Pursuing A Career As A Law Enforcement Officer

Baro, A. L., & Burlingame, D. (1999). Law enforcement and higher education: is there an impasse?. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 10(1), 57-73.

I am currently a senior this year and will be graduating at the end of May with the Class of 2016. I will be attending Dixie State University this Fall 2016. My intended major is Criminal Justice with emphasis in Corrections. I have always been interested in the Criminal Justice system, the way they use evidence to solve hard cases and how much Criminal Justice can make a difference to society. I also want to take that knowledge and bring it back to my community to help improve the Criminal Justice system on the Navajo Reservation including other neighboring different tribes. We have all seen the imperfect police officers and how they treat other ethnic groups or people who are in need, I want to show people that not all police officers are

The criminal justice field has careers that provide an individual with great rewards and significant opportunities to an extent that the profession is considered as one with the bright spots in employment. Even though education in this field has had a checkered history and past, it probably has a bright future because of the increased quest for quality in criminal justice education. In the past few years, the criminal justice field has been characterized with an agenda that seeks to ensure quality while significantly extending the scope and dept of education in this profession. Consequently, few people would disagree with the fact that solid education has become an important facet of any career in this field just like other professions. However, the importance of college education and the extent of needed schooling are huge concerns for people considering criminal justice careers.

Many people studying in the field of Criminal Justice should choose their career carefully. There are many interesting careers that are arising as the years pass by. To become a successful employee you need to be able to fulfill many requirements, qualifications, and trainings.

Law enforcement is a career that is both violent and rewarding in many capacities. Justice needs to be served in law enforcement and they have a responsibility to uphold the law and serve the people in the community. Law enforcement is crucial in the world today as a global realm as life continues to be more complex and law enforcement struggles to combat many aspects of crime. In order to combat these problems and have a positive future in the criminal justice system, everyone must work together on a bigger scale.

Having had the opportunity to see both sides of the argument play out in the City of Memphis and as a member of the Memphis Police Department. I have become an advocate for requiring entry-level police officers to have at the very minimum an associate degree or the equivalent college credits. The college requirement can only be avoided with military experience. However, my position is not that more education makes you a better police officer or less education makes you a lousy officer. I believe that there should be a “happy medium” when it comes to police work. A good officer will be empathic, fair and in tune with the needs of the community and its members. Requiring a level of education for your entry-level officers speaks volumes about your agency and their dedication to professionalism. The benefits of having a college educated officer have shown to make a difference in the way they do their jobs. An educated police officer is less likely to utilize force when interacting with his co-workers or civilians. A department with educated officers also has shown to see a reduction in misconduct and disciplinary issues(Gómez-Mejía et al., 2016). Some years back the Memphis Police Department had relaxed their

Many businesses require their upper-level leadership to have a degree. The police departments are now starting to change to that style of education hiring. The hiring process can be very complicated because the police department wants to ensure that they are hiring the right person that fits their department. Choosing the right applicant for the job is an important decision because of the cost of the equipment, uniforms, training, and probation period because this is an investment in the departments future (Dempsey, & Forst, 2016). Because the police departments are requiring their officers to have an associate’s or bachelor’s degree for an entry-level position will make the department more completive, but the department should still consider

Throughout the story a criminologist, David M. Kennedy talks how citizens who want to be a cop are hired without being taught psychology, anthropology, sociology and criminology and other classes that will prepare them for the job. This is true, I believe people who want to work in this profession should at least have some type of college education. In the text book “Police in America” written by Steven G. Brandl explains, police officers who have

If you currently are or will be considering becoming a law enforcement officer you will hopefully find the following information useful. I will be conveying to you not only the importance of professional appearance and means you can use to be more efficient at presenting such an appearance. While representing a state, city or county a less than professional image as an officer is not acceptable. As a public servant an officer’s appearance is the public’s first impression of who you are and what you represent or stand for. Not caring about your own appearance as a professional may lead some to assume you do not care about your job. We will discuss the reasons an officer should take extra pride in their appearance as well as steps to take that will assist in achieving a more professional appearance. Hopefully you will consider the advice given to you and make yourself a more professional looking officer or officer to be.

A growing number of entry-level criminal justice practitioners have college degrees. This paper will explore whether or not law enforcement agencies should require applicants to have a post secondary degree as a condition of employment and will college-educated police officers will be resistant to organizational change.

Law enforcement like much of the economy and society has had to adapt to the rapidly changing Atmosphere of the technological advances. To counter these advances, education has served in the forefront to combating the technological sophistication that is rapidly sweeping the workforce. The need and desire to remain competitive with the technology that we have is a need that can be satisfied with more education. Much like technology, education has benefits elsewhere in the equation of remaining competitive. Education on the higher tiered level provides a professionalism to accompany by the demands placed on students during their scholastic years of study. Activities required by many professors in the higher education

Lawyers and psychologists require even more schooling, a minimum of around eight years. Police officers end up being all of these things, and more. To obtain the real goal of law, and prevent crime, officers must have the trust and respect of the community they serve. "Instead, policing has been defined as uneducated people's work" (Fyfe, 262). Many citizens feel that the people protecting them are not as smart as they are. This leads to disrespect, and a sense of superiority within the community. With disrespect comes uncooperation, something any department would be worlds better without. If officers were required to obtain more basic schooling, and focus on social issues and psychology more during training, they would be better equipped to take up the position of law enforcement in any community. Besides the obvious benefit of being more adept at dealing with citizens, there would be added bonuses in police departments requiring more strenuous schooling. With four years of general education, officers would inherently become acquainted with a wide range of topics that they might not otherwise be exposed to with the minimal curriculum now required. Foreign language, art, and psychology classes would be especially useful in exposing up and comers to the varied environments they might encounter in their careers. Most importantly, people in the community would have a new respect for the

I’m interested in the law enforcement career path, and there are a lot of different paths you could take in this career choice. This career got my attention mainly because, I find solving mysteries and crimes very intriguing. The origin of this occupation came in during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, coming into America from England. “Generally speaking, the constable became responsible for law enforcement in the towns, while the sheriff took responsibility for the counties” (Stinchcomb 3). The educational requirements for this occupation at a minimum are as high school diploma or GED. Our high school provides us with a forensics class you can take your senior year, and we have an athletics department that you could join anytime

I would like to be enrolled in the law enforcement program as I would like to gain more knowledge about the background, applied skills, and specialized knowledge that a law enforcement occupation would acquire. This program would also allow me to gain exposure to various criminal justice careers and would benefit me and my future goals of becoming a police officer, as I see myself upholding the law. I also have the motivation and drive of keeping the people around me and my surroundings safer, while dealing with unexpected situations. The Justice Institute would allow me to achieve the greatest output of work and obtain hands on experience and awareness of the criminal justice system, showcasing what a law enforcement related field is like.

Over the last seven weeks students have dove into the study of research, receiving an introduction to a deeper level of conducting and reinterpreting different research methods. Questions such as, “What have you learned about research at an introductory level?” and “How do you evaluate or critique this from a biblical, Christian perspective?” will be answered in the personal case study that will be conducted on myself. The fascinating thing about research is that every individual conducts it in a different way. Though the case study helps set up a problem-answer- solution type model, individuals use personal explanations in illustrating the problem and indicating a means to solve this problem within the case study itself. The information that I have observed at an introductory level has been briefly composed in this case study.