NCJ Number
83552
Date Published
Unknown
Length
27 pages
Annotation
Recommendations for improvements in the program of England's Police Staff College (Bramshill) (PSC), an educational program to prepare officers for senior and intermediate staff positions, are presented, and aspects of police professionalism are identified.
Abstract
The initial goal of PSC was to improve the professional knowledge and competence of those about to enter senior and management levels by encouraging them to acquire a broader and clearer perception of British society and the changes occurring in it. The development of individual abilities, particularly those related to decisionmaking and communication, were also emphasized. Academic staff have been integrated with police staff in an effort to relate liberal arts studies to police policy and practice. In addition to continuing its function as a center for staff development, training, and education, PSC should also initiate occasional seminars for officers of all ranks as well as for appropriate persons outside the police profession. Further, the college should be a center for police research and a central link with the academic, industrial, bureaucratic, military, diplomatic, and political worlds. The college should also have the authority to give credit, perhaps a certificate in police studies. The college should continue to have as its prime concern the nurture of ethics and integrity. This will serve the development of a 'professional,' defined as someone exercising skills resting upon an established body of knowledge and whose conduct is governed by norms or standards derived from a source independent of the employing organization. Professionalism for the police does not mean the development of an elite group separated from and standing against the lay citizen, but rather a profession whose knowledge, sensitivities, and values equip its members to cultivate close relationships within the community and provide the complex services dictated by citizens' needs.