My daughter wants to get a bach in CJ to be a cop....but has severe dyslexia?

[ahul@allianceco]

is this a horrible idea? the head of the dept. where she wants to go to school says no...but do they just want her tuition $. how is she going to write and read reports without assistive technology? is she wasting her time? can you be a p.o. and not be able to read.????

[Citicop]

Tell your daughter this (it's the truth):

Police Departments do not care what your degree is in. Criminal Justice is no better than Art History or Biology as far as police departments are concerned.

That way, if Law Enforcement does not work out she has something she can use somewhere else.

But if her disability is so severe she can't read or write on her own, she will have a very difficult time getting hired.

Hope that helps somewhat-

-Citicop.

[Kimble]

is this a horrible idea? the head of the dept. where she wants to go to school says no...but do they just want her tuition $. how is she going to write and read reports without assistive technology? is she wasting her time? can you be a p.o. and not be able to read.????

You cannot be a police officer and unable to read, a significant portion of our jobs involves reading and writing reports. If the school she is going to is not a state university (who gets their funds from the state, vice being dependent solely on student tuition), it's entirely possible they are encouraging here into a degree for tuition. I say this as a former college CJ department head, and have seen firsthand college admissions folks tell people who have no chance of legitimately gaining employment into law enforcement to enroll in a CJ program so they can meet their enrollment quotas.

[retdetsgt]

If it's severe, she probably won't be able to pass the written portion of the test. Most departments gear parts of the test to judge reading comprehension and writing skills. It's an integral part of police work.

I'm ADD and have a hell of a time reading long, comprehensive anything. But I learned to compensate by making notes as I read them. I did the same thing in college and graduate school. If she can find a way to deal without w/o special aids, she'll be okay. But if not, police work isn't going to be for her, I'm afraid.