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1% of Local Police Departments
Reflections from the One-Percent of Local Police Departments with Mandatory Four-Year Degree Requirements For New Hires: Are They Diamonds in the Rough?

Diana Bruns

Bacone College

***Contact information
Diana Bruns, Ph.D.
Department Chairperson and Professor, Criminal Justice Studies
Bacone College
2299 Old Bacone Road
Muskogee, OK
74403
brunsd@bacone.edu cell: 918-781-7295 office: 918-781-7295

**Diana Bruns is the Department Chairperson and Professor of Criminal Justice Studies at Bacone College in Muskogee, OK.

Reflections from the One-Percent of Local Police Departments with Mandatory Four-Year Degree Requirements For New Hires: Are They Diamonds in the Rough?

Abstract

Countless studies have permeated the literature regarding the utility of a bachelor’s degree for police officers. Local law enforcement agencies with mandatory four-year degree requirements serve as the population for this study relative to the current status of college degreed officers, as well as population demographics and commonalities among such departments. The utility of college degree requirements, choice of academic discipline and why four-year degree requirements nationwide are merely a preference, not a standard mandatory hiring requirement is discussed. Current minimum educational requirements for local and state police agencies and implications for the future of the college-degreed officers are explored.

Hiring college-educated candidates in the law enforcement field does not guarantee they will be good officers. Being a police officer is hard and to be successful, you have to want to be a police officer. Individuals who receive the required degree in law enforcement have demonstrated their desire. Desire is something very hard to evaluate, but such an important trait. If all other


References: Advada Police Department Website. (2009). Arlington Police Department Website. (2009). Baro, A., & Burlingame, D. (1999). Law enforcement and higher education: Is there an impasse? Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 10 (1), 57-73. Bell, D. (1979). The police role in higher education. Journal of Police Science and Administration, 7, 467-475. Bostrom, M. (2005). The influence of higher education on police officer habits. The Police Chief, 72, (10), 12-19. Breci, M. (1997). The transition to community policing: The department’s role in upgrading officers’ skills. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategy and Management, 20, (4), 766-776. Carter, D. & Sapp, A. (1990). The evolution of higher education in law enforcement: Preliminary findings from a national study Carlan, P. (2007). The criminal justice degree and policing: Conceptual development or occupational primer? Policing: An International Journal of Centerville Police Department Website. (2009). Charleston Police Department Website. (2009). Coral Springs Police Department Website. (2009). Deer Park Police Department Website. (2009) http://www.ci.deer-park.tx.us/department/index.php?fDD=15-0. Eatontown Police Department Website. (2009). Friedmann, R. (2006). University perspective: The policing profession in 2050 Haddon Township Police Department Website. (2009). Hickman, M., & Reaves, B. (2006). Local police departments, 2003 (NCJ210118) Highland Park Police Department Website. (2009). Hudzick, J. (1978). College education for police: Problems in measuring component and extraneous variables Illinois State Police Website. (2009).
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