College of Policing

You couldn't make it up if you tried. I rarely comment about policing but on this occasion I felt I had to. I hear on the news today that the College of Policing say all police officers should be graduates and Superintendents should have a masters.

In my view there are definite qualities and skills police officer should have:

A degree yes a degree of common sense and compassion.

The desire to undertake the job for forty years and be out in all weathers 

The ability to take the abuse and bric bats and smile

And yes a good general knowledge  

By requiring police officers to be graduates you immediately reduce the pool of people who would wish to do this demanding role. You also raise the expectations of those joining. Not every graduate is going to rise through the ranks and find a comfortable office out of the cold to drink their latte.

What evidence they have or what research has been undertaken to arrive at this conclusion I don't know. 

To be honest I confess I don't have a great deal of time for academics in the police service.

I spent 6 weeks on one course at the Police College. I was forthright in my views of the course and the staff. I challenged them on their punctuality, tardiness, unpreparedness for lectures and their relevance. I felt it was a complete waste of my time and a huge waste of public money. Suffice to say I didn't receive a good report from them. Obviously this affected my prospects. My Chief Constable held the same view of them as me and promoted me 6 weeks after the course.