in this job. Being able to shoot accurately is great, chasing butterflies looking for the right Defensive Tactic to use is helpful, but at the end of all of that you have write a report of what happened. That report will be viewed by your peers, your Sgt., the Watch Commander, the Capt, and then the investigator and LT and Capt of the Investigations division, the Chief legal Counsel for your department, the District Attorney, a Judge, the Defense Attorney…the MEDIA. Having college will help with a person’s writing ability. I know a lot of people who I met in college who are reservists. In fact, for most of my college experience I had to write letters to them while they were overseas. So the college vs. military argument may be mute after the conflict in Iraq is over. But then, there was a time when no education or training was required for law enforcement.
The reason given to by our department leaders about adding college education requirements was statistics. A study was done on the number of lawsuits targeting officers. The result revealed was that officers with college education were significantly less likely to be the target of such lawsuits and less money was paid out even when they were. I am neither advocating nor condemning the reason, I wasn’t the one to to do the study, but the decision wasn’t arbitrary. (Or at least if it was, they had a good cover story)
I also don’t find value in officers with Criminal Justice degrees. A few years learning the way it “should” be from some liberal professor does not help an individual get ready for the way it is done on the streets and the courts. Having college education in something besides criminal justice might not be used often, but when your department starts a complicated fraud case and one of your officers was an accounting major, we all know who will be assigned there to help.
Last soapbox moment, a couple of the comments advocating for education could have replaced military and still been true. Both help develop individuals by requiring discipline of the mind, attaining goals, and providing life experience. IMHO Military folk are just a little bit more physically sharp and most have better leadership training. College folk are better at creative thinking and ticket counting. (Disclaimer 4yr degree and finishing up my masters, no military so that it a shot at my side)
I spent 8 years in the military and 3.5 of it as a Drill Sergeant. I have been on the job for just about four years and I probably am the least educated person (on paper) in my department of about 60 officers. The funny thing is most of the guys that I work with are clueless, yet they have Masters Degrees. They do a lot less but get 10-25% more than me. It seems that the more they had on paper the less they know about the job and are just taking space. Half these guys are afraid to mix it up and take calls. I am glad that military and real life experience count because I would not be a Detective at this early stage in my career. Thats my take on REQUIRED Education.
i agree college can be useful. i agree though that i would rather see military on an app than college. there becomes a time in your career that having a degree is useful, usually at a command level. not that having a degree hurts, but many officers cannot apply their education to their job. there are many gray areas that common sense, quick judgement and experience are much more useful to have. hiring a mix of older officers with life experience and younger officers who can be mentored seems to work for our dept. we are lucky to have three military bases close by and hire a lot of prior military. by the way our agency pays more if you have a degree and encourages and pays officers to go to college.
I believe life experience is more important than college in a career such as law enforcement. Life experience like military and prior law enforcement. However I do believe that once you are law enforcement you should be required to have a degree in order to advance in rank. By the same I believe the jurisdiction should be responsible for half of college fees.
i can tell you from my experience that as a trainer and retired officer (medical) that my knowlage was not from a book but from experienced offers who traned me. each had a different out look, so i was able to put my outlook with it and from what i have been told became an excellent officer. i always make sure when people ask me how to get into law enforcement i always tell them to get the degree (s)as it is difficult to acheive while working and training. As a whole there is nothing in a collage course that can prepare you for what you will encounter in the field but a well versed training officer can fill the gap.
I believe a department should have a wide variety of backgrounds and recruit for such. Having a strict requirement for education or military just ties the hands of admin. when a good canidate comes along lacking those standards. Do a search for “police recruiting”, EVERYONE is looking for officers, why make it harder to recruit. I work in a dept. of mixed backgrounds and I think it makes us better as a unit.
The guy who is first through the door doesn’t have to be a former soldier, and the guy doing internet crime investigations doesn’t have to a degree from MIT. It seems the only characteristic of a successful officer I’ve seen has been a strong ethical and moral compass. The rest can be trained. STAY SAFE!
