The Influence of Higher Education on the Efficacy of Police Officers Michael S. McCutcheon
Abstract
There are many studies examining the correlation between higher education and the success of police officers. The studies that have been conducted looked at both the influence of education on administrative staff and patrolmen. The author conducted a comprehensive review to determine whether there is an effect on the efficacy of police officers that have received higher education. The areas of efficacy reviewed were use of force, performance, officer complaints and promotions. The suggestion that police officers receive higher education has been recommended by several national commissions dating back to the early 1900’s. The Wickersham Commission (1931), The Presidents Commission of Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice (1967), the National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (1973), and the Police Foundation’s Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police Officers (1978) have recommended police education for police officers. The recommendation of higher education for police officers has not been enacted by the law enforcement community. As of 2003, The Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics Survey (LEMAS) reported that agencies requiring a 2-year degree for employment were 9% and those requiring a 4-year degree was 1% (Hickman &Reaves, 2006). The importance of this review is to determine if higher education effects the efficacy of police officers in the areas of use of force,
performance, promotions and complaints against officers.
Keywords: police; law enforcement; cop*; college; higher education; university Introduction
History of Education and Policing
August Vollmer, the primary author of the United States National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (1931) (also known as the Wickersham Commission)
presented the argument that police officers need higher education (1931). The Wickersham Report on Police was written because of the “loss of public confidence in the police of our country (Wickersham Report on Police, 1931, p337). The Wickersham Commission suggested that better police recruits with higher education would help restore the public’s faith in their police officers. At the time of the Wickersham Commission, 50% of the Los Angeles police department failed to obtain a high school diploma (Wickersham Report on Police, 1931). It was not noted the reason they failed to obtain a diploma, but they did not complete the twelfth grade. One of the conclusions of the Wickersham Commission was that police departments needed adequate training for recruits and officers already on the job. Since the Wickersham
Commission, there were several other National Criminal Justice Commissions that examined and recommended higher education for police officers. The Presidents Commission of Law
Enforcement and the Administration of Justice (1967) made the recommendation that officers that have enforcement powers hold a baccalaureate degree. “The emphasis in the field of criminal justice changed from crime control to human interactions” (Polk, Armstrong, 2001, p78). With the need for officers to be better educated, Congress created the Law Enforcement Education Program (LEEP) in 1968. LEEP was responsible for awarding grants and loans to law
enforcement officers who wanted to attend college. Police departments began creating
education incentive plans and allowed officers the time to attend college (Roberg, R., Bonn, S. 2004) LEEP also provided federal funding to colleges and universities to create criminal justice curriculums. This caused the growth of criminal justice programs to go from 184 colleges in 1966 offering criminal justice focused degrees to 1,070 programs 10 years later. The classes were mostly instructed by other law enforcement professionals (Sherman, 1978). The National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals (1973) recognized that a high school diploma was an acceptable level of education for police officers twenty years prior, but in today’s society, the high school diploma no longer holds the prestige it once held. It can be argued that an associate degree today is equal to a high school diploma forty years ago (Baro & Burlingame, 1999). The Report on Police (1931) recommend that all police officers hired should be required to have a 4-year degree. The National Advisory Commission on Higher Education for Police Officers (1978) argued that the funding was not adequate for a liberal arts college experience and that officers should be educated prior to employment as police officers (Telep, 2011, Roberg, R., Bonn, S., 2004). By the early 80’s, the push for higher education for police officers faded and LEEP was phased out. Along with LEEP went the criminal justice programs that were focused on vocational training and of lower quality (Carter & Sapp 1992, Roberg, R., Bonn, S., 2004). Institutions that kept criminal justice programs focused on increasing the scholarly approach by employing PhD trained instructors (Roberg, R., Bonn, S., 2004).
