Should police have a minimum age and education requirement?

[TheProject]

maybe if they were educated... they'd work smarter. Plus an cop that's more mature may not get into police brutality situations which cost police departments lots of cash.

Of course in this perfect world these cops would be payed more, which I think is fair.

How often do you have brutality problems in your part of the US?

 

[the nature boy]

Re: Whoa!

I'm utterly against an education requirement for a simple reason....it lines the pockets of colleges for a worthless education.

A CJ degree teaches nothing a cop won't learn from experience in time. So, every cop having to have a CJ degree to be hired makes all of them the same. Likewise, a diversity in education makes a department more effective. One guy having an engineering degree, another with a math degree, etc. gives a way for a department to utilize people with a variety of skills and backgrounds.

I'm not even in favor of a minimal education because it isn't how "smart" a cop is, but how well they understand their duties and limitation of power. I've seen "educated" cops that are nothing more than robots. A piece of paper doesn't ensure they are a good cop.

I do support a higher minimal age. Since the military is favored so much, I'd place it at 21. 19 is too young to be entrusted to be a cop. Gives an applicant time to establish another line of work since law enforcement hiring is anything but fair. If a guy can't hold a stable job or at least have good references, he won't have a chance anyway.

I don't care if it's a degree other than CJ, I just want them to have a degree. All I know is that a high school diploma is a joke. You can sleep your way through class and still make passing grades. At least with a college degree you're exposed to some new ideas and exposed to other people, sure it may not be classified as real world expereince, but it's better than hiring somone fresh out of highschool.

Generally, when I talk to people, I notice a difference in people who have college degrees and people that don't. I've met a few guys with no college education that were very sharp folks, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

 

[the nature boy]

How often do you have brutality problems in your part of the US?

I don't know. the only time we hear about it is when it's caught on video, right?

 

[curling]

I think a college degree would be great but who would want to make a cops pay with a degree. They should at least be 21.

 

[the nature boy]

How often do you have brutality problems in your part of the US?

http://www.hrw.org/reports98/police/toc.htm


click on each city, then click on the civil lawsuits link. I just checked out atlanta, and they're spending a butt load.

 

[duff_rose]

Where I live it's 21 and a 2 year degree with some criminal justice classes.

 

[Y_lifter]

I think I'm non-violently disagreeing.

Damn, that took some balls bro...

Good point on the degree restrictions limiting good candidates
but I think the age thing is a strong point GENERALLY speaking.
Unless they were in a Law enforcement ROTC type course in H.S.

 

[TheProject]

I don't know. the only time we hear about it is when it's caught on video, right?

Just seems to me there's so much awareness now of police procedure that if there was a huge brutality problem, we'd be aware of it.

With all the "racial profiling" shit that's going on around here, there's an article in the paper every time someone gets pulled over.

I checked out that link...no info for KC.

Interestingly enough...the times I've had to interact with the police, the younger cops treated me better than the vets. I had an old state trooper tell me he was going to shoot my dog on a traffic stop one time.

 

[Y_lifter]

Getting a degree, any degree, simply shows the person has
the commitment to work and finish something IMO.

Along the way they get exposed to various peices if knowledge, skills, ideas and social concepts without even realizing it..

 

[TheProject]

Damn, that took some balls bro...

Good point on the degree restrictions limiting good candidates
but I think the age thing is a strong point GENERALLY speaking.
Unless they were in a Law enforcement ROTC type course in H.S.

LOL

Well, I'm just looking at it from what I know personally.

You put those restrictions in place, and a lot of people suddenly can't be cops. My buddy doesn't have a degree, but he worked for several years in the city jail, and got into the academy that way.

The KCPD is always hurting for applicants, and pulling people out of that pool seems problematic to me.

Now, if we take NB's utopian approach, and say, pay the officers more for a degreed position, that changes a lot of things. Overall though, you'd still have good cops and bad cops. Just because they make it through college doesn't mean they won't be a hothead.