Do most police officers have a bachelor's degree?
Almost half of them have bachelor's degree or higher, according to the source below. Most have some amount of college. The percentages has been going up over the decades. The job market for law enforcement is extremely competitive, and if you don't have military experience or some amount of college (an associate's degree, or 60 credits minimum) your chances of getting hired are extremely low. So many recruits end up having degrees."Table 1 offers variable codings and descriptive statistics for our first inquiry, which seeks to examine the impact of educational level on officer occupational attitudes. As shown, nearly 45% of the officers attained a bachelor’s degree or higher, with another 43% having some college experience"http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/f...
Is getting a bachelor’s from the US worth it?
Studying in US provides you tangible degrees and certificates.It makes your resume stand out from others.You gets an opportunity of getting into a new culture of learning.
Is getting a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice at the age of 50 a waste of time?
I hope my answers will not discourage you from completing your degree. With that said, if I had the chance to go through college all over again, I would have gone through a different degree program. I think a lot of students believe the hype they are told about getting a Criminal Justice Degree about getting hired by the FBI or being a detective straight out of college. But the reality is the FBI doesn't want CJ majors, they want Science grads, law students, financial degrees, accounting, Drs of psychology. Some of the other hype that is spread is about being a forensic expert, but you do know you have to be a science major to do that. The best you could do is evidence collection, but a trade school or police academy can teach you that.I became a Juvenile Probation Officer, after a few years in the Army. I enlisted because I couldn't find a job in law enforcement out of college, unless I went to a Police Academy. I just spent $50,000 on college and couldn't afford to pay for a police academy out my own pocket. When I left the army, I went through the hiring process for San Antonio Police Department, but needed work so I applied for the JPO position in a small community, making almost minimum wage and worked there for 8.5 years. But the pay wasn't worth the headaches dealing with the local politics.I finally saved enough to go to a part time police academy, while working as a private corrections officer again at almost minimum wage. I am now working as a campus police officer for a decent salary. Nothing like what I would be making with SAPD or any other major city police department. But it took me about 20 years to get here, when if I would have gone directly into the army after high school and left when I turned 21, I could have gone through a police academy and not waste money on college.If I would have gone through college I would have followed my family and became a teacher. FYI, I am a candidate to teach a High School Criminal Justice class at my local high school. Something that I could have been doing all along.In the long run, it depends on what you want to do and if you want to deal with disappointment if things don't go how you want them to.
Police Academy count for a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice?
It depends, usually the AS degree doesn't have courses with numbers over 100, which would not qualify them for the bachelors degree.
Associates or Bachelors to become police officer?
No real advantage with either degree in being hired, a HS diploma and the age of 21 is the mandatory minimum requirement for most departments.The Bachelors will give you more openings and if hired will allow you to advance faster. A bachelors will also allow you to pursue other lines if you need to, federal law enforcement, teaching at a community college level and private security work where the pay is much higher than public employees.
Do you have to have a bachelor's degree to become a police officer?
In some places you have to have a degree. Others only require a high school diploma. If you're thinking about going into law enforcement I would suggest that if you are looking for advancement that don't take all law enforcement courses that is because law enforcement courses are very limited in what they teach and 99% of it only relates to law enforcement. If you ever decide that you won't be a policeman anymore unless you're going into private security that degree is worth practically nothing outside field of law enforcement. I would suggest you take very courses and rely heavily on business courses budgets and basically things that go along with running a business. if you want to advance you're going to need these skills because basically you are running a business and you know how to budget, deal with labor relations, deal with purchasing equipment, and just about everything that goes with heading a business. You don't usually get that type of knowledge and strictly law enforcement degrees. If you advance and want to advance these other degrees are invaluable to you and just knowing laws and police procedures usually won't get you there
Associates or bachelor degree before police academy?
If you want to work for the feds, most, if not all, agencies require a bachelors. You would definitely have a job sooner but you won't be as competitive with just an associates. I totally know the feeling of wanting to be done with school, but if this is really what you want to do, you can make it work. Just make sure you weigh the pros and cons and don't forget to look at the long term. I recommend making a list of your top agencies and finding out what they require so you can decide if it is worth your while. If you can get in with an associates, you could always go back to school after you get in. Additionally, some technical schools in some states offer peace officer certification and the classes are at night, so if you could afford that in addition to your schooling, that might help and you could get a job with a local agency while you are still in college. Biggest thing is DON'T GIVE UP if this is your dream.
Is a Criminal Justice degree worth it?
I don't think so. You do need college but cj is not for future cops. You need a much more generalized education. I will not recommend a major, take what interests you but understand that cj at an undergrad level has little to do with the real police. I will recommend that you take classes that help you develop your critical thinking and logic skill. Classes like intro to philosophy or comparative religion. Writing and public speaking on a 100 level class would not hurt. Entrance written testing for most major departments are basically reading and comprehension tests. They also try to see if you are able to learn and use skills learned. The same skills will help in any promotion testing and help you make good fast decisions on the street. As far as SWAT goes just be a great cop and be sure to stay in good and flexible shape. Remember for most departments in the US SWAT type work is not full time. You do your normal cop jobs until called up for service or for the extra training you get. Whenever there is an opening for any job or unit you think you might want to do take the teat or apply. You don't make it the first couple of times does nto mean you will never make it.