Since the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and countless others who died at the hands of police, protesters and lawmakers have raised questions about how to improve police-civilian relations and regulate police protocol to minimize deadly force. Along those lines, President Obama launched the Task Force on 21st Century Policing to explore ways to “build public trust and foster strong relationships between local law enforcement and the communities that they protect, while also promoting effective crime reduction.” Yet as officers and civilians explore solutions to what is perceived as a national crisis, the answer may be as simple as raising the education requirements for job applicants.
The problem is, that task is not so simple, and is unlikely to happen across the board.
Research, while limited, suggests a positive correlation between education and job performance, as data spanning several decades show that officers with a college education are subjected to fewer disciplinary measures than ones with a high school diploma. A case study of Florida police officers concluded that, between 1997–2002, officers with high school diplomas accounted for 75 percent of all disciplinary actions. Meanwhile, officers with a four-year bachelors degree only accounted for 11 percent of disciplinary actions. A separate study of officers in Indianapolis, Indiana and St. Petersburg, Florida found that cops with some college education were less likely to use force than those with no college education. Officers with no higher education experience were involved in 68 percent police encounters in which force was used. In contrast, cops with some college background were only involved in 56 percent of forceful encounters.
In his book, Research in Law Enforcement Selection, Radford University professor Mike Aamodt writes that criminal justice experts and law enforcement commissions have urged police departments to rethink their educational standards for decades. The President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration (COLEA), a task force created by Lyndon B. Johnson, endorsed a four-year degree requirement in 1967. The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals offered a similar suggestion six years later, which was followed by an endorsement by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in 1988.
Today, many criminal justice experts believe that higher education standards should be enforced nationwide.
“Policing requires certain skills: knowledge of social interactions, the ability to communicate, the ability to solve problems, the ability to troubleshoot. These are not necessarily skills that one is born with. These are skills that can be learned,” said Maria Haberfeld, a professor and chair of John Jay College of Criminal Justice. “The other aspect of this is that people do mature at a certain age, so the older they are when they start this profession, the better their decision-making process is. If they need a college degree, at minimum you’ll be 22 to join the police. Today the average age is 20.”
Indeed, training new hires for police work does not typically incorporate social skill development. Joe Libowsky, the founder of Go Law Enforcement, told ThinkProgress, “When [police] receive their training, the training is geared toward the law enforcement side. There really isn’t the time to train them in all the basic skills they need to bring to the table, so to speak.”
But raising the minimum education requirements is easier said than done. Police forces are largely a creation of state law, so states typically have designated agencies to establish the minimum requirements — or peace officer standards and training — for applicants to join law enforcement. The state is ultimately responsible for deciding which skills officers need prior to joining the force. Once those standards are established, police departments set their own personnel prerequisites, as long as applicants meet the minimum state requirements. So despite this evidence from case studies and lawmakers’ recommendations, there is variation in the minimum education required for law enforcement applicants across the country.
Therefore, changing the requirements for thousands of police departments poses a logistical nightmare. “It’s a good idea in theory, but the problem is it would make it so difficult for these departments,” Aamodt told ThinkProgress. “Right now, even without the college degree requirement, departments are struggling to get people. Many have lowered the standards just to fill the position.” Such was the case for Asheville Police Department in North Carolina, which was once considered a pioneer for requiring a two-year college degree. As reported by the Citizen-Times, officers there voiced frustrations with being understaffed, overworked, and underpaid. By lowering the education standards, Police Chief Wade Wood claimed that the department would increase in size and, ultimately, diversify.
Another fundamental challenge to raising the education standards is that people who do support the shift towards more education do not agree on the course requirements that should be enforced. For example, Haberfield contends that a general education is not as advantageous as a degree in criminal justice, police science, psychology, or sociology — courses that are “specifically geared toward the police profession.” On the other hand, Aamodt says that a criminal justice degree is no more beneficial than degrees in other areas. Instead, research should emphasize why people with a college degree tend to be better officers. “Are they brighter, is it the courses, can they appreciate diversity?”
In 2003, the Bureau of Justice Statistics determined that 98 percent of all police departments instituted an education requirement. The vast majority, or 81 percent, of those departments required a high school diploma, whereas 1 percent required a four-year college degree. For instance, the largest police departments in the U.S. have authority to establish their own education standards. Los Angeles Police Department applicants must have a high school diploma, G.E.D., or California High School Proficiency Examination certificate. The New York Police Department requires 60 college credits or a high school diploma and two years of military service. And candidates for the Chicago Police Department need 60 hours of college courses or four years of active military service.