More recently, there has been a push for more community interactions with the police. “The emphasis in the field of criminal justice changed from crime control to human interaction, supported by the suggestion of the earlier studies” (Polk,E., Armstrong, D. 2001, p. 78). With the shift to community policing, the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) suggested that
community policing increases the need for police officers to be better educated. College educated officers are thought to be less likely to use the law to solve citizen problems and rely more on the insight into human behavior that they learned in college (Worden, 1990). The emphasis on education translates into a change from training to learning in the police field. To keep a competitive edge, police departments need to include a pedagogical approach to educating officers (Ramirez, 1996).
The Importance of This Review
Almost 100 years after the Wickersham Commission, only 9% of local police departments require new police officers to have a 2-year degree as a prerequisite for
employment. Police departments requiring a 4-year degree at the time of hire is 1% (BJS, 2004). Larger cities that employ a greater number of officers required some college or higher education at a rate of percentage of 37 percent for some college and 14 percent of the larger departments required a 2-year degree (BJS, 2004). After one hundred years of advocating for higher
education of police officers only a small percentage of departments require a 2 or 4 year degree as an entry level requirement. There are several theories on why a police department would be hesitant to require a college degree for employment.
This review of the literature will show, there is no overwhelming empirical evidence that college education is the primary variable that will increase police officers performance and
enhance the department in which they work. Prior research has not employed strong measures of police behavior and performance. Prior research has not taken into account the content of the education; and it has not controlled for the effects of many other influences on behavior and performance (NRC 2004; Hudzik, 1978). Respondents in the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) indicated the concern that the there is no measurement that could accurately measure the effectiveness of police education ( Carter, et al, 1988).
The National Research Council (2004) suggests that even when relationships have been found between education and police performance, the research fails to show how much of the performance is influenced by the higher education experience and how much of the performance is influenced by other variables. With these obstacles, administrations may not be convinced that higher education is substantially beneficial for the agency. One of the earlier objections to a college education requirement for newly hired police officers was the belief that college educated police officers were going to be more defiant and create disputes between themselves and those who do not have degrees (Hudzik, 1978). Johnson and Cheurprakobkit examined the attitude of police education requirements through a survey of 100 law enforcement administrators. The respondents agreed that 2 years was the ideal number of years for new recruits was 46. 31% agreed that some college was ideal. Only 12 (12%) reported that a 4-year degree was the ideal education for new recruits (Johnston & Cheurprakobkit, 2002). Eleven (11%) of the respondents reported that a high school diploma was the “ideal” education level for new recruits.
Another reason police administrators may be hesitant to enact a college degree requirement for employment is the risk of discrimination of minorities and women (Carter & Sapp, 1990; Royberg & Bonn, 2004). Attracting women and minorities is essential for diversity within the law enforcement community. In 2003. women compromised 11.3% of local law enforcement officers and minorities compromised 23.6% of law enforcement officers. Both of these percentages have continually increased over the years due to strong recruitment of women and minorities (BJS, 2003). The concern is that requiring a college education for employment may reduce the amount of women and minority applicants. The argument against higher education requirement for new officers and the availability of education to minorities has resulted in litigation in the past. In Davis v. Dallas the appeals court held that the Dallas Police Department could require an educational requirement for new officers. The requirement the Dallas Police Department required was 45 semester hours and a 2.00 grade point average. The Court ruled that the education requirement was a “Bona Fide Occupational Qualification” (BFOQ) even though the requirement might have the potential to discriminate against minorities (Carter & Sapp, 1990; Dallas v. Davis , 1985). The chance that the department will sacrifice a “good candidate” because of a college requirement is a possibility (Carter &Sapp, 1990; Carter, Sapp & Stephens, 1988). Because of the risk of losing a good candidate, administartors do not want to qualify higher education as a bona fide occupational qualification of employment. This viewpoint is short sighted. If college educated police officers perform better or have a
measurable advantage over non-college educated officers then in the long term the department would benefit and the likely hood of hiring several “good candidates” would increase (Carter, Sapp, & Stephens, 1988). Higher educated employees expect higher pay. For budgetary reasons,
police agencies may be hesitant to require the college degree strictly for budgetary purposes (Johnston & Cheurprakobkit, 2002).