I do think college is good for law enforcement, but not on the entry level. A major Metro Police Department near where I live requires so many credits for entry level street officers, an associates for Sargents and a bachelor’s for Lt’s or higher. Seeing that most dept’s require at least 5 years before an officer can be promoted to Sargent, this is not unreasonable in my opinion.
I feel that college shouldn’t be the deal breaker in the hiring process. I have been on the job for 8 years now and I am a Marine combat veteran and currently I have 63 credits toward my degree. My agency and most agencies in the area where I work use the local training academy which is hosted by a community college. Attending that academy gives you 20 credits upon completion toward a degree in criminal justice. My agency has no incentives for higher learning. Most of my command structure is composed of those that do have a college education. I have worked with many people during my career and all have had different levels of education. I prefer to be with those that have the where-with-all to perform well under stress during “hot” calls. That is a trait developed in combat and not taught in the class room by any college.
It has been proven in study after study that higher education reduces misconduct complaints, and reduces disciplinary actions from uses of force incidents, both of which reduce agency liability. It has also been proven in study after study that requiring some degree of higher education does not reduce the applicant pool as some would profess. If nothing more, higher education makes one a better communicator, increases our maturity and socializes us to be more tolerant of other cultures and beliefs. All of which are beneficial to any law enforcement officer and any law enforcement agency.
Besides Joel, it appears this concept is split with those that have degrees thinking it is a great idea and, those that don’t, thinking it is a bad idea. I have a 4-year degree and was in graduate school when I decided to get into law enforcement. As a street officer I saw no need for my degree. It did not appear to serve any benefit to me. Now I am a lieutenant and can see the difference between college educated and non-educated officers. I’m not saying every officer needs a degree. I’m saying the additional time in school is a benefit and a time to mature. It required one to think and reason. Think about what you saw as important when you were a senior in high school. Girls, parties, cars, girls, parties, cars, and money for those things. Yes, there were parties in college but it was the first time you were required to perform at a certain level. High school was easy and almost everyone passed.
A military background is also good to have. Like college, it gives additional experiences to draw from and that is what we are looking for in a new recruit . The idea is for the person that is being hired to have some kind of additional training to prove they are capable of learning and handling the job.
Not all college and not all military people make good cops. It just give us a better pool of applicants to draw from.
A college Degree Must be a requirement
As a Chief of police of a large agency in South Florida, I will not hire an applicant without a four year degree. Military experience is a bonus as is life experience.
A four year degree shows discipline and dedication but most of all professionalism. Hopefully by the time someone completes their degree they are a little older and have gained some life exp.
Military experience is nice, but even with serving as a military police officer most agencies will require you to attend a full time law enforcement academy, because military law enforcement is not civilian law enforcement.
My recommendation to anyone thats thinking of a career in law enforcement, get a degree, attend a law enforcement academy either as a free agent of sponsored then apply to a law enforcement agency
I think college is very useful for police officers as they learn critical thinking, goal setting and a feeling of accomplishment when they complete college. I too used to work for an agency which required an associates degree to be promoted to sergeant and a bachelors degree for lieutenants and higher. The agency also provided tuition reimbusement and incentive pay for those who took advantage of the opportunity to attend college courses. This is a WIN WIN scenerio. I did not have any college when I first started policing and after nearly 15 years, I have a masters degree in public administration and a bachelors in criminal justice. College didn’t teach me to read or write but, it did teach me to write better and make better split second decisions. Police officers have to do that on a daily basis therefore, a college educated officer definitely makes a better officer in my opinion. Departments that require college should be prepared to pay for it. If an academy gives you college credit right out of the gate, why not take advantage of it? Entry level police officers do not need a degree to begin with but, who wants to be an entry level officer for the rest of their career? Politics play a big role in every police department and when you have to change jobs, college and experience are a good combination to have.
