Police Chiefs’ Opinions on College Education of Officers

• In Event: Law Enforcement and Education

Abstract

This paper explores the perceptions of police chiefs regarding the relationship between college education and the performance of police officers. It also presents chiefs’ views on a hiring preference for college-educated officers. The data come from survey responses of a sample of over 100 police chiefs in the State of Pennsylvania. The effect of background variables, such as size of the department, whether the department employs community policing strategies, and education of the police chief on opinions about police officer education is also explored using multivariate analyses.

Author

• Liz Marie Marciniak, University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg