The majority of depts will use a college degree as a factor during the hiring process.
Far from it - particularly in small municipal departments. For state troopers maybe, and definitely for the feds. But small town police departments pull their recruits right out of high school and it's not uncommon to see 21 or 22 year old rookies in their ranks. Now a college degree can be a hiring enhancement. But if anything, a bigger enhancement is being eligible for affirmative action.
I live in a very rural area. None of the County deputies have anything less then an Associates, other then those hired prior to 1996 when the current Sheriff was elected and this includes his correctional staff. Same goes for the city, the majority of them hold Bachelor degrees, with 2 or 3 only holding an Associates. All of them have a degree of some sort. You are right, it is not uncommon for a 21-22 year old to be on the streets, a friend of mine got hired right out of the academy (most depts expect you to put yourself through the academy around here) which happened to be right after earning a BAS in psychology. He was 22. Maybe the area I am from is an anomele as it’s fairly rural and all, I don’t know? Oh and you’re absolutely correct on the affirmative action thing...