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Assignment 3 – Planning Document
Essay Outline
Due Date: 30th April 2018, 4:00pm. Monday of Week 8
Weight: 30%
Student Number: Sophie Lemin
Student ID: s5130224
Course Code: 1011CCJ
Course Name: Criminology Skills
Tutor Name: Anne Ferguson
Question 1: All police should be required to have tertiary qualifications. Why/Why not?
1. Introduction:
a. Claim: All police officers should be required to have tertiary qualifications.
b. Grounds: This essay strongly argues in support of this claim by firstly, exploring the current qualifications and training of Australian police officers. Secondly, the social pressures which are pursuing this call for reform of police performance and education. Thirdly, the public’s attitude towards the police, including complaints statistics and how this has resulted in increased involvement of universities around Australia to provide and promote tertiary education. Lastly, the positive impact that tertiary qualifications would have on police officers.
· Define what tertiary education is
‘Tertiary’ or ‘higher’ education refers to post high-school education, usually in colleges or universities, for students over the age of 17 or 18.
Purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of tertiary education on police officer
After FitzGerald, there was a major shift in policy towards tertiary education in both recruitment and promotion, with a substantial increase in the number of tertiary educated police
Advocates of police professionalisation believe tertiary education can offer a broader awareness of the social context of policing and improve management skills, as well as producing improvements in basic operational skills of communication, negotiation, and problem solving.
Other proposed advantages of tertiary education for police include the development of greater understanding and tolerance of minority groups and differing lifestyles, and more ethical decision making (Carter et al., 1989).
Fitzgerald found extensive corruption and a culture of mismanagement and incompetence. The Report linked ineffectiveness in policing operations with inadequate education. In addition, following the Fitzgerald Inquiry, a more explicit and open system of promotion of merit was implemented with tertiary education counting as an important contributor to merit.
David Jones , Liz Jones & Tim Prenzler (2005) Tertiary education, commitment, and turnover in police work, Police Practice and Research, 6:1, 49-63, DOI: 10.1080/15614260500047143
Kerry Wimshurst & Janet Ransley (2007) Police Education and the University Sector: Contrasting Models from the Australian Experience, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 18:1, 106-122, DOI: 10.1080/10511250601144365
University education for police officers continues to be heralded as a major component in the reform of police organisations and police culture
The Australian experience since the late 1980s is that concerted efforts to provide university programs for police almost invariably arise f...
