Perceptions of performance and behavior of college educated police officers

Good police applicants are becoming scarcer and many agencies have lowered their hiring standard to fill academy classes. In this labor pool environment is it worth having a college education requirement? Is the performance of college educated officers superior to that of non-college educated officers? An opinion survey was issued to officers and sergeants of the Chesterfield County Police Department regarding how they felt toward college education and its effect, if any on several aspects of police performance. In some aspects of performance or behavior, such as sensitivity to minorities, authoritarianism, and use of force, there were slight tendencies for respondents to answer favorably toward college education. In other aspects, such as communications skills, citizen complaints, and innovation the respondents had small tendencies to be negative toward college education. If the human resource deficit continues and the agency encounters increased difficulty hiring and retaining officers, lowering or eliminating the college credit requirement and instituting a college education incentive program may become necessary in order to be competitive with other law enforcement agencies