All plods to have degrees

[JoM]

Utterly ridiculous idea!

A close friend of ours has been in the police for over 20 years. He didn't join until he was in his mid-20s, he'd worked in various different jobs by then and had plenty of life experience. And common sense. No degree but a few O levels. He's worked in surveillance for a number of years now, some things he's involved in are quite worrying. To me though I could see that he'd be the perfect officer. Yes, he can be tough but he's got a load of common sense, a fabulous sense of humour and also shows a lot of compassion.

Kaz, my sister trained in nursing in the same way. Moved into the nurses home on the Sunday and started her job the following morning, with more time working on the wards than spent doing theory in the classroom. By the time she retired after 38 years she was a nurse practitioner and was carrying out procedures which had previously been done by consultants.

The requirement of a degree will rule out many people who would previously have been ideal candidates for the professions.

[cromwell]

This idea has already been tried in nursing. It doesn't seem to have produced massive improvements, and it certainly won't in the Police service.

Dealing with wife-beaters, drunks, drug dealers and thieves doesn't require a degree so much as guts, tact, professionalism and common sense.