College Education for Police Officers

Kaia Stott CJ1010

Police officers should need a college education for many reasons. The following
paragraphs will explain why it would be beneficial to the police force and to the public if
officers were required to have some sort of college education. Well discuss reasons such
as knowing how to deal with certain situations better, having clearer reports that will hold
better, how education can help them to be less hated in the publics eyes, and more. All of
these reasons to require police to have a college education are important for the
improvement of the tensions between police and the public, and the skills they need in
order to do better overall as a department.
Police officers should be required to have a college education so that they will
have better writing and English skills. Writing a clear report without errors in spelling or
grammar and making sure that all of the facts are correct is very important to do as an
officer. Rebecca L. Paynich (2009) wrote that, College Educated police officers write
better reports (p.1). This shows that it is important for officers to have basic and above
writing skills, which they may learn in college and be able to apply to their reports. A
police report that is strong and clear is beneficial because it can hold stronger in a court
case. Kirk B. Redwine (2003) states, I believe the vast majority of good police work
is supported entirely by an officer's ability to present accurate, detailed and informative
information in the form of the police report( p.02). It is also important for officers to
have a well-written report so that if something happens where the police had problems
and the Media wants to cover the story and reads the officers report, then they will have

more negative things to say about the Police Department for being uneducated. People
will have more trust in officers if they know that they are well educated.
Going to College teaches a lot about how to deal with situations that are a bit out
of your control, and how to remain calm and relaxed in times of high pressure, such as
before and during final exams. P.E. Carlan and F.R. Byxbe (2000) suggest that officers
with a college education are more rounded thinkers and exhibit a greater humanistic
bent (235). These are important skills that can help an officer during situations that are
stressful and can quickly escalade, they are skills that can be learned in college. Knowing
that often, things will be out of your control is an important skill and something that all
police officers should know because if something bad happens, say someone commits
suicide in front of the police officer, they must be able to recognize that it was not
completely his/her fault and it could have been out of their control, so that they dont put
the blame on themselves for it and cause damage on themselves mentally where they
wont be able to know how to deal with it. Knowing how to deal with stressful situations
is also important. Officers have to go through stress often as a part of their job and
therefore they must know how to stay calm during these stressful times to be able to keep
the peace, which is a skill that one learns when they are attending college and are stressed
out by assignments and end of semester final exams.
The police have problems with how the public sees them. More and more people
are going to college because it is becoming a requirement for many of the jobs that pay
well. This matters because people dont want to be told what to do or get pulled over and
ticketed by a police officer if the officer has a lower education than himself or herself.
Chief Bowman states, raising educational standards for police officers long has been

advocated as a way to improve the quality of police service. Doing something as simple
as requiring a higher education for police officers can have a large impact on the whole
way that police perform and are seen by the citizens. The police need to be equally or
more educated than the public, doing this would result in more respect for the police and
therefore fewer assaults on officers, and less gun violence from the police in response to
any assaults. Chief Bowman (2003) writes, Numerous studies since the 1970s have
suggested that a college education enhances law enforcement. These benefits include
fewer on-the-job injuries and assaults, fewer disciplinary actions from accidents and force
allegationsgreater acceptance of minorities. This is important because it can reduce
the amount of violence and tension between the public and the police and prevent
unnecessary deaths. The decrease in violence could be significant enough to convince
people to ban guns in the U.S. although they would probably still try to. Educated police
would be better for the public to call because they knew they could be trusted because
they were educated. There is a problem right now though where people are cautious about
calling the police to their homes in worry that it isnt worth all of the trouble.
In conclusion, it is very important for police officers to hire more people with a
college education, even if its just an associates degree, it will make a big difference. The
community and the department will notice the difference. There are so many benefits to
hiring people that want to be officers and have a higher education. The officers in the
department will be happier because they will know how to work with their emotional and
mental problems better and wont have as much stress and anger that they dont know how
to deal with in a healthy way. They also wont have to worry about the negative things that
the public thinks about them. The public will do better because there wont be these

tensions between them and the police that causes many problems and sometimes death.
They will feel safer inviting the police into their homes in case of a problem and there
will be a general trust between the public and the police. Overall, it would be a beneficial
thing for police to mainly hire officers with some sort of college education.

References
Bowman, T., Chief. (2003, March). Educate to Elevate. Crime and Justice
International, 19(71).
Paynich, R. L., PhD. (2009, February). The Impact of a College-Educated Police
Force: A review of the literature [Review]. Massachusetts Chiefs
Association. Retrieved July 28, 2016.
Redwine, K. B. (2003, October 26). The Importance of the Police Report.
Lecture. Retrieved July 2016, from Criminal Justice Institute.
P.E. Carlan and F. R. Byxbe, "The Promise of Humanistic Policing: Is Higher
Education Living Up to Societal Expectations?" American Journal of
Criminal Justice 24 (2000): 235-245.