College education is a great tool to assist you in Law Enforcement. However, I have been an officer for 15 years, to include, recruitment, teaching the academy and it only shows that one piece of the pie to be a solid officers. Departments that require college over experience loose everytime. Book smarts do not equal street smarts and the type of people officers deal with on a daily basis. I am in the process of completing my degree not because it makes me a better cop, but it is a requirement to advance forward. The days of being judged by expierence are mostly gone, it’s all about a piece of paper, and as a society that limits our ablity to excel and be one piece of the pie, when we need to be a whole pie. I believe an officer should look at getting an education after they have been an officer for a while, not as a requirement to become an officer.
In looking over these comments, it seems to me that some of the people who don’t see the “value” in a college degree have some of the worst grammar skills, or lack thereof, I have seen. I’d certainly hope that you are not the ones proofing your department’s reports. Yikes!
i DON’T THINK COLLEGE SHOULD BE REQUIRED. GRANTED THE ONE GENTLEMAN STATED THAT COLLEGE TEACHES YOU TO THINK AND BE CREATIVE. HOWEVER ON THE STREETS YOU DON’T HAVE A WEEK TO DECIDE SHOULD I SPRAY HIM WITH OC OR BRING OUT MY ASP. NO CLASSROOM WORK CAN PREPARE YOU FOR THAT. SOMEONE STATED THEY WERE MORE MATURE AT 23 COMING OUT OF COLLEGE WHEN GOING IN AT 18. YOU ARE ALSO 5YRS OLDER THATS GOING TO HAPPEN ANYWAY. MOST POLICE WORK TAKES COMMON SENSE AND GUTS. i DONT THINK A CJ DEGREE HELPS ONE BIT. I COULD READ LE BOOKS ALL DAY, I STILL HAVE TO MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS IN EVERY SCENERIO BC WE ALL NO EVERY SIT IS DIFF AND I MIGHT HANDLE DIFFERENT THAN U. SO READING AND LEARNING OTHER PEOPLES WORK WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.
College educated cops has always been a point of contention between those who have obtained the degree and those who have not. To often the argument in opposition to attaining the degree seems as to attempt to correlate that the higher the education the less common sense the officer has. I disagree with this. I have beyond a Masters Degree and have successfully worked street narcotics assignments, undercover, inner-city patrol and tactical missions. You always have to look at the individual…God made us all unique. Just because you have a black belt in the martial arts does not make you an expert fighter. It’s your fighting skill as an individual that makes you good or not so good. Same for the college degree. If you are a college educated idiot then you are still an idiot. If not an idiot, but college educated, then you have been trained to be a well rounded thinker…which is the goal of a liberal arts education.
Like many of the above posters, I don’t believe that a college degree automatically makes a person a good cop. However, assuming you are a great officer, a degree WILL make you better at your job whether you realize it or not. At the very least, you’ll have a broader understanding of the world and people that are different from you. Assuming you received a quality education, your overall ability to communicate (especially in writing) will be improved.
Hopefully those depts that require a four year degree look for those candidates who otherwise would make great officers. Having a degree will make those officers even better.
Mr. Borelli, I do not think that a college degree should be mandatory. But around here where I am from you have to have a degree at most departments to even apply. Or if the department does not have a degree requirement they usually hire the 21-25 year old with a college degree or college experience. I have 11 years police officer experience, 16 years military experience in MP. And I am currently in the OCS class for the Army. But I still here you are not what we are looking for. I am 39 and when you look at who the agency hires it is the young. The kicker is I have 6 classes to go too obtain my B.S. in criminal justice. I agree with others on the post, I’ll take a vet with cs over a college person who doesn’t know how to handle themselves in a tight situation. thx for chance to vent
I agree with most of it collage does not all mean book smart though. I had it all planned out, i was about to go in the Marine corps, but do to me failing MEPS due to a thyroid problem of mine i didn’t pass. I am planning on going to collage for law enforcement and be a police officer and apply for a Special weapons and tatics postion. Even though i don’t have military experince their is many way to compete, and collage is only one of many.