Even with the hesitation to require a degree for employment as a police officer, administrators have, through educational programs, shown that they give some weight to the police officer and the benefit of college education (Carter et al, 1988; BJS, 2006). Nationwide, the percentage of police departments offering tuition reimbursement for police officers was 35% in 2003 (BJS, 2006). The 35% of departments that offered the tuition reimbursement employed 62% of local law enforcement officers. The percentage of local law enforcement agencies that serve population of 25,000 of more and offer tuition reimbursement is 76% (BJS, 2006).
Even with the hesitation of police administrations to make a formal requirement for new hires to have a pre-service degree prior to employment, the data shows that administrations do support officers attending college. More than 90% of the respondents in the PERF study had at least one program that encouraged officers to attend college (Carter & Sapp, 1990). The Chiefs surveyed commented that college educated officers are needed because of growing technology and their objectivity in dealing with the public and that they possessed a wider range of skills than non-college educated police officers. Police agencies need to prepare for the future by educating police officers, not just relying on training (Ramirez, 1996).
While there is a national push for higher education, not all researchers agree that it is necessary for police officers and departments. “Most officers, given the nature of police
organizations, probably do not need four year degrees” (Baro & Burlingame, 1999, p58). Baro and Burlingame address that August Volmer’s move towards a professional model of policing focused on training, technical skill and discipline, not education. This emphasis on training and discipline may have actually undermined the goal of higher education for police officers. Some administrators agree with Baro and Burlingame’s findings .
Police officers are attending college at a higher rate than any other time in history (BJS 2004). Sanders et al. (1995) conducted a study that showed that approximately 28% of police officers graduated from college. This is similar to the civilian population in which the 2010 Census reported that 27.9% of civilians had a four-year degree. PERF (1989), showed that 65% of police officers had at least some college compared to only 20% of officers that had some college in 1960. In 1988, 22 percent of officers had a 4 year degree compared to only 2.7 percent in 1960 (Carter & Sapp, 1990).
This study will organize the research conducted on the relationships between college educated police officers and their efficacy on use of force, performance, promotions and officer complaints. The importance of this review is to see if obtaining a degree is actually beneficial to the individual officer or to the department in which the officer works.
Method
I searched three criminal justice and education databases along with criminal justice journals which included Proquest Criminal Justice, Ebsco Criminal Justice Abstracts, and the American Journal of Criminal Justice Educators. In searching the databases for relevant studies I combined the words police OR law enforcement OR cop* with the connector AND higher
education OR college OR university. An ancestral search was also completed on the selected articles. Results of the search resulted in 51 articles which fell into the search criteria. Articles were eliminated that included coping as a result of cop* as a search criteria. The final selections for inclusion in the study were:
1. The study questions, purpose or abstract included:
a. the effect of higher education on the efficacy of law enforcement officers pre or post-employment as a police officer
b. the influence of higher education on law enforcement officers’ performance, use of force, complaints, and promotions
c. the benefit of new officers with higher education for the law enforcement agency which they are hired
2. Source: The studies reviewed were peer reviewed journals to ensure the quality of the studies. An ancestral review of the references was conducted for relevant
literature. National surveys that monitor law enforcement agencies were reviewed at their four year intervals.
3. Time range for studies: No limitations were used for this review. The subject of education and law enforcement has been a topic of discussion since the 1931 Wickersham Commission.
4. Excluded: Opinion articles were not included in this review. Studies that took place outside of the United States were not included.
