Policing by Degrees: Police Officers' Experience of University Education

Abstract

The British Police was established as an artisan organization that would develop its own leaders. This fostered continuous debate on the quality of leadership and proposals for lateral entry, which elicited sustained opposition from the Police Federation and politicians. By the 1960s, intense pressures to change led to an emphasis on recruiting graduates and support for university education. The Essex Police decided to send officers to university full‐time, gave them free choice of subject and did not require them to stay after graduation. This article draws on interviews with officers who attended Essex University full‐time and it analyzes their experiences as students, their return to operational policing and their reflections on the impact of having graduates within the police service. The material raises issues about policing, leadership and education, and illuminates how the police organization has changed to a more sophisticated institution with well‐educated leaders, but without bending to lateral entry.