The Police and Higher Education - Essay Example

Running Head: Police and Education The Police and Higher Education Police officers should have a college degree because they too like other professionals should be held up to the same standards. A college education is not guarantee a good police officer but it can make the entire police force a better one. Education equips people with critical thinking skills which are extremely important while implementing the law. Each police officer should receive training that relates to his responsibilities and he or she should be taught how to deal with different types of people. Promotion should be interlinked with the level of education. Academic standards are not discriminatory at all; instead they are in line with the principles of democracy. Outline Introductionpage 4 Text.pages 4 - 8 Conclusion..page 8 Referencespage 9 The Police and Higher Education To consider any job a profession a person must go through rigorous academic training. The only reason we entrust our lives to a doctor is because we know he or she has gone through at least a decade of tough training. (Bueermann, 2006) A doctor treats people who are sick. To determine how sick the patient is a doctor must know all the symptoms, the medical history and the possible allergic reactions. Any one who commits a crime has a disease. A police officer is a criminal's doctor. To find out how sick the criminal is the police should look at the effect of the crime, the criminal history and possible future reactions to the both the police and the criminals action. For a police officer to do his job he must have some academic training because he must diagnose the criminal. The Chief of Police of Redland California says, "We need to advance the educational levels of police officers. Today's challenges-greater ethnic and racial diversity in the service population, increased outside scrutiny of police practices, added responsibilities arising from homeland security-require officers to be able to think critically."(Bueermann, 2006) The Chief believes that society today is way more complex and to meet all the challenges an officer must be able to critically analyze a situation and take action accordingly. 'Street smarts' cannot be acquired by a college degree but the ability to critically think can. "Higher education does not guarantee that a candidate will become a great cop, but it does promote critical thinking. And requiring a college degree of incoming police officers is an effective way to foster organization-wide critical thinking."(Bueermann, 2006) The basic purpose of college besides producing a professional is to teach a person to think outside the box and to critically analyze a situation. Education diversifies people's thoughts and transforms ideas into revolutions. A high school education strengthens the bud's roots so it can go to college, receive proper exposure to sunlight and have enough water to bloom into a rose. Education helps the human brain bloom into a perfect rose. It should be expected of police officers, the guardians of our society, to not only have strong roots but an open mind as well. Although college education is the formal way of getting an education it is not always the only way of getting one. A police department in Connecticut has taken a different route to police education. Instead of having a military like building their institute looks like a regular college. Instead of wearing uniforms the recruits wear normal clothes and the head is civilian. They have also changed what they teach; initially the training focus was on the physical aspects of policing. (Travis, 1995) Now the emphasis is on problem-solving, conflict resolution, diversity training, and acquiring organizational skills. Previously, only the minimum State requirements were taught. Now, recruits study such problems as sexual harassment, bias and hate crimes, HIV-AIDS, stress, and violence against women conversational Spanish and American Sign Language [and how to] deal with "special populations," such as gay and lesbian people. (Travis, 1995) Police officers should be provided an education that is catered specifically to them in order to reap all the benefits. In marketing we must continue to innovate to keep a product alive in the market. For police officers, they must continue to receive an education that is up to date with the current on goings of society. Our society today is very complex. Race, ethnicity, sexual preferences and people with different disabilities have to be kept in mind while policing. If a police officer is stationed in a metropolis that is saturated with a Latino population it is only common sense that he should know a few basic words of Spanish. Hate crimes against Middle Easterners are very common nowadays, especially since the rebirth of terrorism after 9/11. Each police officer should understand what is going on in society and how he or she will solve each of the problems. One very important aspect of catering to society with justice is by providing policing services to each individual equally. A significant amount of people in any given location are disabled, sometimes this maybe a hearing disability or being trapped in a wheelchair. When it comes to the former, every police officer should know some basic sign language. People with disabilities often need extra attention and they cannot be helped the some way a regular person might be. Every officer should know the basics of sign language to assist and help the people who have impaired hearing. Education is the only thing in the never world that never goes to waste and continuously helps a person move forward. Accoding to the local news the salary