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Final Essay
Police Officers Do Need Tertiary Qualifications
S2802642 Occleshaw Jenny CCJ101 Criminology Skills
S2802642 Occleshaw Jenny CCJ101 Criminology Skills - Final Essay
Police Officers Do Need Tertiary Qualifications
Modern society is rapidly changing and evolving. In the twenty-first century police now come in contact with more varied situations than ever before. A university education will provide officers with the critical thinking and analytical skills to respond better to the needs of a diverse community. Higher Education provides recruits with the ability to evaluate and review situations and consider a range of appropriate solutions. Critical thinking skills will enable them to be more resistant to corruption and respond less often with violence. This will create a modern police force which is more in line with the needs and wants of modern society. A University degree should also promote a lifelong love of learning which should assist police with leadership skills long after they leave their degree. All these factors would contribute to the creation of a ‘Professional’ police force rather than the ‘occupation’ it has been in the past. In this essay I will argue cover these points to conclude that Police do need terry qualifications
The community will have more faith in a police force that they do not consider to be corrupt. Most reforms to police education have taken place as a result of Commissions of Inquiry into Police Corruption and mismanagement. Such events naturally result in a loss of public confidence in the police force. Wimshurst and Ransley(2007) suggest that University education for police recruits can improve professional practices and make individuals more likely to resist corruption, thereby improving the overall health of the force. Following the Fitzgerald enquiry in 1989 a university degree course was initiated, however it was not well supported by the Police Federation.This was the Police Recruit Education Programme which was a two year degree. It suffered a variety of problems. One of the main ones being that the new recruits were not well supported by existing officers during the field training stage and frequently suffered from being over worked leading to high levels of anxiety. They also found that their education was not particularly relevant to their practice on the street. New recruits quickly lost the benefit of their education due to inadequately trained field buddies and from police management undermining the new recruits. (Longbottom, F & Van Kombeeks 1999).
Since the Fitzgerald enquiry there has been subsequent corruption enquiries. Woods, 1997 and Kennedy, 2004 and each has recommended higher education to help eradicate corruption and undesirable culture within the force. Although there has been general consensus as to the benefit of higher education debate continues on the model as some see the ‘Liberal’ model as afforded by the traditional university degree as being ideal, (Flanag...
