I’ve checked out a number of online schools in the past that offer advanced degrees, usually in the nursing field. I’m always interested in the players in the distance learning field since ti is somewhat related to my work in alumni networking, so when I find a new one, I like to check it out.

This time I’m checking out Lewis University. They have a number of advanced degree programs in Information Security, Organizational Leadership, and Nursing. Their public safety degree is particularly interesting to me. It targets professionals in law enforcement, emergency medical services, disaster response, or fire services. It also seems an interesting advancement from the BA in Fire Advancement degree they also offer.

As the Lewis Univerity literature points out, this is a time when emergency response and issues of security are in the front of many people’s minds. Better trained and prepared professionals insuch crucial fields…well, I think we can all see the benefits.

Thinking of the handful of times I’ve had interactions with law enforcement, I can think of only one incident in which the police officer was human, polite and humorous without dropping the mantel of authority. A few other occasions were marked by a more or less lackadaisical attitude on the part of the officer, or the cop was actually a real jerk.

While the police work in a highly tense professional environment pretty much all of the time, and they are certainly physically well trained in the vast majority of cases, I have to wonder how well they are trained in dealing with the masses. There is a huge power imbalance between cops and citizens in the vast majority of interactions between the two groups. I would certainly like to see more police officers with advanced degrees in public safety on the streets. I think it could only improve relations, and success.

I had a conversation with a friend a while back about law enforcement and fire fighters. The friend was of the opinion that cops and fire fighters need not be overly educated. He was not disparaging these professionals, he was just of the opinion that advanced degrees and ongoing education were not very important for them. I am of a very different opinion. I said then, and still believe, that if our greatest minds (or at least the most educated ones) went into police work, rather than becoming tort lawyers or plastic surgeons, we might actually see a real decline in crime.