Police
Education
What is the difference between the education received in a
Criminal Justice degree and at a Police Academy? Is a Criminal Justice degree
really necessary to be an effective Police Officer? Should there be a better
connection between Police Departments and colleges? Peter McDermott, Diana
Hulse, Michael Bueger, Charles Tenney, Richard Harris, and Frank Morn have
differing opinions on this topic.
According to Harris, all Police training is regulated
through the state. There are minimum standards for what is to be taught in the
Academy. Minimum standards are put in place to ensure adequate education for
all officers across the country. This guarantees that new Police Officers are
well-equipped to do their job and keep the community safe. Minimum standards
are good for those without a college degree. The training academy is the only
education that they will receive. With minimum standards, it is ensured that
they will be well educated to help make up for the lack of a college degree. A
world without Police Education regulation would be a scary world. If Police
Education wasn’t regulated, then there would be so many Police Departments that
would provide very little training, which is dangerous for the Officers and for
the community.
It is extremely hard to get into many of the Academes in
the United States and this creates problems in the hiring process. Many require
a Criminal Justice degree and even with a degree, you might get the job.
Someone once told me that if you don’t become a Police Officer, the only thing
you can do with a Criminal Justice degree is teach. Recruits have to submit to
an extensive background investigation including a “competitive civil service
exam”, a physical fitness test, and a thorough medical examination. (The Police Academy, pg. 10) Recruits have to jump through hoops to get to
the Academy, which is where the intense training is, and there is no guarantee
that you will actually get there. It is not fair to the recruit to have to pay
for college and then go through this rigorous process to possibly end up with
no job. Police Departments need to either stop requiring a college degree or
make the Academy easier to get into and finish. There needs to be more
guarantees for the recruits because they spend so much time and energy in the
application process and so much money on their education which is useless if
they don’t get the job.
McDermott and Hulse highlight the differences between the
Police Academy and the college degree. In the Academy, training involves
tactical skills, communications, human interactions, and proper documentation
skills. Tactical skills are definitely not on the list of courses that are
required to earn a Criminal Justice degree. In the tactical skills portion of
the Academy, recruits learn defensive skills, some martial arts, and how to
fight in high stress situations. Communications consists of learning to use the
Police radio and training in the Police ten codes and reference codes. Learning
about human interactions and proper documentation skills is important because
you learn how to deal with citizens and how to handle the different types of
people that you will come in contact with every day. In the field of law
enforcement, documentation is a very important thing. You have to be able to
describe what happened in every situation during your day. These just aren’t
things that can be taught in a classroom. Every Police department operates
differently, so in order for colleges to teach everything they would have to
give an overview of every Police department, which would take a very long time. New Police Officers have to take what they
have learned and apply them every day in the field. The Academy combines
classroom learning with physical fitness and recruits need both of these things
to be a successful Police Officer.
On the other hand, Bueger emphasizes the importance of a
college education AS WELL AS the Police Training Academy. He says that these
two types of education need to work together to provide the best education for
our Police Officers. Programs such as internships, explorer programs, and cadet
programs are a way to connect the college education with the hands-on Academy
training. If the college community and the Police Training Community
communicated on their education topics, then we could avoid a lot of the
“double education” that occurs. If these two are not willing to have an
educational relationship, then why are more and more Police Departments
requiring a 4 year degree to get an entry level job or for promotions in the
future. UNCC and CMPD work very well together. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police
Department has many programs for UNC Charlotte students to get involved in law
enforcement before they graduate. This helps students to learn more about law
enforcement and about this particular department.
As
part of my Criminal Justice education, I completed an internship. The
experiences and the things that I have learned during my internship are
priceless. When you do an internship, it is like on-the-job training while you
are taking classes. I go to class and learn the law and learn about different
elements of crimes and then I ride along with a Police Officer and get to learn
first-hand how these things apply directly to the job. It was an amazing
experience that connected my education with my future career. It also helps
students to realize how the material they learn in class actually relates to
the job.
“An increasing number of Police Agencies require that
4-year Bachelor’s degree as a hiring credential” (Education and Training the Future Police Officer, pg. 2) If so many
Police Departments have made a degree a hiring requirement, than is it more
useful than previously thought? Some think that a college degree is becoming
more valuable. With the sophistication of crime, a college degree is becoming a
more favorable credential of candidates. According to Charles Tenney, education should be
left up to the law enforcement agencies. Their training should provide enough
classroom education to be as effective as a college degree in Criminal Justice.
Tenney believes that college-type education should be part of the Police
Academy. He believes that this would be easier on the recruit because they
wouldn’t have to pay for what is basically job training. New recruits would
only have to learn the material once in the Academy instead of once in the
Academy and once in college and they wouldn’t have to pay for it at all!
What are the problems with the Criminal Justice field? Some
look down upon the field of Criminal Justice; however, the field has come a
long way in recent years. Historically, the Criminal Justice discipline has
been looked down upon because of the nature of the courses that are involved in
this type of degree. Some say that it has no place in higher education and that
it is a waste of time and of a degree. Historically, when people thought of
Criminal Justice, they thought of the “handcuffing 101” class. (Academic Politics and the History of
Criminal Justice Education, pg. 23) The bad reputation of the Criminal
Justice degree is another reason that Law Enforcement training should stay
within the Police Academy. Our Police Officers are going to colleges around the
country to get an education in order to go to the Academy, but they are
learning from people that don’t even have any respect for this line of work.
People don’t think that this field of study is legitimate.
The problem that remains within the Criminal Justice degree
and the Police Academy is that they are so different and so alike at the same
time. Some things that you learn in college you just can’t learn in the Police
Academy and there are things that you learn in the Police Academy that have no
place in college. Can you imagine and college class that focused on the correct
way to shoot a gun. This would be very weird in a college setting. Can you
imagine a shooting range on a college campus; it would definitely be something
that has never been done before. Both education methods are important, but
whether or not this way of educating our Officers will last is unknown.
No comments:
Post a Comment