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Posted by: kwflatbed

CAROLYN SALAZAR
NorthJersey.com



For four years, Kenneth Ehrenberg scrambled from Paramus to Newark.

Several times a week, he changed out of his light-blue police uniform and headed to Seton Hall Law School for night classes that taught him tort reform and trademark infringements.

Ehrenberg did not want to be a lawyer. He never intended to give up his badge. What he wanted he got a on spring day five years ago when he graduated from law school: a promotion to patrol sergeant.

"I went to law school to better myself, to challenge myself and to make myself more promotable," said Ehrenberg, 41.

Generous perks and high salaries across the state have turned what once was a blue-collar job into a competitive and well-educated profession, police in North Jersey say. Having good instincts and precise shooting skills no longer cuts it: Officers are trying to market themselves by earning master's degrees, law degrees or doctorates.

"This is not the old days where the police officer had a night stick and a gun," said Angelo Tritini, a criminal justice professor at Passaic County Community College. "Nowadays, you need a highly qualified police officer.

TO SERVE, PROTECT AND GRADUATE

A sampling of educational requirements and salary ranges for officers in some area police departments.

Haledon – Recently hired officers have two years to complete their bachelor's degree. Starting pay: about $30,000. Increases to $70,000 after five years.

Paterson – High school diploma or GED required. Starting pay is about $19,700. After five years: $37,000.

Wayne – Associate's degree required. Starting pay: $31,817. After five years: $86,891.

Paramus – Bachelor's degree required. Starting pay: $32,448. After eight years: $92,000.

Leonia – Bachelor's degree. Starting pay: $32,000. After five years: $87,000.

Hackensack – High school diploma or GED required. Starting pay: $28,645. After five years: $93,392.

New Jersey State Police – Associate's degree required, coupled with at least two years of police or military experience. Starting pay: $53,576. After seven years: $93,450.

"Police officers are dealing with so many difficult situations now that they need to have that educational background. Otherwise, they are going to be swallowed up. They need to understand the nature of community relations. They have to understand different cultures."

Over the past two decades, ever more police agencies have winnowed large pools of candidates by requiring a college degree. Many also prefer -- even require -- advanced degrees for promotions.

At least 10 law enforcement agencies in the state will not hire a recruit without a bachelor's degree, regardless of background or experience, according to the Police Association for College Education. Four are in Bergen County – Leonia, Montvale, Paramus and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office – and another is the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office.

However, Paramus Police Officer James Sheehan says he found 17 police departments in Bergen County that require a bachelor's degree.

"Although I don't think education alone makes a good police officer, there are benefits to enhancing the experiential level of recruits," said Sheehan, who conducted the survey for his graduate school thesis in 2001. "It exposes you to a thinking process that's important in a multicultural society."

The average police officer in Bergen earns about $90,000 a year after about five years.

Other departments, such as Paterson -- where officers begin making $19,700 a year -- require only a high school diploma. Some agencies, such as the New Jersey State Police, require an associate's degree plus two years' field or military experience.

But even those who trumpet the college pedigrees say it takes more than intellect to be a good cop.

"Having a law degree definitively has improved my ability to analyze problems, and think through them more," Ehrenberg said. "When someone calls to complain I can take a step back and listen to their arguments. To be a good officer, you need to have book smarts and you need to have street smarts. But if you are purely academic, that is not going to make you a good officer."

Trend has critics

Experts say that in recent years, several factors have revolutionized police work, including computer forensics, white collar crimes, higher salaries and more stringent state and federal regulations. "Today's officers are faced with a number of issues interpreting law. And if they can't write a good narrative for their written report, they won't have a good case," said Mahwah Police Chief James Batelli. "Chiefs find that college [graduates] question authority much more, and some don't like that. But they do foster change, and come up with new ideas."

Some say other factors, like the 1992 Los Angeles riots and New Jersey's racial profiling controversies in the 1990s, have departments looking for more mature and sophisticated officers.

"We get less complaints, less problems," said Paramus Police Chief Fred Corrubia, whose department requires a bachelor's degree.

Not everyone agrees the trend is positive. In the mid-1990s, several state lawmakers tried to mandate that all police departments under civil service guidelines make a bachelor's degree a requirement. The proposal was dropped after several groups opposed it.

Departments without civil service rules can impose their own hiring policies.

One of those opposition groups, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said the movement toward college degrees is making officers less representative of their communities. Minorities, they say, are getting left behind.

"That requirement knocks out very highly qualified and very good police officers," said James E. Harris, president of the state chapter of the NAACP. "And it is inherently leaving out minorities, who historically haven't had an opportunity to go to college. Nothing indicates that having a bachelor's degree makes you a better officer. There is more involved – like their demeanor, their sensitivity, good training."

In Mahwah, a police officer with several years' experience sued his department -- alleging age discrimination -- after he was passed over for a promotion to a less experienced officer with a master's degree. The department won the case in December 2004.

A small proportion

Across the nation, the number of police departments requiring an associate's or bachelor's degree doubled from 1990 to 2000, the last time a study was conducted, said Louis A. Mayo, founder and executive director of the Police Association for College Education.

But the numbers remain low: 4.8 percent now require a bachelor's and 9.6 percent require at least an associate's degree, he said.

In Bergen, one of the country's most affluent counties, high pay and work stability lead many college graduates to consider a career in policing, said Saddle Brook Police Chief Robert Kugler, vice president of the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police.

"Years ago, people became a police officer because they wanted to do the right thing for the community. Now I'm sure a lot are coming in because the salaries are so high," Kugler said. "But hopefully they are still coming in because they want to do what's right. I hope that's still the reason why they go into police work."

Although the average police officer's base salary in Bergen is about $90,000, those with Fort Lee, Bergen County Police, Glen Rock and Saddle Brook, among others, earn well in excess of $100,000 a year, excluding overtime.

And while corporations big and small are phasing out pension plans and retirement benefits nationwide, many police departments continue to offer what some consider generous packages.

Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said the call for more educated officers is driving police salaries to exorbitant levels – at taxpayer expense. A police officer doesn't need to go to law school or graduate school to be a good cop, he insisted.

"It doesn't translate into higher performance, not because they have a piece of paper. A police officer can be a very good officer without [a college degree]," he said. "This has been a method for our unions to drive up salaries – and it's certainly not benefiting our taxpayers."

Bigger plans

Lt. Bruce Kuipers, 42, who is in charge of professional standards at the Mahwah Police Department, completed his bachelor's degree in criminal justice and psychology a few years after joining the department in 1986. Soon afterward, he began taking night courses at Rutgers toward a master's degree in criminal justice.

"I thought that by continuing my education, I would make myself more of a professional police officer," he said.

Kuipers earned his master's in four and a half years. Now he has bigger plans.

"I'm thinking now of going back for my Ph.D. Or maybe a juris doctorate degree," he said.

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Posted by: Blueflu1

Geez, We are one of the most expensive areas of the country and we are paid crap compared so alot of areas. My town is building million dollar houses and they cry if we get a 3% raise.

I need a new career.

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