Degree Level Recruiting

Last updated on September 19th, 2023 at 04:57 pm

Reading Time: 2 minutes

I’m sorry, I’m off again, but in my own defence it is a topic I feel very strongly about.

Today I was sparked off by a Tweet from West Yorks Federation, followed by a series of Tweets from a very unlikely ally

Some of the responses were equally interesting

https://twitter.com/chris_greany/status/1136551989096132609?s=21

and finally (but there have been many more)

https://twitter.com/thisismike1981/status/1136580807290687488?s=21

Apart from the arrogant insanity in enforcing Graduate or Apprenticeship entry routes only, what are they going to do about the 10s of thousands of perfectly adequate Police Officers currently serving without a degree?

There will be some commentators out there who will brand me Anti Degree/Graduate. I am most certainly not, I can see the benefits completely, but I am hugely Anti making them compulsory at point of entry. I have worked with Graduates and Non Graduates, some of each were good (most) and some were plainly awful. The most important factor I can think of is that one of the best (in my opinion) SIOs I ever had the privilege to work for would not be given a job as a PC under the new rules. Crazy.

According to the Office of National Statistics only 42% of the adult population had a degree in September 2017. If the Police are the Public and the Public are the Police why do we demand that 100% of Recruits either possess or attain a Degree?

Marc Jones makes a good point, what are the implications for serving officers who do not currently possess a Degree? Will they be required to obtain one or resign? Will serving officers without a Degree be automatically overlooked when selection processes are taking place for specialist roles or promotion?

Serving officers should be encouraged and assisted to obtain a Degree if they choose to. They should not however be held back if they do not. I spent my entire 30 year career as a Constable (by choice, not a failure to pass exams), I worked in a variety of specialist roles, was never turned down for anything merely because I didn’t have a Degree.

I can only ask the College of Policing to rethink this madness before further, irreparable, damage is done to a Police Service that is already battered and reeling.

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