NCJ Number
149857
Date Published
1994
Length
17 pages
Annotation
The author distinguishes between police training and police education by defining training as the practical and applied side of education.
Abstract
Training is designed to convey skills, attitudes, and general information necessary to carry out daily policing operations. An essential purpose of training is to keep police personnel apprised of policing innovations. In another sense, however, training's orientation and impact depend largely on the way society chooses to define the police role. Education involves more theoretically based knowledge, values, and attitudes gained in a formal setting. The question of how much formal education entry-level police officers require continues to be debated by police policymakers and administrators, as indicated in a brief history of police education. Key issues concern whether entry-level police officers need a college degree, the value of experience versus education, and the performance of college-educated police officers versus high school graduates. The author concludes that the debate over where training ends and education begins and the issue of whether more than a high school diploma should be a national standard for entry-level police officers may not be settled in the near future. 46 references