Do graduate police officers make a difference to policing? Results of an integrative literature review

This article updates and extends a literature review by Paterson on the attributes said to be brought to policing by graduate officers compared to their non-graduate counterparts. A number of methodological shortcomings in the research as well as criticisms levelled at various bachelor degree courses means drawing definitive conclusions is problematic. Overall, it seems policing or criminal justice degrees confers no particular advantage; rather, it is the experience of university per se that is important. Whilst too early to say what benefits the present Police Education Qualification Framework devised by the UK’s College of Policing will yield, current research is unable to confirm unambiguously that values associated with higher levels of education may bring improved policing outcomes.