A growing number of entry-level criminal justice practitioners have college degrees. This paper will explore whether or not law enforcement agencies should require applicants to have a post secondary degree as a condition of employment and will college-educated police officers will be resistant to organizational change.
Post Secondary Degree Requirements for Police Officers
Perceptions of what constitutes a qualified police officer have been crafted as a result of numerous television shows and movies. They are often portrayed as heroic, invincible, and possessors of brute strength. While some of these physical attributes are in fact expected and required of police officers, they are not the only ones and at times, may come secondary to alternative methods, such as the use of strong communication and critical thinking skills. Policing has changed immensely since the days of resolving issues with a night stick. There is a desire for today’s police officers to possess the educational capacity to develop and implement community policing initiatives. Additionally, there exists a desire to professionalize policing. This drive for professionalism has led to the desire for increased educational requirements (Brecci, 1994).
The emphasis on the need for police officers to have a post secondary education is not new. During the Political Era of policing, police officers were often politically appointed, regardless of their level of capacity to do the job. Forms of corruption like nepotism, bribes, and politically based decisions were commonplace. As such, the public’s perception of the police was that they were lawless and their trust and confidence soon eroded away. This era resulted in a need for reform. ...
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The influence of higher education on police officer habits would surprise many according to Matthew D. Bostrom, D.P.A of the Saint Paul Police Department in “Police Chief Magazine-The Professional Voice of Law Enforcement”. Although a degree is required for some agencies and considered ideal for any person looking to join the law enforcement field, surveys show otherwise says Bostrom. According to a study conducted in St. Paul, Minnesota there were more on-duty vehicle collisions by officers with formal education beyond high school than those who only obtained a high school diploma. The article also shows figures indicating more disciplinary actions towards officers with college degrees and a significant difference in those of officers with high school diplomas only. The measurements of work habits shown indicate that perhaps a college degree in general is not necessary to be an effective police officer. Traffic Officer James Dunn of the California Highway Patrol in an interview said, “a degree can be beneficial, but some people are very eloquent and knowledgeable even without attending college-a person can learn the specific duties of any job, but college does not teach you the responsibilities of being a police officer. You learn that by hands-on training”. Although a degree is helpful, Officer Dunn admits that he has been very successful in the law
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...y been an explosion of young people, foreigners, and people who simply subscribe to a lifestyle completely different from what a traditional American was considered to be. Policing has come a long way. As Fyfe points out, extralegal violence has become almost completely eradicated. (Fyfe article) This shows that departments have accepted the huge array of different lifestyle. Yet, the existence of violence due to misunderstanding shows that they do not yet understand it. With enough education, including the education of citizens, there can be an understanding produced that will alleviate many of the situations which now arise from miscommunication between the police and citizens.
This paper will show four different police departments that are currently hiring or recruiting for police officers. There will be a summary on the research found on the process used to recruit police officers. It will also show their current hiring trends and what hiring practices they have that are successful or not successful. The paper will also go over the different methods departments use to train their new officers and their values.
Law enforcement like much of the economy and society has had to adapt to the rapidly changing Atmosphere of the technological advances. To counter these advances, education has served in the forefront to combating the technological sophistication that is rapidly sweeping the workforce. The need and desire to remain competitive with the technology that we have is a need that can be satisfied with more education. Much like technology, education has benefits elsewhere in the equation of remaining competitive. Education on the higher tiered level provides a professionalism to accompany by the demands placed on students during their scholastic years of study. Activities required by many professors in the higher education realm provide skills needed to polish the individual for his or her place in society. Is this now so hard to conceive that law enforcement may also have to do the same? Over the past three decades the demands that law enforcement have encountered have greatly increased as the changing times and technologically stimulated problems have come into light. Higher Education plays a large part in the professionalization and advancement of police into the modern context of what is needed and expected of police.
