The document discusses arguments for why police departments should hire candidates with college degrees rather than just a high school diploma. It reviews literature showing college education can improve police performance, professionalism, and ability to handle complex modern policing issues. The document also outlines the methodology used, including interviews of police officers and staff to collect data on their experiences with higher education.

1. Running head: Collegiate degrees vs high school 1
Collegiate degrees vs high school 9Why Police Should Hire
Candidates with Collegiate Degrees vice Just a High
School/GED
Roger F. Lewis
St. Thomas University
Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Why Police Should Hire Candidates with Collegiate Degrees
vice Just a High School/GED 4
Literature Review 7
Data Collection 10
Data Analysis/Findings. 11
Conclusion. 12
References 13
Abstract
Entry into law enforcement is considered one of the most
prestigious things that one can do for their community. Law
enforcement is also among the best careers that one can take up.
It has been a matter of contention on whether the people who
have college degrees should be given the priority when it comes
to the police recruitment process. Today, law enforcement has
changed and is asking for the individuals in the profession to
have more education. The law enforcement of today require the
education intangibles that a college student will have and there
is the need for continuous learning. There are several things in
law enforcement which require one to have an education. There
are internal politics of the government that one will require an
education to understand. There are several issues today in law
enforcement which require someone to have the much-needed
education. There are influences such as the economy,
technology as well as community relations. A formal education

2. is required to understand most of these things better and give
services to the community. When a law enforcement officer is
educated, they are able to open up new possibilities. With a
college degree, one is able to understand the leadership theories
that are there as well as new ideas in the world. The presence of
a college degree also means that one is able to consider new
ideas and process them as a result of the different experiences
of people in class. Law enforcement officers need to have been
exposed to various cultures and people and gotten into the
culture of sharing information. Communication skills are also
taught in colleges which can help an individual became a better
officer.
Why Police Should Hire Candidates with Collegiate Degrees
vice Just a High School/GED
Police recruitment has been an emphasis on law enforcement
agencies for decades. This controversial topic has attracted
different researchers to investigate the relationship between
higher education and policing in combating crimes. The
concepts of police modernization and professionalism are
surrounded by the quality of police education and training
concerning the effects it brings to organizational transformation
and individual performance (Francis & McCafferty, 2003).
Bearing in mind the security and safety of citizens is one of the
key government goal pillars, education, and well-trained law
enforcement officers are integral in revolutionizing the policing
department. Expansive research has found that significant shifts
in the nature of police work and policing practices have
significantly changed in the 21st century because candidates
with college degrees are preferred as compared to the tradition
of recruiting uneducated candidates (Anthony, 2012). Some of
the critical playing factors pushing to this adaption are the
relationship between initial training, academic qualifications to
advance police professionalism as well as career progression.
The reason why degree candidates should be a priority
according to research is the value of technical competency of
police training and education as an instrument of accountability

3. and the current forces in the police departments that diverse
skills to fit in today’s model. The focus and direction of this
discussion are to show why candidates with college degrees
should be a priority in police recruitment because they gained
skills enough to bring effects on behavior and performance, a
positive impact on attitudes and beliefs.
There are a few contrasts and varieties that exist in police
institute training processes and content for recently hired
officials crosswise over areas and districts. The objective of the
process of higher learning training and education is the
advancement of minds, career objectives, and attitudes of future
law requirement officials accountable for the social order
(Jason, 2010). Formal and structured training for new
individuals is necessary to what law requirement foundations or
police institutes represent. Different methods and procedures,
for example, understanding the use of vital crucial training
equipment significant to the local, provincial, or national
measures that apply to the part of the nation, state, or country,
make up a great part of the content and preparing for new police
recruits. Police training regularly appears as a responsive
program where it is viewed as a method for correcting police
misconduct and transforming the whole police organization.
Hopefully, nonetheless, police training ought to be a proactive
program where education and training go parallel to update
specialized police aptitudes as a vehicle to help export
community policing, human rights, the rule of law, and
democratization to developing countries.
The paper will explore the above-mentioned themes using a
narrative theory study whereby a semi-structured interview of
police and staff with higher education experiences will be used
to collect data. A summary of the existing literature is provided
before discussing the findings. Choosing this method was
appropriate because it helped researchers in developing
contextual knowledge instead of using a method used for
purposes of compatibility. Therefore, the method allows for a
better “elaboration and clarification” (McHenry, n.d.). Such a

