Why Criminal Justice Education Needs Leadership, not “Cop Shop” Training
April 1, 2026 2026-07-24 8:02Why Criminal Justice Education Needs Leadership, not “Cop Shop” Training
As criminal justice agencies face increasingly complex challenges, educators are rethinking how future leaders are prepared to make decisions, manage people, and serve their communities.
- Catherine Kerley
- Carrie Hall
Paul Ketchum has never been particularly interested in doing things just because that’s how they’ve always been done. A sociologist, researcher, instructor, and lifelong cowboy, he’s spent decades questioning assumptions and looking at problems from a broader perspective. Over time, that same instinct led him to become increasingly frustrated with the direction online education was taking.
By late 2024, he was ready to retire. It wasn’t burnout in the traditional sense. It was something quieter—and, in some ways, more frustrating.
“All we were doing was grading, and there was very little interaction with students,” Ketchum said. “We didn’t have an opportunity to teach.”
Instead of conversation, discussion, and engagement, his work had shifted toward checking boxes. Coursework came in. Rubrics went out. Repeat. What had once felt like teaching began to feel more like processing assignments.
“I didn’t feel like I was actually teaching anymore,” he explained.
At that point, Ketchum started planning what came next. More time outdoors. Welding projects. Life on the farm. Time with his wife and their six dogs. A different rhythm entirely from the one he had known in academia.
Then OU Online called.
When Education Becomes Training
For Ketchum, the timing of that call came just as he was stepping away from a system he felt increasingly disconnected from.
But his experience wasn’t an isolated one.
Across higher education—particularly in online environments—many instructors describe a gradual shift away from teaching as dialogue and toward teaching as administration.
Courses are structured for efficiency. Assignments are standardized. Feedback is streamlined. And in that process, something harder to quantify begins to erode: the relationship between instructor and student.
For Ketchum, that shift raised a larger concern about what students were actually getting from their education.
In fields like criminal justice, that question becomes even more complicated.
While technical training is an essential part of preparing professionals for the field, many academic programs risk narrowing their focus too far—prioritizing procedural knowledge over broader analytical and leadership skills.
Some practitioners describe this approach as “cop shop” training: programs that emphasize tactical readiness and rule-based instruction, but do little to develop critical thinking, communication, or decision-making at a higher level.
The result, critics argue, is an education model that may reinforce what students will already encounter in the field, rather than preparing them to grow beyond it.
For faculty like Ketchum, that gap is where the real problem begins. In his view, education that focuses only on repeating processes falls short of preparing students for leadership responsibilities.
What Criminal Justice Leaders Are Asking For
When OU Online began rethinking its approach through its MS in Criminal Justice, faculty didn’t start with assumptions about what students needed. They started by asking the field.
That effort led to the creation of a cross-functional criminal justice advisory board, bringing together professionals from across the industry to help inform curriculum design and ensure programs reflect current, real-world expectations.
For Melissa Smith, assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Program at the University of Oklahoma, the goal was both practical and forward-looking.
“The advisory board was created to get insights from professionals in the field of criminal justice about our program,” Smith said. “We wanted to ensure that our curriculum contains the most updated information from the field and truly has real world applications.”
But the board wasn’t only about curriculum alignment. It was also designed to strengthen student outcomes beyond graduation.
“The advisory board was also created in hopes of helping students with potential job placement after graduation,” she said. “This partnership with our advisory board has so much potential and possibilities for our students.”
As conversations with industry professionals developed, a consistent expectation emerged: graduates needed more than technical proficiency.
“Criminal Justice professionals want graduates who are critical thinkers and can communicate effectively through writing,” Smith said. “Importantly, they want graduates who can do more than just regurgitate information or go through the motions of completing tasks.”
That feedback reinforced what faculty were already beginning to see. For Smith and her colleagues, it reinforced a growing belief that criminal justice education needed to prioritize leadership capacity just as much as procedural knowledge—if not more.
Smith said that when employees move into higher-level positions, agencies need people who can lead by example and think on their feet. “Through promoting critical thinking in our graduates, we aim to solve those problems for the criminal justice workforce.”
Training Leaders, Not Rule Followers
The advisory board’s feedback didn’t just shape what OU Online’s MS in Criminal Justice values. It directly influenced how those values show up in the classroom.
At the center of that approach is a shift away from standardized, one-size-fits-all instruction and toward developing students who can think critically, communicate clearly, and lead in complex situations.
For Ketchum, that philosophy reflects a simple belief: effective leaders need judgment, not just compliance.
