Eugene Paoline
Professor And Graduate Director Of Criminal Justice, University Of Central Florida
Key Findings
- Education level and field experience are related to different policing outcomes.
- Officers that have some college-level education were less likely to use verbal force when compared to their less educated peers.
- Police officers who obtained four-year degrees showed a significant decrease in use of physical force than their less educated peers.
- Police officers with more field experience used less verbal and physical force than their less experienced counterparts.
Description
In the article, “Police Education, Experience, and the Use of Force,” Paoline and his co-author examine the impact education level and field experience have on police use of force. Previous research has found that college-educated police officers performed better than their less educated peers. In contradiction, other research found that it wasn’t education but experience that allowed officers to perform best. The researchers combined both these research topics to more evenly compare education and experience on performance. The researchers conducted their study by using data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN), which included 24 patrol beats in two different U.S. cities using both observation and interview data. The results showed that education level and field experience are related to different policing outcomes in the field. Officers that had college-level education were less likely to use verbal force when compared to their less educated peers. Police officers that obtained four-year degrees showed a significant decrease in use of physical force than their less educated peers. Police officers with more field experience used less verbal and physical force than their counterparts. In conclusion, the authors note that police departments should consider requiring a four-year degree option and assigning partners based on experience.