Interior Minister considers replacing police diploma by a general degree According to a proposal by Interior Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA) on a reform of police training in Belgium, it will soon be possible to become a police officer without any specific diploma from the police school. The proposal was reported by De Standard and Het Nieuwsblad on Monday (7 November).
In his working paper, the minister favors a profound reorganization of the training system of law enforcement. He proposes that the ten police schools in the country should include regular education. This would mean the end of the principle that only a student with a police school diploma may become a police officer.
"The problem is that this diploma is not a real degree and has no value on the rest of the labor market," said the spokesperson of the minister. "It's not logical and not really understandable that a higher diploma is not enough to work in the police force." A working group has been established to look into the matter.
The main drawback of this reform is funding. A police officer in training is currently paid from the first day by the police. The working group will therefore analyze how far it is possible to continue paying the students in the new training system that will result in a diploma that is recognized on the labor market.
The Brussels Times (Source: Belga)
