1. A CALL TO SERVE
Why An Educated Police Force Makes All The Difference
Abby Jordan
Public Service Scholar Program
Policy & Politics Seminar on the City
Change Project: Focus on the NYPD’s Recruitment and Training Policies

2. Is the NYPD living up to their standards?
v NYPD MISSION STATEMENT
v To enhance the quality of life in our City by working in partnership with the community and in accordance with constitutional
rights to enforce the laws, preserve the peace, reduce fear, and provide for a safe environment.
v NYPD VALUES
v Protect the lives and property of our fellow citizens and impartially enforce the law.
v Fight crime both by preventing it and by aggressively pursuing violators of the law.
v Maintain a higher standard of integrity than is generally expected of others because so much is expected of us.
v Value human life, respect the dignity of each individual and render our services with courtesy and civility
Current Public sentiment and departmental misconduct records
call this into question…
As the heart of policing lies in daily interactions with
citizens.
The Goal:
Analyzing the need of higher education and how it benefits the
department in the long term – tying this into the department’s future
recruitment standards and changing the dynamics of police reform –
establishing precedent for a more educated, better trained police
force.

3. The Problem:
Police Brutality
The Use of Force & Police Misconduct at the Forefront of
Departmental Failures and the need for change.
The Proposed Idealistic Solution:
Higher Educational Standards
The Educational Background of New Recruits ties into
Their Training and Future Field Performance

4. The Policy Change
CURRENT EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENT IN NYPD HIRING POLICY
On or before the day of hire, candidates must have successfully
completed either:
– Sixty (60) college credits with a 2.0 G.P.A. from an accredited college or
university, or
– Two (2) years of full-time, active military service in the United States
Armed Forces with an honorable discharge and have a high school's
diploma or its equivalent.
PROPOSED POLICY CHANGE: SETTING EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS
On or before the day of hire, candidates must have successfully
completed either:
– 120 college credits with a 2.5 G.P.A. from an accredited college or
university, graduating with either a BA or BS (Basically a requirement of
an undergraduate degree)

5. THE LEADERS, THE IMPLEMENTERS, & THE STAKEHOLDERS
THE CITY OF NEW YORK, THE NYPD, THE CUNY SYSTEM
Expanding upon the NYPD Leadership Program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice: providing
New York City police officers and supervisors with skills that enhance public safety service delivery
and police management in a multiracial and multicultural city.
The program is designed for undergraduate and graduate non-degree UMOS students interested in
earning a degree.

6. MONEY TALKS
• Not only is the funding readily available but
it is being allocated to the same channels of
bureaucratic departmental recidivism:
Quantity over Quality approach!
• During the 2015 City Council Budget Hearing
both the City Council Police Commissioner
agreed that the NYPD needed to add an…
Additional 1,000 officers to the force!
• The recruits would cost $68.7 MILLION next
year and $95 MILLION in 2017.

7. WHY THE CHANGE may WORK
• Currently 83 % of all U.S. police agencies require a high school diploma; 8 %
require some college; Only 1 % of police agencies require a four-year college
degree…The NYPD could be the leading example in police recruitment
reforms.
• “Today’s policing is much more about social work than it is law enforcement.
It’s about resolving low-level disputes, dealing with loiterers, and so on. If
you use less force on individuals, your police department is going to be
viewed as more legitimate and trustworthy.” – University of Michigan
• We found that a college education significantly reduces the likelihood of
force occurring. The difference is real. It truly is because the officer was more
educated, not because the suspect was more resistant.” –Police Quarterly
Review
• Studies and departmental assessments continue to prove that Officers with a
four-year degree are more skilled at resolving problems without having to
resort to force. They're giving citizens alternative means of compliance
instead of relying on violent counter measures.

8. IDEALISM VS.
REALISM �
Will this change happen?
Most definitely not likely to in our life times.
Why is systemic departmental reform so hard to achieve?
Re-engineering of the department has been in the works for
years and is still implementing recommendations for training
and patrol procedures that were approved and demanded
years ago.
Change within the department (because of its size and scope)
truly does come at a snails pace.
History shows that PROGRESS only manifests itself when it is
direly NEEDED and persistently DEMANDED.
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