Chair: “Degrees won’t equip officers for our difficult jobs”

‘THERE isn’t a degree on the planet’ that can properly equip police officers to do the difficult and dangerous job they do, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

Zuleika Payne was speaking after the Home Secretary told the Police Federation of England and Wales’ Annual Conference that he didn’t believe police officers needed a degree to do a good job this week.

The vast majority of delegates agreed with him, a straw poll at the conference revealed.

Zuleika said: “Apart from maybe the two or three hands in the air as far as I could see, the majority of officers in that room did not support the notion that you should have a degree before you enter the police organisation.

“Policing is about thinking on your feet, being presented with a situation, making a very quick assessment with the information you have available to you there and then, and making an informed choice.

“There isn’t a degree on this planet that can equip you for that.”

“Many people today were quick to say they didn’t have a degree when they came into policing and certainly they felt that that hadn’t held them back.”

Dr Joan Donnelly, head of research and policy support PFEW, had told the Conference: “I have a few degrees. But I don’t have the social skills and the tact to be a police officer.

“And I certainly wouldn’t be going in to a pub on a Saturday night and dealing with some of the difficult and dangerous situations that police officers deal with.”