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Hi Everyone,
I am currently attending college to get my associates degree in Criminal Justice. For one of my classes I have to write a paper on why I think our state (Wisconsin) should NOT become the first state to require a police officer to have a bachelor's degree. Opinons, facts, suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank You!
Police work is something you really can't learn in a classroom. This is a topic i have a very strong opinion on, because MN requires either an associates degree (2 yr) in Law Enforcement, or a 4 yr (Bachelors Degree) in Criminal Justice. There aren't any dept. run academies in MN (other than St. Paul and the State Patrol I believe..?) but even if you attend one of their academies, you HAVE to get your 2 or 4 yr degree.Quote:
Originally Posted by allsugr
Part of the reason I don't think a 4 yr degree means anything in what kind of street cop you are in because I work in a city with two colleges that offer 4 yr Criminal Justice degrees. Those kids know NOTHING when it comes to law enforcement. From the freshmen to the seniors, they know nothing when it comes to real world law enforcement applications. They may know everything they need to know about Robert Peel or the broken windows theory (good things to learn about) but when it comes to ACTUAL, MODERN, REAL police work, they don't know anything. They don't learn those things until they attend a skills program at one of the 2 yr associate schools.
So anyway, no I don't believe a 4 yr bachelors degrees means anything when it comes to what kind of police officer you are going to become. All it means is you spent more money and time to be a police officer.
Police work can only be learned by doing it. But to even begin that process, you need a stable real world base to get started. The 4 yr colleges don't offer skills classes (firearms, driving, arrest procedures, etc). You learn everything from a book. Books do not provide a stable, real world base to begin that process.
In addition to that, the associate degree programs i'm familiar with structure their law enforcement programs around classes that make sense for the profession.
The first two years of every 4 yr program (that I've looked into) are mostly (or entirely) gen eds.
The "least" law enforcement type class I took was Public Speaking..which is still pretty valuable. Everything else I took was on DT, firearms, driving, criminal/traffic statutes, etc, etc.
I've met criminal justice students in 4 yr programs who are taking classes on medieval history and trigonometry. What do those classes have to do with law enforcement?
Also, I recently spoke with a 3rd year Criminal Justice student (a Junior) who didn't ANYTHING about the elements of the crime for DWI, or the differences between the degrees of assault or dwi. Incredible.
And he's probably spending an extra 30 grand for that stellar education.
Finally I have to recommend not using input from an internet forum for your paper. Anything you use from us here you should try to find examples elsewhere that you can cite.
Very simply, a lot of great candidates will be cut before they have a chance. College is good but not all that important for an officer.
My way of saying it would be that they will graduate with a whole lot of "book sense", but without a lick of "common sense".
(Also known as "street sense".)
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thisQuote:
Originally Posted by jmur5074
and i have a bachelors degree in criminal justice.
You can't teach common sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by cajunguy
because YOU don't want to have to have a degree to be an officer...:)
I see no problem with education. If you are going to get a four year degree, get it in something that is not related to CJ or the like. The reason is if the law enforcement gig doesn't work out you will have something to fall back on. Not to mention, some agencies give you an education incentive. My agency gives me an additional 10% on top of my base pay for my bachelor's. My degree is in history and political science. All the writing I did for the history has paid off for all the writing I do in law enforcement.
I can't give you my real opinion because I'd write your paper for you.
Education isn't about DOING something, or learning skills for a job. It is about knowledge for the sake of knowledge. It makes you a more well-rounded human being, better writer, more critical thinker, etc. College has become the new high school, and depending on the individual, it might be completely worthless. For those reasons, if degrees are required for LE, they shouldn't be in Criminology or Criminal Justice. I have more respect for criminology because it is theoretical, but it has very little use for street-level law enforcement.
I started college almost five years after I became a cop, then I left for 18 months to pursue a graduate degree. My degrees are in an unrelated field, but they still built skills that I already had, and they have made me a much better police officer, but not because of any applied or learned skills.
I've known cops with advanced degrees who were bumbling idiots, and I know cops with GEDs who have exceedingly fine minds (smart as the best attorneys). People like that with natural intelligence can only become better thinkers with formal education. But idiots who persevere and have letters after their name are still idiots.
I think requiring a college degree for LE is among the best of intentions, but the results don't bear it out. Fine candidates might be excluded while a moron with a BA or BS makes it in. It really is about the candidate in his or her totality, and not individual random requirements.
I go back and forth on this topic. Frankly the majority of the college only educated cops I come in contact with are "knuckleheads". I myself have a bachelors degree, but I also have military, and I generally don't consider myself an idiot. My department for almost 20 years required a 4 year degree and frankly I think that is why our command is such idiots. We in effect breed stupidity. We now will take 4 years military or 3 years law enforcement experience from somewhere else. I think I've seen a shift in the last few years of better recruits/cadets coming out of our classes.
I don't think going to college is a bad thing, and just because you don't have a degree doesn't mean you have street smarts. College does give a lot of idiots time to grow out of there stupidity without mom and down coddling them.
These days if you have any intelligence what so ever or even want to be a police officer then you probably either went into the military or to college. If you apply to my department and have neither, I'm seriously asking you where your drive is.
So all in all I think it's a good thing to have it, but a 2 year associates is plenty. At the same time you can't be a cop in most states until the age of 21, so what are you doing with those 4 years after high school. Figure it out, I don't really want a prior weed head or a high school welder applying. I want someone who is driven and knows what they want in life and goes after it.
Just my take...
Thank you everyone for your responses, I really appreciate it!!!
This helps me a lot, in many ways!