Results
This review was comprised of 22 articles. The articles were peer reviewed articles that were published beginning in 1970 through February 2013. Scholars have been advocating for higher education for police officers since the early 1930’s (Wickersham, 1931). The history of higher education for police officers included national commissions that advocated for higher education for 70 years following the Wickersham Commission. While the majority (61%) of the articles reviewed did correlate positive results of police officers having a higher education, they did caution that education may not be the single reason for increased performance or the other themes measured. Starting in the late 1970’s, many empirical articles were published attempting to make a clear correlation between higher education and reducing use of force, increasing police performance, faster promotions and reducing officer complaints.
Decades Studied
Research into the effect of higher education on the included themes has been consistent for the past 40 years. Since 2010 there has been an increase in the curiosity of the effect of higher education and police officers. This review separated the research articles by decade. In
the first 3 years of the current decade, 23% of the research into education and its effect of police officers was completed. Only the ten year period of 1990’s had more studies into the effect of education and police officers. There were 5 studies completed in the 3 years of this decade. That
is equivalent or exceeds the number of studies done in each decade prior with the exception of the 1990’s. The 1990’s had one more study than the current decade. At that rate, 2010 will have
conducted more research into the effect of education on police officers than any other decade. The studies done during the 2010 decade focused on the effect of education on police performance and use of force. There were no studies that examined the effect of education on
police officers’ ability to be promoted or reduce officer complaints during the 2010 decade.
Police Performance
The most frequently studied variable was police performance regardless of the decade examined. Of the 22 articles reviewed, there were 32 themes measured and 44% of those themes measured performance. The measure of performance was the highest category in every decade reviewed. To measure performance, “performance” must be defined. Arrests may be a
measurement of good performance for one department and making numerous community contacts may be the measure of police performance in another (Worden, 1990). The literature examined must define effective police performance and what the data source to be examined is going to be (Cascio, 1977, Carter & Sapp, 1992. Performance as a theme in this review included measures such as supervisory ratings, arrests, salary, self-discipline, report writing, acceptance of other cultures, and problem solving skills. These are not the only characteristics that were classified as performance in the reviewed literature. As stated above, each department has a different definition of performance as it refers to police work. Performance was not confined to actually performance but also attitude toward themselves and the position of police officer itself (Worden, 1990; Krimmel, 1996; Sherwood, 2000). Some studies included “use of force” and “promotions” as a measure of police performance. If promotions or use of force were included in the measure of performance, they were separated into their own category so that they could be measured independently.
Use of Force
The second largest theme explored was the effect of higher education on police officer’s use of force. Thirty two percent of the research reviewed addressed education and if it could reduce the use of force by police. Use of force in the 7 studies reviewed looked at both the physical use of force used by police and verbal use of force. Verbal use of force would be the coercion used during citizen contacts. Some studies used “use of force” as a performance measure, but this measure was separated into an individual theme. Most studies did have use of force as its only measure. The 1980’s had the largest percentage of research conducted on use of force both within the decade and throughout the last forty years.
The effect of higher education on the rate of promotion and the rate of officer complaints were researched less frequently than the other two themes. Promotions and the influence of education on the rate of promotions comprised 23% (5) of the studies reviewed and 15% (5) of the overall themes examined. Promotions, like use of force, were sometimes included as a measure of performance. If promotion was included in performance, it was separated from the other measures of performance, so that it could be measured independently. The theme of promotions examined if higher education decreased the time it took for police officers with a higher education to be promoted compared to those police officers that had less or no higher education. The promotions theme also examined police officers that hold an administrative level position and compared the level of education among them.
Officer Complaints Received
Officer complaints were classified as complaints against police officers made by citizens. Officer complaints and the effect of education on officer complaints comprised 18% of the studies reviewed. Comparing the number of studies that investigated the relationship between officer generated complaints and education drops to 15% (5) of the 32 included themes. To understand citizen complaints against police officers, one must first understand that police officers provide a service that some clientele don’t wish to receive. The research reviewed was not consistent with differentiating between officer complaints received and officer complaints sustained (Sanderson, 1977; Wilson, 1999). An officer with higher education may have a higher number of arrests and therefore receive more complaints, but may have a higher rating in
performance.
