A question that has plagued law enforcement agencies has been whether the applicant should be required to have a college education or not. The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice published a report in 1967 stating “Police candidates must be sought in the colleges, and especially among liberal arts and social science students” (U.S. Department of Justice, 1995). Education requirement to enter the law enforcement career is an area that I have had mixed feeling on since entering law enforcement in 1995.
I feel that requiring a college education does not improve policing in a law enforcement agency for several reasons. An example of one of these reasons are people who joined the military instead of going to college. These men and women who served their country has probably had more life experience and military training in four years than a college graduate. So with the recommendation from the commission, these men and women would not qualify for entry into a law enforcement field.
The President’s commission does bring up very good points however in reference to police work. The commission writes that “Police work always will demand quick reflexes, law enforcement know-how and devotion to duty, but modern police work demands much more than that” (The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement &
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Even the National Institute of Justice wrote a report twenty eight years later showing how law enforcement agencies are switching to hiring higher educated applicants with two or four year degrees compared to hiring applicants with just a high school education (National Institute of Justice,