for Abilene police officers increases as their time working at the department increases plus $100 to $160 each month to people with a college education. (2008) Instead of a minimal bonus, promotion should be linked with college education. It is an understood fact that usually in professional jobs the amount of education a person has leads to their level of employment. For example, a person with a PhD can teach an advanced course in his or her area of expertise but a person with a bachelor's degree cannot. After completing the intern year a med school student becomes a resident but he or she cannot be a cardiologist or a neurologist until several years of specializing in that particular field. Henceforth, promoting police officers should have a connection with their level of education. New York is one of the few places where this concept is translated into reality. A police officer in New York "cannot be promoted to sergeant until [he has] two years of college; [he] cannot be promoted to lieutenant until [he has] three years; and to be a captain [he needs] the full four years."(Travis, 1995) The linking of education and promotion makes complete sense because as a person climbs up the ladder he or she obviously needs more skills. A person is promoted because he or she can be entrusted with a more complex position. Promotion means a person should have the right leadership qualities and show a promise to adapt, learn, and put his/her skills to use. The only way a person can fulfill all his or her duties responsibly and efficiently at a higher level is by getting proper training and a formal education. In any business a person is expected to communicate to other people in his field effectively. College grooms a person to perform these skills effectively. As a police officer is promoted he has to deal with government officials, interact with important individuals and communicate through words and writing. If a police officer at a higher post is unable to write a letter of promotion for a person on the bottom of the hierarchy it can be assumed that he has no business sitting in that position. Each business has a few basic requirements. Aside from inheritance, to be someone else's boss you must be an employee first and be able to perform all the tasks an employee can. Being able to write a letter and knowing the basics of communicating with people, the importance of building goodwill in a business, staying positive and reaping the benefits is important in every business including the police business. These basic principles should be engrained in every officer's toolbox of skills and as they move up the promotion ladder, they should evolve to become even better. Mandatory academic standards guarantee a better police force. The government makes the law, the police implements its. If a government official was uneducated and only had a high school diploma the country would frown upon it. If a police officer doesn't have the proper college education he should be frowned upon to. Whether educational standards are discriminatory or not is debatable. The U.S. government, the law making body of the country, to this day has not had a female president. The second women ever to run in this race just lost a few days ago to an African American male. The prediction according to most people is that Democrats will not win the 2009 election. But this does not mean that the educational standard, the work experience, and all the other standards a presidential candidate is held up to should be dropped because they are apparently discriminatory. Anyone who makes the law is weighed upon a scale of qualifications, one of which is education. This often minimizes the diversity on the larger scale in our country's government but only because the truth of democracy is that although every one has a voice the majority is not always right. Henceforth, if an academic standard is deemed non-mandatory and only optional because it is apparently discriminatory and it will affect the agency's diversity the United States should get used to having laws implemented on them by people who might not have the credentials to implement the law let alone understand the depth of it. Police officers should not be puppets of the government. A government that makes laws and a police that blindly implements them. Being someone's puppet is communism. Democracy holds people up to different standards. In a democratic nation it is our right that the person implementing the law be educated just like the person making the law. Options such as a police education institute can substitute for a formal college education. In either case a police officer should be held up to a specific standard of education. A formal education provides the police force with tools to better understand their society and critically analyze situations and deal with problems efficiently. Being held up to an academic standard is not a discriminatory act, instead it is in line with the principles of democracy. Every professional should be held up to a standard of education. References (2008, May 4). Salary for Abilene Police Officers. Retrieved June 6, 2008, from Reporter News Web site: http://www.reporternews.com/news/2008/may/04/salary-for-abilene-police-officers/ Bueermann, Jim (2006, August). Redlands, California. The Police Chief, 73, Retrieved June 5, 2008, from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfmfuseaction=display&article_id=965&issue_id=82006 Travis, Jeremy (1995, February 10). Education in Law Enforcement: Beyond the College Degree. Retrieved June 6, 2008, from U.S. Department of Justice Web site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/speeches/police.htm Read More