Study Descriptors
Most, 81%, of the research conducted on police officers and their relationship with higher education were conducted at multiple police departments. Each study was unique in how they classified the departments they collected data from. When multiple departments were studied, it was common for the study to refer to “all” departments within a specified area. This vague description did not allow for an accurate classification of the department size of the departments studied. One study out of the 22 reviewed did not give any descriptors of the department or departments studied. In this situation, they classified the study by indicating the number of officers observed, not the department or departments in which they worked. Three studies, 14% of the total studies, examined a single department focused on a single large police organization so that the sample size was still significant.
Consolidating the research that specified the department size in the studies is difficult because there is no set standard of comparison. Most studies that investigated the correlation between higher education and police officers classified the department size they studied in terms of the population that the department served. In the 22 studies reviewed, 68% classified the department size by population of the communities they serve. Researchers also classified the department size by the number of sworn officers on the police force they examined. The percentage of studies that included the number of sworn officers as a department size descriptor
was 55%. Some studies used both methods to describe the department size. The majority of departments, 59%, of research into the effect of education on police officers focused on large police departments that served a population over 100,000. Zero studies examined departments that only serve smaller populations, less than 50,000, or had less than 50 police officers. Only 1 of the 22 studies was found to examine the effect of education on police officers that worked for a department that employed 51-100 sworn police officers. In studies that specified that they examined “all” departments in a specified area were classified as “unknown” due to the fact that they may include large and small departments in their findings. One study conducted a large survey of police officers from multiple departments that ranged in population size from 10,000 to 500,000. If there were multiple departments studied and they included the departments’ sizes, they were categorized as such.
Almost a quarter (23%) of the research conducted did not include descriptors that detailed the number of officers that participated in the studies. Similar to the lack
standardization in specifying department size, not all studies included the number of participants in their studies. Studies that did not specify the number of participants classified their studies by number of departments data was collected from. The most popular participant range was
between 101 and 500 participants.
True experimental designs as a research design were not used in the literature reviewed. One could only compare officers that had a degree to those that did not. Data was collected by surveys and interviews to categorize how much education the police officers being studied had at the time. Historical data was used to research officers’ history of using of force, performance, complaints and promotional status. The use of force has also been interpreted to mean the use of coercion (Paoline &Terrill, 2007). Rydberg & Terrill (2010) and Paoline & Terrill (2007) analyzed data collected from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN) that observed officers in St. Petersburg, Florida and Indianapolis, Indiana. POPN observed 322 different police officers and witnessed 11,985 encounters with citizens. A sampling of 3,356 encounters that involved a suspect and police officers were used to examine the impact of education on use of force (Rydberg & Terrill, 2010). This was the largest study reviewed and the only study that had observers document officers in the areas of use of force, arrests and searches. Officers were observed and then they compared the officers’ use of force to the other officers of different education levels. In the qualitative studies, officers were asked if they felt better about their job performance or their attitudes towards use of force. The other qualitative studies asked
administrators how they thought higher education effected their officers.
Research Findings
Before reporting on the general findings of the research reviewed, it must be noted that one researcher who studied two themes found positive findings in use of force and negative or neutral findings for performance. Since both positive and negative results were reported for one study, that particular study was reported twice. This brought the mean total to (n=23). The percentages in the “Effect of Education” column were based on the n=23. The data researched suggests that higher education is beneficial for both the department and the individual officer.
Sixty-one percent of the total studies found education to have a positive effect on the officers compared to those who did not have a higher education or that had less education. The studies that correlated positive results found that those with 4-year degrees outperformed officers with “some college” and no college.
