Recruits don’t need degrees says Federation Chair

BEING able to engage with people and having the skills to ‘think on their feet’ are more important assets for police recruits than having a degree.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Zuleika Payne said degrees should not be a prerequisite for becoming a constable.

Her comments come on the back of the release of the College of Policing’s three-point entry plan for new constables.

Each route in involves getting a degree either before, after or during their appointment as officers.

The College says it is ‘confident’ that the Police Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) will open policing up as a career choice and that they will help existing officers progress through the ranks.

But Zuleika is not convinced.

She said: “I understand that degrees provide an indication of someone’s ability to research and retain information and that these are valuable skills to have in policing.

“But they are certainly not or shouldn’t be the be all and end all of police recruitment.

“We actually need people who can think on their feet, who can assess situations and make informed on-the-spot decisions.

“We need people who can be accountable for their actions, who have physical strengths coupled with the tact and diplomacy to be a police officer.

“You can’t get all of that with a degree and there is part of me which thinks that focusing on degrees also undermines all the training we as officers go through already – the internal processes. There is so much specialist training undertaken by officers for example, CID and investigator training, interview skills, driving courses to name but a few.”

“Let’s have some reward and recognition for the skills that existing officers acquire along the way.”

Zuleika is also worried that focusing on degrees as part of recruitment programmes will undermine the diversity forces have worked hard to create.

She added: “My concern is that having to have a degree or having to work towards getting one is just going to alienate large sections of the community – people we have worked hard to encourage into the service over the last 20 to 30 years.

“Previous research has shown it will attract people from perhaps a particular background and there is also research suggesting that BAME officers would be affected by this.

“At the end of the day, what do the public want? Do they want someone out there protecting them, someone who can talk to people in the right manner and at an appropriate level, gather intelligence and prevent and detect crime, or do they want someone who can’t do any of those things but happens to have a degree?

“I think we all know the answer to that one.”