“How to motivate law enforcement officers” is an article that was written by James A. Jancewicz and published in the Law enforcement magazine on April 7th, 2016. In the article, Mr. James argues that police officers need the motivation to inspire excellence as the belief of being called to protect and serve are not enough. Motivating officers will ensure the long-term success of the law enforcement as the communities will be safe and the enforcement will be respected. Motivation in the law enforcement includes giving officers training and opportunity for challenge, allowing
It is both a result and a cause of police isolation from the larger society and of police solidarity. Its influence begins early in the new officer’s career when he is told by more experienced officers that the “training given in police academies is irrelevant to ‘real’ police work”. What is relevant, recruits are told, is the experience of senior officers who know the ropes or know how to get around things. Recruits are often told by officers with considerable experience to forget what they learned in the academy and in college and to start learning real police work as soon as they get to their Field Training Officers. Among the first lessons learned are that police officers share secrets among themselves and that those secrets especially when they deal with activities that are questionable in terms of ethics, legality, and departmental policy, are not to be told to others. They also are told that administrators and Internal Affairs officers cannot often be trusted. This emphasis on the police occupational subculture results in many officers regarding themselves as members of a “blue
Police Officers. Today, police forces screen candidates who want to be police officers based on their level of education (Goff, 2014, p. 204). Police forces also often more training on the job and greater specialized training on the job (Council of Canadian Academies, 2014, p. 50). By raising the education standards of officers, as well as offering more on job training, police agencies aim to employ more efficient officers with increased knowledge on the use of technology (p. 191). Studies have shown that law enforcement officers with more education are better at dealing with stress from the job, take more initiative on the job, are more professional on the job, and generate less public complaints than officers of similar status with less
Kania, R., & Davis, R. P. (2012). Managing criminal justice organizations: an introduction to theory and practice (2nd ed.). Waltham, MA: Anderson Pub.
Police officers are constantly interacting with the general public so it is inevitable that they will acquire firm emotions and assumptions of a person based on their race and ethnicity (Semple, 2013). Everyone is entitled to have their own opinions and beliefs, but those same opinions and beliefs lead to discriminatory treatment of certain individuals (Semple, 2013). Many law enforcement agencies exhaust funds and assets to teach their employees and future employees to be blind to race and religion and protect and serve the people equally (Semple, 2013). Police misconduct such as brutality and racial profiling can be reduced by strict survallince and sensitivity training (Osterndorf, 2015). Police have to stop letting their emotions get involved when handling the law with a citizen. Officers are often annoyed when they have to go through sustainment training or new training because of the assumption that their on the job experience and knowledge is enough to do their job (Semple, 2013). The situation with that type of comportment is that at some point their cognizance becomes pass because they were reluctant to go through training and take in incipient erudition. Officers who are paid a competitive salary are less liable to be corrupt because they do not have the desideratum to glom to compensate for a low income. Finally, another proposal to limit the brutality
The police officer’s job, Vollmer declared, was to form alliances in the community that would lead to strategies to deal with the “pre-delinquent” youngster, while at the same time working to alleviate the social and psychological causes of later delinquency and crime. His view of his idealized crime-fighting police officer was suggested in his 1919 article titled “The Policeman as a Social Worker.” In this article he described his view of the officer as the ultimate crime fighter who understood crime and worked to prevent its occurrence. In order to bring about this kind of police officer, he realized that the officer must be intelligent, educated, and trained. That meant, essentially, elevating the role and status of police officers to make
In the beginning police officers were given a gun and handcuffs and told to enforce the law and keep the peace. Eventually through trial and error police academies were born. These academies would give officers the basic training they needed before they began their patrols. Most officers recruited by a law enforcement agency will have to meet certain requirements. This paper will focus on the educational requirement if any and if law enforcement officers need a higher education to exceed.
Within law enforcement, the concept of the “warrior” is a commonly acknowledged term in which refers to the officers mindset. Current policing has meticulously adapted the warrior mentality, now officers are taught early on to establish a “warrior attitude.” (Stoughton, 2015). An officer being referred to as a police warrior instils
“Police Officers take risks and secure that safety of fellow citizens, and they endure such risks and tolerate such inconveniences on behalf of strangers” (International Association of Chief of Police). In this paper I will be talking about the history, skill set, duties, training, education, job outlook, and more for being a police officer.
The police must be active members in their community to understand the people they are protecting and how they can be proactive in the crime prevention in that given community. For the second question in the survey I stated that it is the public’s job to obey the law and make the police’s job easier and not more difficult. Once again, I was close minded in my answer. The public is tasked with policing the police; however, it does not mean they are making the police’s job more difficult, it is just about holding them accountable for their actions. Police require a wide set of characteristics, if they want to be successful during the application process and enjoy a long career in public safety. When asked in the survey at the start of this course, I answered that an officer requires the ability to treat all people fairly in all situations. This is a phenomenal quality for a police officer to have, but it is just one of many that an officer must possess. Adaptability was the first the trait that stood out me, when reading the modules, because it is essential for a new and old officer to continue to grow and adapt.