Should there be educational requirements for cops?

Soldato
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Special Constables are proper police (I.e not PCSO's) that do it for free. They have limitations, for example cannot use blues and twos on police cars but do have the right to arrest your backside.

Let's just say that anybody who does police work for free giving up there spare time has issues or must really be hooked on power.

I know a Special that has being doing it for over 30 years! He would be sat atop his nice pension by now if he had just joined up.

Some Specials have response driving permits, normally only those long in service mind.
 
Soldato
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The issue is not educational, but cultural, especially with Labour's ever greater expansion of police powers.

You forgot to bring religion into this thread as well :rolleyes:


Right I think that the police should come out of their cars and police the same area all the time.

That way the public would get to know an trust them. Like the old days most coppers lived by the police station
or lived in the small police stations. you knew them they knew you and your whole family.

A lot of trust can be built up by doing this between the public and police
oh and get rid of the these part time coppers ther are a joke and they know it.

That's all the education they need for the job.
 
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Associate
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Common sense
Courteousness
Sense of Humour
Ability to think outside the box
Interpersonal Skills
Ability to stand there and do the job in highly stressful situations

None of the above can be taught on a Degree course and in my opinion matter far more than if you can calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow
 
Commissario
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An education doesn't come with a guarantee of common sense, something I'd prefer to see when policing is involved.

Yup, and a degree might not have anything related to what the police actually do.

A lot (most) of what they need to know can be learned in training, along with how it's applied in the situations they are likely to find themselves in, and the law relevant to it.

A lot of the problems people seem to have with the Police have nothing to do with the level of education they have, so much as the attitude and/or lack of common sense or the loss of their discretion when dealing with certain situations (not to mention the odd edict from on high that contradicts how the courts have decided the law should be enforced).
 
Associate
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Pigs made me pick up a drinks bottle that was beside the side of the car i was sat in.

Note: It wasn't mine.

I was clueless whether I could argue or not...what a tool he is, some of them need simple education in respect, that is all I can say..
 
Soldato
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Yup, and a degree might not have anything related to what the police actually do.

A lot (most) of what they need to know can be learned in training, along with how it's applied in the situations they are likely to find themselves in, and the law relevant to it.

A lot of the problems people seem to have with the Police have nothing to do with the level of education they have, so much as the attitude and/or lack of common sense or the loss of their discretion when dealing with certain situations (not to mention the odd edict from on high that contradicts how the courts have decided the law should be enforced).

A lot of things can be learned in training, but if someone has a further aducational background (not so much a degree, possibly a course to join a police force or at least A levels) suggests that they are intelligent and that the training they receive will when coupled with their education leave them in a better place for making decisions.

If someone is not very intelligent, say very basic maths and english skills which is what is required, they are more likely to stick the rules with an insane obsession as this is something they are comfortable with and requires no extra thought. They do not want to put themselves in a position where they could be challenged or are called out for being wrong because they make a mistake.

You meet some cops who are not really educated and this will effect their performance no matter how well they are trained. Whilst it is not a guarantee generally skills such as an analytical ability, the ability to "think outside the box" (what I would say meaning knowing when to and when not to apply the rules) can be well developed in certain study areas.

Personally I think the idea would be worth looking into, it certainly could not do any harm, I mean someone with an iota of sense would not have responded in the way that the copper did in the above thread about the "peado dad"
 
Soldato
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A requirement for either A-levels or a degree is secondary to life-experience in my opinion. The police are not required to be criminologists or Law makers, they are there to enforce the law. The police selection process should (and does on the whole), weed out anyone not suitable, be it for intelligence, fitness or mental stability.

I do think that in recent years the attitude of the Police toward the general public has become confrontational and I think that needs to be addressed, but requiring Police Officers to have a higher level of education would just make policing more expensive and recruitment and retention more difficult with little gain if any.
 
Soldato
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There are no real requirements but apparently they're looking more into people with qualifications now. Public services qualifications and such.
I know a lad who's doing a degree in policing studies, ironically he wants to be a fireman.

If police are becoming less courteous it's down to the amount of rude people. All the chavs running about doing drugs and nicking, ruining everyones peace and quiet. It's just the way you've got to deal with them now. You can't be nice when you're trying to dole out punishment among the troublemakers.

Some coppers are nice but a lot of police officers working inner city and such, have to be hardarses to try and make a difference.
 
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Caporegime
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Pigs made me pick up a drinks bottle that was beside the side of the car i was sat in.

Note: It wasn't mine.

I was clueless whether I could argue or not...what a tool he is, some of them need simple education in respect, that is all I can say..
Given your choice of moniker for the Police, I am struggling to find a big enough Ironic gif.
 
Soldato
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Hence PCSOs, who are there to integrate into the local community and provide a bridge between the public an Police.


mmmmm, I am not convinced as to their effectiveness, I would frankly abandon that project and recruit more Police Officers. Tackling the problem of bureaucracy for the average PC and getting them back out onto the beat, instead of piled under with paperwork would be more effective.

Civilians do have a role in the Police force, but I am afraid with the advent of the PCSO it has been turned around, the Public would be better served if the PCSO's were doing the paperwork, while the Police proper were out on the beat.
 
Permabanned
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A requirement for either A-levels or a degree is secondary to life-experience in my opinion. The police are not required to be criminologists or Law makers, they are there to enforce the law. The police selection process should (and does on the whole), weed out anyone not suitable, be it for intelligence, fitness or mental stability.

That is a major problem imo with the system. the whole, "hey i don't make the laws", yea you don't make them and you don't know them either, you just think you know them and then you use your own (poor) judgement to arrest people. What we have then is police who think that arresting people is just there part and then if we disagree we can take it up in the courts.

If going to court was not extortion based and full of conflict of interests then maybe that would not be so bad.

So i think they should have to learn and understand the law, instead they are taught about terrorism and how everyone is a terrorist and they have militarised the police. I have seen the police training. I know that they don't learn the law... oh that is for lawyers, we just arrest people and then make them pay fines and use extortion to get money from them. Thinking they are the law. makes me sick.
 
Caporegime
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My choice of moniker came from the sheer disregard I experienced from them. Irony isn't apparent in this situation.
You're right, it's more mordant then ironic. You're demanding they respect you, yet showing them no respect yourself. It would be ironic if it were remotely funny, and not pitiful.
 
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