Take Charge of Your Career

            I get questions all the time about education and the future of law enforcement. I personally believe that education is going to play a more important role in the advancement in the law enforcement profession. For one thing more and more officers are entering the profession with degrees.

            I know that most major agencies and even some smaller agencies require some college education for promotion to captain or higher positions. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you are just starting your law enforcement career; there might be a time in your future that you will need some college to attain your goals. But that is up to you not me. The point that I am trying to make is that if the trend is to require some college education to advance to certain positions then you should not let that limit you. I came into this career field from the military with no education. Fortunately for me the G.I. bill paid for my associate’s degree. I have not worked for an agency that paid for college. I have been told that there are agencies out there that do pay for tuition. I just haven’t been fortunate enough to have worked for one of them.

            Yes I do know first hand how hard it is to work full time and attend class full time. But it is not impossible, and just recently a community college in North Carolina has started offering an associate degree on line. All of the classes are on line. This makes it as easy as it gets. You don’t have to go to class. If you are interested in this opportunity then you can contact Stanly Community College. The person you need to talk to is Kim Hammet at hammetkc@stanly.edu. I am just trying to pass along an opportunity for those who wish to take advantage of it.

            If you have an associate’s and want to pursue a bachelor’s then there are many opportunities out there for that also. There are a bunch of institutions that offer online classes, such as Phonix University. There are also several colleges that offer accelerated programs. Mount Olive College offers a criminal Justice program that will allow you to complete a bachelor’s degree in 13 months if you have an associate’s degree. N.C. State University and N.C. Wesleyan College also offer accelerated programs.

            If you are looking for a Master’s degree there are also programs out there for you. North Carolina Central University and Pfeiffer University offer convenient programs for the working student. These are not all inclusive but are just a few of the programs that I am familiar with. I know that these programs work with nontraditional students. If you are interested in any of these programs, you can access all of them on the internet, or you can contact me.

            I believe that in the future the law enforcement profession is going to place a lot more emphasis on education. I have seen more and more people with degrees coming into the profession. I have seen some agencies refuse to hire people without degrees. I believe that in the future, the near future, more and more agencies are going to require some level of education for promotions. Why let yourself be limited by not having a degree when you can earn a Bachelor’s degree in as little as three years?

 

                                                                                    God bless ya’ll

                                                                                    Andy Miller