Of the 14 studies that explored college education and its effect on police officers
performance, 57% of the studies found a positive influence. Zero studies found education to have a negative effect on police performance, but 43% reported results that were insignificant or inconclusive. In the area of use of force and education, 57% found higher educated officers had used less force compared to those that did not have a higher education. If measuring the
dependent variable is “performance” then, “performance” must be defined. Performance for one department may be different for another. Police officers’ perform a plethora of duties during any particular shift. Arrests may be a measurement of good performance for one department and making numerous community contacts may be the measure of police performance in another (Worden, 1990). The literature examined must define effective police performance and what the data source to be examined is going to be (Cascio, 1977, Carter & Sapp, 1992). Paterson used professionalism, accountability, and legitimacy as the measure of “adding value” by education. Roberg and Bonn suggests that these values and the use of discretion is what maintain police professionalism and performance. The focus of this review categorized performance as report writing, arrests, self-motivation, de-escalation of violent situations, and lack of disciplinary action.
One study found that use of force increased for college educated officers. The increase was statistically insignificant, but important to report. Even a minor increase or decrease in use of force situations can have a dire outcome. Excessive use of force civil cases, brought against police departments, have the potential to cost a city or town millions of dollars (Carter & Sapp, 1990; Roberg & Bonn, 2004). The theme of use of force also resulted in 29% of the studies resulting in neutral or inconclusive. In the area of promotions and complaints received, there were no studies that found a negative result from officers having a higher education. One of the 8 studies that looked at promotions and officer complaints found the results to be neutral or inconclusive. One hundred percent of the studies reviewed found education to increase the rate of promotions or found that police administrators had higher education. Seventy-five percent of studies that looked at officer complaints found that officers with higher education received fewer complaints.
The issue of neutral or inconclusive results found in 35% of the studies reviewed showed a constant pattern of other independent variables not being defined. In some opposing studies on the benefits of college argue that prior studies were poorly designed and did not account for measurement problems (Hudzik, 1978; Sherman & Blumberg, 1981). Training and experience may have a greater impact on use of force rather than the college education that the officers may have received. “Higher education is not related to any of the measures of academy or on the job training” (Henson, Reyns, Klahm IV, Frank, 2010, p5). Baro and Burlingame (2001) suggest that higher education and its relationship to job performance is marginal. Just as we emphasized the importance of clearing defining “performance” as a measurable variable, so must the
categories of having a high school education, some college or 4 year college degree fails to look at a plethora of variables that may have an effect on the officers’ performance. For example, if an officer attends a liberal arts school at a university and another officer attends 3 semesters at a 2- year college, they are both classified as having “Some College”. “Defining what we mean by college education in terms of length, curriculum, and setting is of utmost importance (Hudzik, 1971, p71).” The type of degree program the officers attend could have an impact on their performance. Will any degree account for “better performance” for police officers (Kudzik, 1978; Sherman & Blumberg, 1981)? This researcher found no studies that examined whether a degree earned through an online program showed the same effects on police performance as a degree earned in the classroom.
Another variable that may have been overlooked in determining if the variable of
education was the most influential on a police officer’s performance was an officer’s experience and how the experience shaped the officers’ performance. The benefit of education was not obvious until the officer gained some experience in the field (Roberg & Bonn, 2004). “The performance of patrol officers, measured in terms of citizens’ satisfaction, does not covary with officers’ education” (Worden, 1990, p535). Worden empirically declares that college education is weakly related to police attitudes. Police performance, in the terms of citizens’ evaluations, has little to do with a police officer’s educational background (Worden, 1990).
Discussion
In reviewing the literature on the effect of higher education on police officers, one must look at both empirical studies as well as national statistics collected on police departments throughout the country. The U.S. Department Justice collected data on all police departments within the United States, but did not draw any conclusions. The national data collected on police departments and police officers were conducted every 4 years. The data gives a detailed view of the law enforcement landscape and how the landscape has changed. The data was used to show the differences in police department size, police officer education, police officers terminations, minorities in law enforcement and other measures of the state and local law enforcement
agencies. The data collected does not draw a conclusion or correlate the reason for the changes in the data but gives the researcher information to collaborate experiments and their results.