“They don’t want somebody that can just follow orders,” said Paul Ketchum. “They want an administrator who can make good decisions based on the information they have.”
It’s a distinction that comes up repeatedly in Ketchum’s view of education. Leadership is not built through rote repetition or rigid adherence to a process. It develops when students learn how to evaluate information, adapt to changing circumstances, and make sound decisions when there is no clear roadmap in front of them.
That emphasis on decision-making shows up throughout the curriculum. Instead of focusing solely on procedural repetition, coursework is designed to push students to interpret, analyze, and respond to complex problems—much like they would in real administrative roles.
“We’re not just teaching (students) how to be police officers,” Ketchum said. “Our goal is to train the next generation of leadership in criminal justice administration.”
That distinction matters, faculty say, because the responsibilities students step into after graduation often extend far beyond technical execution.
Criminal justice administrators must understand budgeting, manage internal conflict, coordinate teams, and make decisions that affect entire organizations and communities. Preparing students for that level of responsibility requires more than memorizing procedures—it requires developing judgment.
To support that shift, instructors avoid rigid, repetitive assignment structures in favor of more adaptive, student-centered approaches. Faculty adjust methods and expectations based on what helps students actually learn, rather than relying on a fixed template from semester to semester.
“We tell students what we’re looking for and let them figure out the best way to do it,” Ketchum explained. “So, they have to think their way through it rather than just react to the assignment.”
That approach also changes the relationship between faculty and students. Rather than serving as distant graders, instructors take on a more engaged, mentoring role.
Student interaction isn’t treated as an optional feature of the program—it’s a core expectation.
“I tell students one of the most important things is to interact with your professor,” Ketchum said. “And use us as a resource to learn.”
In many cases, that interaction extends beyond traditional office hours, with faculty maintaining open lines of communication to support students through academic and professional challenges.
“This is supposed to be a partnership for their learning,” he said.
Looking Beyond the Badge
For faculty in OU Online’s criminal justice program, preparing students for leadership means helping them understand the broader systems their decisions will impact.
Criminal justice professionals don’t operate in isolation. They work within communities, institutions, and social environments where decisions often carry consequences far beyond a single case or shift.
That’s why contextual understanding is a core part of the program’s philosophy.
“We all know we need leadership that has a real understanding of community, of societal needs, of how those interactions are perceived,” Paul Ketchum said, reflecting on the broader expectations placed on modern criminal justice professionals.
Rather than treating criminal justice as a purely procedural discipline, the program encourages students to examine how policy, behavior, and institutional practice intersect with real communities.
That includes engaging with sociological frameworks, interdisciplinary research, and real-world case analysis designed to expand how students interpret their roles within the field.
The goal, faculty say, is to move students beyond the idea that their personal or professional experience represents the full picture.
“Our most necessary goal is to make sure they have a broader, research-based understanding of the role of policing, corrections, etcetera, in society,” Ketchum said. “To bring them from thinking that their experiences are universal to thinking at a broader, more societal level.”
That shift in perspective is especially important for future administrators, who are often responsible for decisions that affect entire departments, jurisdictions, and communities.
In that context, leadership is not just about authority. It is about perspective, judgment, and the ability to understand complexity before acting within it.
Never Finished
For Ketchum, one of the most encouraging aspects of the program is that faculty are not interested in standing still.
The same philosophy that shaped the curriculum in the first place—listening to industry professionals, adapting to student needs, and challenging traditional approaches to criminal justice education—continues to guide its evolution.
“Too many programs are just doing what is ‘easiest’,” Ketchum said. “We’re one of the few programs that’s not just saying we’re going to make it better. We’re really doing stuff to make it better.”
That commitment to continuous improvement is reflected in ongoing conversations about new learning opportunities, expanded partnerships, and additional ways to connect students with practical experiences in the field.
For Ketchum, Smith, and the faculty helping shape OU Online’s approach to criminal justice education, the goal is not simply to help students advance their careers. It is to prepare them for the realities of leadership in a field where decisions affect organizations, communities, and lives.
That requires more than technical expertise. It requires critical thinking, sound judgment, effective communication, and a willingness to understand the broader context in which criminal justice operates.
As agencies continue searching for leaders who can navigate increasingly complex challenges, faculty believe criminal justice education must evolve to meet that need.
For Ketchum, helping build that kind of learning environment has given him a renewed sense of purpose.
“This is the job I was always looking for,” he said. “And it’s because it’s so student-centered.”
