7/13/17 Annotation: The Impact of a College-Educated Police Force: A review of the literature

In “The Impact of a College-Educated Police Force: A review of the literature” author Rebecca L. Paynich explains the impact of college education for the police force. Most police officers with education have several advantages over officers without education like, having better communication skills, writing better reports, are more tolerant of citizens, think more clearly on dangerous situations, have a better understanding of policing and law enforcement, and have better comprehension of civil rights issues from multiple perspectives. Better, police officers with education adapt better to organizational change,
are more professional, have fewer administrative and personnel problems, are better able to utilize innovative techniques, receive fewer citizen complaints, receive fewer disciplinary actions, have fewer preventable accidents, took less sick time away from work, perform better in police training, are less likely to use deadly force, are less cynical, are more open-minded, and place a higher value on ethical conduct. Finally, police officers report that are better able to utilize employee contacts, have a greater knowledge of the law, are better prepared for court, have a higher quality of performance on the job,
have a higher level of problem-solving abilities, communicate better and have better interpersonal working relationships, are better at resolving conflicts, are more equipped to deal with criticism, change, workload, and stress, make better discretionary decisions.

Scholarly Source: https://www.masschiefs.org/files-downloads/hot-topics/96-the-impact-of-higher-education-in-law-enforcement-feb-2009-and-summarypdf/file

Source 2: How Education Impacts Police Performance

In “How Education Impacts Police Performance” writer Mark Bond explains how education can be a big impact on a police officer’s performance, like speech, thinking, writing, and the communication. Here are some of the changes education change police officers, better behavioral and communication skills, better with decision and problem making, ability to adapt to situations quickly, more proficient with technology, enchant writing ability, less likely to be involved in unethical behavior, less time using sick days, greater pay, ability to be promoted faster and farther, and better adapted to early retirement and even second career options. Law enforcement has changes quite a bit over the past 30 years and it’s no longer what it was back then. There is new technology to assist police officers now a days, and it takes some education and learning to be able to operate them. “Modern police departments need highly educated people capable or leading change in an evolving technology-oriented society.” (Bond) With citizens trending to video tape police officers doing unethical and abuse their power, it is more important to be professional and do everything right, instead of abusing the power of the government to hopefully get officers around. Some thing’s like changing discretion, tolerance abilities, and confronting resistance can save a police officer from doing something bad or even save his department from being sued in the process of trying to detain or deal with a citizen. So, it is a good idea to take a college course or even get a degree in law enforcement to ensure that police officers are ready to go out in the real world and be ready for their departments and society.

Source: http://inpublicsafety.com/2014/07/how-education-impacts-police-performance/