4. methodology is especially significant concerning research
subjects, similar to this one, where there is a shortage of
existing experimental information on the issues being addressed
among this occupational populace. In this regard, this
examination may be named 'Exploratory' (Stickle, 2016) in that
it takes into consideration a less prescriptive way to deal with
producing qualitative information that will allow points to be
drawn from the data during the investigation stage. This
methodology is significant in that it goes some way towards
placing itself in the Weberian custom that maintains avoid from,
"pre-definition of what is to be considered important"
(Scherman, 2019) by enabling enough adaptability for
interviewees to emphasize relevant subjects within the
parameters of the question.
Literature Review
In the recent past, American policing was expressed by no
particular standards, ineffectual techniques, modes training,
recurrent corruption and police cruelty and lack of reasonable
command systems. In the beginning of the occupation. The duty
of a police personnel could be illustrated by just a few ability
sets. Actually, when likened to the modern legal setting, law
implementation officers of the yesteryear belonged to so me
what simple profession. Officers of the past had the freedom to
use expansive means to realize the mission of bringing
criminals to justice. There existed limited reliance on more
intellectual and scientific equipment to control offences in prior
periods. As legal structures continue to be more complicated,
community’ expectations of the police personnel have increased
(Law Enforcement Degrees & Police Careers 2019). Therefore,
there is the slithering criterion by community to balance due
practice with offense control in the criminal justice structures.
The education and functioning of police personnel are key
importance since it is vital that agencies pinpoint the best
forecasters to identify an individual’s ability and prospect for
success in policing. A police sector has the utmost recurrent and
intimate contact between the government and the society. This

5. therefore means the better the police personnel create positive
interactions with stakeholders and carry out their law
enforcement responsibilities can lead to enhanced social
welfares and the insight that procedural integrity exists
(Edwards 2017).
The improved public interaction and functioning-based
prospects of a police personnel with college education gives ibn
law implementations is a vibrant behavioral study which
gathered momentum after 9/11 as policing moved from
randomized watch patterns, maintenance of peace and being
assessed in terms of response-times. Stakeholders now
anticipate that police personnel will analyze the cause of crime,
recommend remedies, heal social illnesses, lessen recidivism
and address public problems with transparency (Harmon 2011).
The extension of police functions includes a reliance upon
technology and the demand for advanced skill levels. The
moderns police personnel are the gatekeepers of criminal justice
system and their modern tools include; license plate recognition
system, personal computers, link analysis programs,
international positioning systems etc. (Gardiner 2015). This
advancement requires that a person has advanced education
levels. Even though not everybody accepts that police personnel
require college degrees, common policing approaches like
intelligence-led policing, community policing as well as
problem- concerned policing need police personnel to analyze
data, explain complicated problems and carryout a range of
multifaceted duties in a professional and socially sensitive
style. Although the question exists on whether college degrees
is important for police personnel, it is definitely valuable.
A certain study was carried out on over 1707 members of the
New York City Police Department which was signed up in 1995
and allotted permanent authorities upon completing Academy
training. Features of the members of the course that were
determined at the end of the tuition were obtained from NYPD
staffs and police Academy. The ideologies of performance
model were utilized to establish behaviors that could be deemed

6. superior performance, and then quantifiable pointers for such
functioning were identified and subjected to investigation by
use of cross tabulation and linear reversion. The research
determined that female police officers with four-year college
degrees were more probable of giving out superior performance
in the extents that functioned as pointers for good verdict and
considerate collaboration with the community (Spangenberg
2016). Additionally, the study found out that the New York City
residents and police officers whose absolute Police Academy
status was in the upper half of the class were more probable of
having greater performance in events which functioned as
indicators for a greater rate of structural commitment.
The world has continued to experience a rise and growth of
technology. Advancement of computing and associated software
technologies that emerged in the commercial world in the 1980s
and making their presence felt even in in the police
departments. A new series of information technologies has the
capacity to prepare the police department well into the future
(Anthony W. Batts 2012). Policing is a service profession
whose principal input and foundation for action is information.
Information is the vital feature of current societies and is the
crucial and central trait of policing. Because the police deeply
depend on information and count on the community as the main
source of information, the means in which the police decode,
encode, obtain, process and utilize information is critical to
comprehend their obligation and purpose (Manning 1992). If an
officer has not gone through the degree education, they might
find it hard to fit in the world of technology which is becoming
increasingly rampant.
There exists a leadership deficiency in law implementation and
many conventional criminal justice plans include leadership as a
Minor portion of their course. As an era of baby boomers start
to retire and the occupation is confronted by a slew of fresh
problems like the emergence of new technology, community
policing demands and organizational revolutions, leaders with
familiarity of the 21st century matters are in numerous demand

7. (Hiring for the 21st Century Law Enforcement Officer 2017).
But unluckily, there is scarcity of personnel who qualify for
such criteria.
What I am adding to this literature is that candidates with
college degrees are capable of serving the modern society better
and are more capable to handle technology-based crimes than
those without college degrees. Data Collection
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Data Analysis/Findings.
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Conclusion.
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