On-line education for the busy police officer

I really enjoyed the convenience of online education. I was able to get an Associates degree while working full time, going through the reserve academy for the police along with taking care of a family of six. Needless to say it's hard to find time to fit in college work with an iniquitous schedule. However, if it wasn't for my college being online, I would have not been able to get a college education at all.

I do plan on returning to college. The field of criminal justice requires officers to constantly learn in order to keep up with criminals who are doing the same. Officers are wise to go for degrees in business, computers, accounting, law, and psychology. If you look at it, most criminals are out for money and power which ties into having a good understanding of the above mentioned fields of study.

I strongly believe that the "brawn" of police work today is mostly done through cerebral tactics developed by using intelligence gained from either education/training, surveillance, or through experience on the job. My Lt. believes that negotiation before confrontation is a much better tactic to use out on patrol. I agree and admire him for that.

An on-line college education is a good start in learning how to use the cerebral “brawn” tactic as well as being a means of convenience for the busy police officer.

If it helps, think of it this way; the American SOG’s (Special Operations Groups) and SAS (British Special Forces) fight hand-to-hand combat keeping mind that if you can control the head, you can control the whole body. So it is the same for the intellectual police officer. If you can control the subject through mental manipulation (control the mind or thoughts), you can control his/her body reactions. Save your body…fight with your mind. There’s a lot less paperwork.

RE: April 2007 Online Education

I have done online education and was able to complete my Bachelor's in Criminal Justice with a minor in Criminology. For me, being able to do it online through an accredited school worked great for me because I was able to do my coursework around my work schedule, meetings, trainings, etc., and still have time to spend with my wife. Now that I have my Bachelor's, I am actually thinking about going back and trying for my Masters. The college I previously went through offers the Masters program, and I would definitely be willing to go back. Sometimes with online education you miss the face-to-face interaction with the professor and your classmates, but the system I used for our "class time" was great and the professor was always available during office hours either by phone, email, or instant message through AOL or Yahoo! Messenger. I took my courses through Kaplan University (www.kaplan.edu) and it was a great experience. Everyone worked with me to get me in the classes I wanted, filling out the registration papers, and with the financial aid aspect as well. If anyone has questions about it, I'd be glad to respond.