Professor Kirk Burkhalter ’04 is a retired NYPD Detective, First Grade and a criminal law scholar. He’s brought his experience and expertise to the national conversation on police reform and accountability, calling for a more robust education for police officers before they begin service. Recent media highlights are below:
Op-Ed in USA Today
“Give police a real education before putting them on the streets”
“My father and I attended the police academy 22 years apart, and combined we served 45 years on the New York Police Department. Though we served during different decades, our training was essentially indistinguishable. Even today, that training largely remains the same, despite the vast changes in society.
“In recent days, activists and politicians have called for changes in how our police departments are funded and managed, but just as essential is throwing out the book on police training and replacing it with a robust system of modern education. That is the first step in changing the job into a full-fledged profession that provides police officers with the intellectual and ethical grounding they need to serve society.”
Appearance on ABC National News
“Former NYC detective recommends ‘throwing out the book’ on police training”
“This [police education] needs to move forward into the 21st century … I would recommend throwing out the book and starting over. This training should be akin to an undergraduate degree and some form of police science.”
Appearance on Scripps National News
“Police training improvement”
“Give us the opportunity of two years to really have a strong eye on these candidates to understand if they are taking these educational requirements on, if they are internalizing them.”
Follow Professor Burkhalter on Twitter at @BurkhalterKirk