Although there have been charges that raising the educational requirements would discriminate against minorities and corresponding assumptions that the academic qualifications of minority group members are uniformly inferior to that of whites, a study of educational statistics of the police departments of Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., shows that the minority officers consistently exhibit a higher level of educational attainment than do the white officers, especially at the higher levels. However, in all these departments, minorities are consistently underrepresented in the upper ranks according to their educational achievement. Racial imbalances, in one study, were shown to be linked to discrimination in present promotion practices or past discrimination in hiring practices. Although some white police administrators admit that racial discrimination has existed in police departments in the past, they point out that such discrimination has been eliminated. Regardless of whether this is true, the concern over the alleged dilemma of upgrading police qualifications and minority recruitment seems unwarranted. If mandatory college education was imposed as a prerequisite for entry to the police field and if higher education standards were similarly imposed throughout the departments, highly qualified minorities would be attracted to the occupation. If raising the standards eliminates some groups not qualified, the standards must still be raised for the greater good to the community. Twenty-nine footnotes are included.