Date of Award
Spring 1979
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Education
Abstract
Two national commissions have recommended that a four-year baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university be required of each applicant for the position of police officer as a means of assuring that high quality service is rendered to the public. The 1967 President's commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice and later the 1973 National Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards both made this point as follows: A policeman today is poorly equipped for his job if he does not understand the legal issues involved in his everyday work, the nature of the social problems he constantly encounters the psychology of those people whose attitudes toward the law differ from his. Such understanding is not easy to acquire without the kind of broad general knowledge that higher education imparts, and without such understanding a policeman's response to many of the situations he meets is likely to be impulsive or doctrinaire. Police candidates must be sought in the colle1es and especially among liberal arts and social science students...