‘Policing degrees’ taking recruits off the frontline, say PCCs

7 November 2022

The Home Secretary is facing calls from Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to get new officer recruits ‘out of classrooms and on the beat’.

Sixteen PCCs have signed a letter to Suella Braverman warning that up to 10 per cent of their officers are studying rather than fighting crime on the frontlines.

They say that regulations requiring new recruits to undertake three years of study (equivalent to a policing degree) is likely to deter the non-academically minded and older recruits who are thinking of switching careers to policing. They warn that this endangers the Government’s flagship 20,000 Police Uplift Programme.

Hertfordshire Police Federation chair Luke Mitchell said: “The whole point of the officer uplift is to plug the considerable gaps in frontline policing caused by the cuts to officer numbers of a decade ago. But we cannot hope to achieve this or deliver the service the public needs if our new recruits are all stuck in classrooms.

“Nobody would argue that training is not important, of course it is, but there is a balance to be struck. In my view the traditional method of 20 weeks’ training and then getting out on the beat was probably about right.”

Since Kit Malthouse signed off on the new regulations during his time as policing minister, it’s mandatory from March 2023 for any officer completing their three-year probation to have gained a graduate-level qualification. They must also complete an evidence-based research project as part of their final assessment.

However, the PCCs in their letter, argue that a ‘more flexible approach’ would give “better options to help recruit a wider range of people with suitable experience, including the military, serving Specials and PCSOs, or people seeking a career change, more quickly.”

Matthew Scott, PCC for Kent, told The Telegraph newspaper: “We are turning away perfectly good people because we have decided you need a degree to be a police officer. There are many fine police officers who have never had a degree.”

The PCCs represent forces across England and Wales and include Kent, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Humberside, Surrey, Thames Valley, Warwickshire, Essex, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Cleveland.

A spokesperson from the College of Policing countered: “New officers have told us the updated training has dramatically improved how prepared and confident they feel in doing the job in comparison to the previous training. A survey of almost 4,000 new recruits showed that 82 per cent undergoing the updated training said the force learning provided them with the skills for the job.”