Police degrees? Service must be representative of the public

THE police service risks sliding back into a 1970s policing model if officers are required to have a degree, the Chair Elect of South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned.

Zuleika Payne said there was concern that a requirement for degrees would impact upon the diversity that the service has taken decades to build up and risk make policing an elite career that was not representative of the public. 

Only people from certain backgrounds would have the privilege, if you like, of having a degree under their belt, so therefore do we start to strip out officers from protected characteristic groups? It would say a lot about socio-economic groups, as well, that come into the organisation,” she said.

Zuleika compared the prospect to the Army’s “Sandhurst-style” method of recruiting officers. More than 80 per cent of officer cadets chosen to train at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst are university graduates.

“The danger is you may potentially only attract people from certain backgrounds and some people won’t have those opportunities open to them, and then you potentially run the risk of sliding back into a 1970s policing model,” said Zuleika. “We need to be representative of that which we serve.”

Her comments come after the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) criticised proposals by the College of Policing to make the job a graduate profession. A report by the CIPD noted that 57 per cent of police recruits did not have degrees and were still capable of carrying out “highly demanding” work.

Zuleika acknowledged that there was a theoretical side to policing, such as legislation, but said “a lot of it is about thinking on your feet”.

“The concern we have as a Federation is: how do you design a degree that equips you to be a police officer?” she said. “It’s unpredictable in its nature.”

The College of Policing believes police constables are working to graduate level six, which is degree level, and that officers could benefit from receiving an externally recognised qualification for their work should they so wish. “If existing officers are recognised at this level, in future it would make sense to set that as the entry level for the profession,” says the College.