Having a degree won't make you a good police officer, says retiring Yorkshire detective

A North Yorkshire detective retiring after 30 years with the force has questioned the Government's efforts to make all new police officers have a degree.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Jan 2017, 12:27 BST
Updated 9th Jan 2017, 13:01 BST
Dc Kevan Howe, pictured earlier in his career.Dc Kevan Howe, pictured earlier in his career.
Dc Kevan Howe, pictured earlier in his career.

Detective Constable Kevan Howe, who joined the force in 1987 and has been involved in investigations including the 2001 Great Heck Train disaster and the York ‘body in a suitcase’ murder the same year, raised the concerns in a blog post on the force’s website.

He wrote: “It worries me that there seems to be an emphasis nationally on recruiting student officers with degrees as I have decent qualifications but I didn’t go to university, preferring to start work after leaving college instead.

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He added: “There are three main things you need to be a competent, decent police officer. Firstly you need to be able to communicate with anyone and ‘level’ with anyone who you come into contact with. I’ve had a motto above my desk for the last 15 years, it says ‘communication is the key!’

DC Kevan Howe stands in uniform on his last day in the same spot at Police HQ where his dad, Peter Howe, stood in the late 50s when he first joined North Yorkshire Police.DC Kevan Howe stands in uniform on his last day in the same spot at Police HQ where his dad, Peter Howe, stood in the late 50s when he first joined North Yorkshire Police.
DC Kevan Howe stands in uniform on his last day in the same spot at Police HQ where his dad, Peter Howe, stood in the late 50s when he first joined North Yorkshire Police.

“Without communication or the ability to communicate you haven’t got anything. Along with communicative skills you also need to have a deal of common sense and bags of enthusiasm. If you have these three things you won’t go far wrong. Having a degree guarantees nothing.”

The College of Policing announced in December that all new police officers in England and Wales will have to be educated to degree level from 2020. It said the training would help address changes in crime-fighting.

Prospective officers can either complete a three-year “degree apprenticeship”, a postgraduate conversion course or a degree.

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The college’s Chief Constable Alex Marshall said last month that the nature of police work has changed significantly and officers were just as likely to be “patrolling online” as on the street.

DC Kevan Howe stands in uniform on his last day in the same spot at Police HQ where his dad, Peter Howe, stood in the late 50s when he first joined North Yorkshire Police.DC Kevan Howe stands in uniform on his last day in the same spot at Police HQ where his dad, Peter Howe, stood in the late 50s when he first joined North Yorkshire Police.
DC Kevan Howe stands in uniform on his last day in the same spot at Police HQ where his dad, Peter Howe, stood in the late 50s when he first joined North Yorkshire Police.

Mr Howe followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a police officer with the North Riding Constabulary between January 1958 and April 1968.

He wrote in his blog that after starting his service in 1987, his training lasted 16 weeks and was a combination of “classroom based knowledge of the law, practical/scenario exercises conducted in and around the training centre and physical training, aikido, swimming and cross country running”. His first posting was in Stokesley.

He said that the hardest part of his job was delivering a death message, but that the highlight of his career had been working as an intelligence officer as part of the 2012 London Olympics.

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He wrote: “The police has provided me with an unbelievable working experience. I’m not sure that the way the Police service operates now can afford the individual the opportunities that have presented themselves to me in my career.

“Because of the way the Police service operates now I’m not sure that I would actively encourage anybody to join but equally I would encourage anyone interested in becoming a Police Officer to go for it, and refer to all the positive aspects of the job that I have found so rewarding over the years.”