Using the national data collected, we can see that more officers have degrees than any other time in history. With such a large percentage (35%) returning neutral or inconclusive results of the effect of higher education on police efficacy, then one must consider if it is worth the time and money. Officers without higher education spent a longer amount of time in a particular assignment compared to other officers who had a higher education (Roberg & Bonn, 2004; Polk & Armstrong, 2001; Enter, 1986; Sanderson, 1977;). The data received from a survey of 117 Police Chiefs serving communities of 100,000 residents or more, in 1984, showed that 73.5% obtained a 4-year college degree. The Police Chiefs with higher education obtained their position faster than there less educated counterparts. The average (mean) years for a high school graduate to obtain the position of Chief was 23.5 years compared to 18.03 for those who earned a Master’s degree (Enter, 1986). The data suggests that higher education will indeed increase a police officer’s promotional rate in larger departments, but no research has been conducted that
explored the relationship between higher education and police officers that work in smaller towns, less than 50,000 residents or have less than 100 sworn officers. There have been many studies since Hudzik wrote his article in 1978 about whether college education has a positive effect on police officers performance and if it would be beneficial for administrations to mandate a hiring standard of college education for new recruits. There is still research to be done that takes into consideration all of the variables that Hudzik indicated in his article 30 years ago. There were many studies that correlated college education and positive police performance, but the majority of those studies did not break down “college education” into a finer set of
measurable variables. More specifically: Length of time in college, degree program, institution attended, major studied, full-time and part-time.
While researchers have focused on the importance of college education and the effects on police performance, they neglected to see if the results of the research held true for smaller departments. Most of the research studies focused on departments that employed large amounts of officers and served over 50,000 citizens (Cascio, 1977; Sanderson, 1978; Sherman &
Blumberg, 1981; Enter, 1986; Carter & Sapp, 1989; Wilson, 1999; Sherwood, 2000, Polk & Armstrong, 2001; Paoline & Terrill, 2007; Henson et al, 2010; Ryberg & Terrill, 2010;). The PERF Study only looked at departments that served over 50,000 residents and sheriff’s
departments that had more than 100 officers. This is a problem because 49% of state and local police departments in the United States have less than 10 officers. 36% of full-time sworn officers work for a department that employs less than 100 officers. In 2008 there were reported 17, 985 police agencies within the United States. 16,798 departments had less than 100 sworn officers. The percentage of officers working for smaller agencies increases when state agencies are removed from the equation. Very little, if any, studies were found that examined how education effected officers in these smaller departments.
The studies that concluded that effect of education on police officers was inconclusive had similar problems with their research. Isolating education as the only variable to be measured is nearly impossible. Experience on the job is a major variable that must be accounted for in determining if education makes better policemen or is it experience. The combination of both education and experience produced the most desirable results.
So many studies did not examine when the degrees were obtained, where they were obtained, and what subject the degree was earned in. A major flaw in the studies reviewed is classifying the participants in basic categories of no college, some college, and four years of college. The vague definition of “higher education” or “some college” leaves many variables unaccounted for. Where did the officer earn his degree? A small liberal arts college compared to a large state university may have influence on the effectiveness of earning the degree. The “some college” category groups officers that have one semester of college with those who have 3 years of college. Grouping the officers in this manner could skew the results of the study.
No studies reviewed made mention of degrees earned online, part-time and full time. The length of time the officer took to earn a degree may influence the outcomes of the study. What is the difference if an officer earns a degree part-time on line over a 5 year period compared to an officer who earns a degree by attending college full time on campus? The experiences for each
officer will be different and therefore alter the results of a study that classifies them as “four year degree”.
The studies examined did not specify what major or area of study the officers received while in college. Is a business degree the same as a degree in criminal justice studies. Even a comparison between earning a bachelor of arts degree and earning a bachelor of science degree may influence the findings of studies that are looking fond a link between college education and police efficacy.