I am currently serving in the US Army and my dream when I retire from federal service is to become a police officer for what ever area that I am living in with my family. To me it is about dedication and service to the Armican people. Wether it be in the military or a police agency then so be it. I don’t do it for the pay. Probibly never will. I have been a Soldier for 11 years now, and still don’t give a crap about the money. I see and hear all of your arguements with great clarity. To me Collage degrees should not be a requirement. I have to admit there are those days I say to my peers “I can’t believe this guy is an officer.” Collage doesn’t make better leader, better officer or better police. I have seen people with higher educations be the most corrupted people on the planet. Many agencies and companies now days place to much importance on collage. What they should be focusing on is a trade training program. You have more loyal employees and a long time investment in that person because of it. If you train some one to do a higher job in your company/agency then He/She is more likely to stay loyal and be a long term employee. Promote inside first and then look outside for new people. Collages can kiss my you know what because all they do now days is view students as cash cows just to make a buck. To be a Police man do you really need to know biology, middel east history, or some other crazy course. No, you don’t! Is it nice to know these things yes. Collages should focus on what career do you want and focus your courses souly on that. Be more like trade schools and not places for them to just make a profit from you. I see a lot of guys talked about how a collage degree gives that person a better understanding of other cultures and people from different places. Not totally true!!! But being the military, now that gives you an understanding of the rest of the world, cultures, and personalities. You get stationed over seas in many different areas with differnt cultures and languages. So tell me this doesn’t give you the worldly expirence that police agencies are looking for. I am a firm believer that expirence in life is better than any collage can offer.
Having a college education only proves that you have the mental capacity to go beyond what is, and i hate say this but what normal people have. In a sense it seperates you from most of your clients. I would not go see a shrink just because they had experience dealing with problems i may have. It helps you prepare to think critically rather than a machine like most military minded people. College is a great thing and it should be required.
it makes no sense to have a college degree to join the police force. Everything you will need to know will be learned at the academy so college is worthless. pluse if i was to get my college degree there is no way i would become a police officer to get paid no money!. i rather go with what i went to college for! i say lets start hiring guys straight out of highschool! nypd!
do you know of any agencies out there that do not require a college degree? I have 13 years as a software engineer and have beat out most college grads for my jobs. I DO, however value a college education but didn’t have the foresight when I was younger to buckle down and obtain a degree myself. Now Im 33, more experience then most college grads, but find my self having a hard time switching careers to something other then software development because of the lack of a degree. I do agree, with the blog post and would rather have someone with military experience then college as a police officer.
I dont think it should make a difference. I am in my mid 30’s now and never had the mindset for college. I was always a hands on person who liked fixing things around the house. After school i went into the trades and became a licensed plumber. In order to do so i went to night school taking classes for a little over 2 years. The state requires you to have the schooling along with hands on experience in order to obtain a license. After i received my plumbing licence, i went back to school for my heating and cooling licence which was another 2 years of night classes. I also obtained my heating and cooling license. The fact is that i never wanted to go to college since i always knew that i wanted to go into the trades. Know that i am in a better position (money wise_ i can pursue other things like becoming a police officer but the college degree holds me back. I think its not fair to people out there who can do the job but wont even get the oppertuinty to try cause of this. My father is a city police officer for over thirty years. he joined the force when college wast a requirement. He always says that the new recruits nowadays are not the same type of cops from when he started. He also votes that college shouldnt make a difference
I feel that College should not be a requirement to join a police force. Nor should Military service. I feel joining a police force should be like enlisting in military service. You only need High school level training. And should you want to advance in rank above Sgt then you can take courses to get a degree. This would allow for many applicants who want to be officers but cannot afford nor never had the oppurtunity to go to college to get a job doing what they want as well as make money to put towards the continuation of their education. It seems more and more professions only look for college degrees and less and less people can afford to go to college. People must take into consideration college is not free.. far from it.. and not everyone is eligable for student loans , financial aide, and or government grants.