College-Educated Cops Only Have Some Degree of Success
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Stockbyte/Thinkstock(EAST LANSING, Mich.) — A new study suggests that a college degree may be a help and a hindrance for today’s police officers.
Michigan State University criminologist William Terrill says that on the one hand, college-educated cops are less likely to use force than their peers who didn’t earn a degree.
This choice to handle possibly volatile matters in a more controlled-way is seen as an important way of fostering better community relations.
Yet, the study of 2,100 police officers from seven departments across the U.S. finds that those who went to college expressed more frustration with their jobs and their supervisors.
Much of this has to do with getting assigned to patrolling high-crime areas, which often goes to the newer recruits.
Another problem is that cops who majored in criminal justice or other fields such as sociology or psychology often have to resort to older and more established ways of policing that aren’t as effective as what they learned in college.
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