Motivation of a police officer is difficult to measure. Performance may increase for a college educated police officer simply because the college educated officer is more motivated than a non-college educated police officer. The time, effort and financial dedication to earn a degree may be a characteristic of the officer that will make it likely that that they will excel in their profession. The degree earned may have little impact on the actual performance, but show an officer’s desire to improve and succeed.
Table 1
*Includes data from “Large metropolitan areas”
**(n=23) multiple results recorded independently from number of studies (n=22) Descriptors
Included Themes
Overall Use of Force Performance Promotion Complaints Other
Decade of Publication (n=22) (n=7) (n=14) (n=5) (n=4) (n=2) 1970 3 (14%) 1 (33%) 3 (100%) 1 (33%) 1 (33%) 1 (33%) 1980 4 (23%) 3 (75%) 2 (50%) 1 (25%) -- (0%) -- (0%) 1990 6 (27%) -- (0%) 4 (66%) 2 (33%) 2 (16%) 1 (16%) 2000 4 (18%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%) 1 (25%) -- (0%) 2010 5 (23%) 2 (40%) 4 (80%) -- (0%) -- (0%) -- (0%) Department Selection Multiple Departments 18 (81%) 6 (33%) 14 (78%) 3 (16%) 2 (9%) -- Single Department 3 (14%) 1 (33%) 3 (100%) 2 (67%) 1 (33%) 1 (33%) Unspecified 1 (5%) -- -- -- -- -- -- 1 (100%) 1 (100%) Department Size By Population Served Smaller than 10,000 0 (0%) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 10,000 - 49,999 0 (0%) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 50,000 - 99,999 2 (9%) 2 (100%) 1 (50%) 1 (50%) 2 (100%) -- -- Larger than 100,000* 13 (59%) 4 (31%) 9 (69%) 3 (23%) 1 (8%) 2 (15%) None/unknown 7 (32%) 1 (14%) 4 (57%) 1 (14%) 1 (14%) -- -- By # of Sworn Officers Less than 10 0 (0%) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 11-50 0 (0%) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 51-100 1 (5%) -- -- 1 (100%) -- -- -- -- -- -- 101-500 3 (14%) -- -- 1 (33%) 2 (66%) -- -- -- -- 501-1000 5 (23%) 2 (40%) 4 (80%) -- -- -- -- -- -- Greater than 1000 3 (14%) 2 (66%) 1 (33%) 1 (33%) 2 (66%) 1 (33%) Unknown 10 (45%) 3 (30%) 7 (70%) 2 (20%) 1 (10%) 1 (10%) Study Details Number of Participants 1-100 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- 101-500 10 (45%) 3 (30%) 7 (70%) 2 (20%) 3 (30%) 1 (10%) 501-1000 2 (9%) 1 (50%) 1 (50%) -- -- -- -- -- -- 1001-5000 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Greater than 5000 5 (23%) 3 (60%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 1 (20%) -- -- Unknown 5 (23%) -- -- 4 (80%) 1 (20%) -- -- -- -- Methodology Experimental 0 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Correlative 17 (77%) 6 (35%) 10 (59%) 5 (29%) 3 (18%) 2 (12%) Qualitative 4(18%) 1 (25%) 2 (50%) -- -- 1 (25%) -- -- Mixed Methods 1 (5%) -- -- 2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Effect of Education** (n=23) Positive 14 (61%) 4 (29%) 8 (57%) 5 (36%) 3 (21%) 1 (7%) Negative 1 (4%) 1 (100%) -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Neutral or Inconclusive 8 (35%) 2 (25%) 6 (75%) -- -- 1 (13%) 1 (13%)
Higher Education Obtained
Pre/post-employment 5 (23%) 1 (20%) 2 (40%) 2 (40%) -- -- -- --
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