Last updated on October 16th, 2023 at 07:55 pm
Reading Time: 2 minutesThose of you who follow this blog regularly will no doubt have noticed something a little unexpected about it.
The College of Policing are pushing the ‘new’, ‘better’ Entry Routes above the more traditional Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP).
Lancashire PCC Andrew Snowden, in an interview with Police Oracle, has firmly criticised the principle that having a degree makes Policing ‘more professional’, and that is an opinion that I have a certain sympathy with.
I have stated several times before that I survived 30 years without a degree. Could/would I have performed my duties more professionally with a degree? I have no idea, but the suggestion that I might not have been professional enough offends me.
In response to an FOI request of mine recently, the National Police Chiefs Council, as a gesture of goodwill (and I certainly appreciated it) included a piece of information that I had not actually requested.
Crikey, IPLDP has been the most-used Entry Route over the last two years. Adding up all the variations IPLDP accounts for maybe a third of recent recruits.
So, do the College of Policing think that a third of current recruits will prove to be less professional than the other two thirds?
Social Media is littered with examples of officers who have entered via the DHEP or PCDA route and are finding that their needs haven’t been catered for. Their Protected Study Time isn’t always being respected and many other problems, culminating with (at least) one officer being transferred to the IPLDP programme without even requesting it.
My own concerns, and I don’t have the information to substantiate them or not, is that Universities (or at least some) might be struggling to deliver a brand new course to an unexpectedly high volume of recruits generated by the Police Uplift Programme.
This all brings us back to the question “Do you need a degree to Police?” To me it is stating the bleedin’ obvious that the answer is NO. Some of the finest Senior Investigating Officers on Murder Squads etc that I have ever known, wouldn’t be eligible to even apply to join now. Were they ‘professional’? In my opinion, yes they were.
There is nothing wrong with having a degree, the Police Service has always offered accelerated promotion to Graduates, although I would question the relevance of some of the subjects. Also, I would emphasise my point that this is not a criticism of anybody who has, or wants to get, a Degree in Policing, and I sincerely wish them all the best. My criticism is of the system, the College of Policing’s view that not having a degree makes you somehow less professional and Police Now’s quest to recruit ‘elite’ Graduates, which I personally find divisive and looks like 2 Tier Policing.
Please excuse my Sunday rant. I’ll stay quiet for a few days now 😂😂
