Policing ‘top-up’ degree was the perfect, professional pathway for former serving officer

The College of Policing’s Police Education Qualification Framework has outlined a system whereby the prior learning and experience of serving officers is recognised, if they wish to study for a professional qualification.

The Press Office spoke with Carl Sturman – formerly with Northamptonshire Police – and Angie Packwood – Subject Lead for Criminology and Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Northampton – who talk about the University’s ‘top-up’ degree in Applied Criminal Justice Studies and how it can benefit serving officers. The full video is below.

Angie Packwood

The Ba in Applied Criminal Justice Studies is a year-long programme and the modules cover a number of topics such as cyber-crime and tackling challenging behaviour.

For this degree, we’ve looked at serving officers, who have lots of skills and abilities that aren’t always recognised in an academic manner. A process has been developed whereby officers can – with all of their police service – have the first two years of the Criminal Justice degree accredited, and come straight into the third year, giving them a degree when they graduate.

Nationally, policing is changing. It’s recognised that a lot of police officers leave the force without a formal qualification. The College has done a large amount of work into ‘professionalising’ the police service. But this is not about acknowledging that the service is not professional – which it is – it’s about getting recognition for officers and for the work they are doing.

Northampton is one of the first universities to do this and we are working with the College to help formalise this across England.

Carl Sturman

I’d been a Police Officer for more than 25 years, but realised along with all of my professional work, there was no professional qualification. I was already looking at various universities during open days with my daughter, who was thinking about taking a law degree. We came to Northampton and although she didn’t sign up for a course, I did.

The ‘top-up’ degree was perfect for what I needed because it allowed me to use the professional work I’ve done and put it towards an academic qualification. I learned so much about research, looking deeper into case histories and got a different, more academic view about how to write reports and present them.

The degree opened doors for new things I can do in and outside of the police, which fits in well with my work in policing teaching and training – I’ve been able to work as a lecturer with the University, for example.

As I approach retirement, I am looking around with a training qualification and a degree which gives me a real professional footing to go to new ‘employers’ with. We all know there is a life after policing and this qualification will help take you to that life.