I know you need a bachelor’s in order to become Police Chief BUT would that degree have to be specifically in criminal justice? I know the degree alone won’t make you eligible but being a good officer with years of experience under your belt a long with the degree will to my knowledge.
Is a bachelor’s in CJ required if you wanted to become Police Chief?
r/AskLE
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Round these parts we’ve got police chiefs that are highschool drop outs. Seems like a low bar some places.
what kind of dumb ass question is this?
I’m sure there’s plenty of smaller agencies where the chief doesn’t have a degree of any sort
No.
You should focus on getting hired first…
I recommend getting your degree in something else. In my department, you need 60 credits , or military to get hired. Everyone who has a degree, send to have criminal justice and it doesn’t help one bit. To promote to captain you need a bachelors. In anything. Including underwater basket weaving. To become a chief here “ there’s hundreds of them” you have to be liked , SOMEWHAT efficient and mostly liked.
No. When I got hired, they required a bachelor’s degree, but the major didn’t matter. They’ve cut that back to just 2 years now, I believe.
That being said, we’ve also got POs on the job who are full-fledged lawyers, so it runs the gamut here.
You dont even need common sense, reasonability, compassion, forethought, let alone a degree dept dependent.
If you’re already wanting to be chief your mindset is wrong. Reluctant leaders tend to be the best, they lack a desire for power so they wont abuse people to have it. Most chiefs and upper admin are not true cops anymore, they are self serving politicians. Dont be that.