I guarantee all areas in the US (and literally every country) hire dumbasses to be officers. And to fill literally every other position known to man. That's how hiring works. You don't always get the good apples.
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What matters is whether you're doing your best not to hire malicious dumbasses, and what your response is once you realize you HAVE
I can agree with the first part. I can slightly agree with the second part- but to quote Mr. John Patrick Mason- “Losers always whine about their best. Winners go home and...” I’ll let google finish the quote if anyone is missing the rest. My point is- in some jobs your best isn’t good enough- they are judged in success and failure. YOU can only DO your best. If your best is not good enough than you are not the person for a position that relies on results and not effort- and someone who’s best results in success is the person who is needed, or your best needs to get better, double time.
The reality is of course- that as you say- idiots abound. We can be very selective with jobs where there is only 1 of that job to every X employees beneath them- but when you get to the “bottom..” it doesn’t work. You can’t fill and keep full so many jobs with the worlds best and brightest- especially not without giving them one hell of a reason to be there and not somewhere that is better for their life and success. A security force like police is a numbers game. You need strength if force and that means you need to fill slots as best you can... and sometimes... that means you don’t get more than bare minimum- maybe less than.
But- we CAN do something about it that we just aren’t. The most elite soldiers can make judgment calls in the field, get their pick of weapons, even special stuff no one else can have or custom orders. They can carry weapons when others troops aren’t allowed... etc. well... the soldier cleaning toilets on home soil... yeah. He’s not probably armed. Has to check his weapon out like a school kid on an as needed basis.
So if we know that there isn’t anything elite about being a beat cop- that we by necessity need to hire guys who we wouldn’t if we had better choices- then maybe that’s how the job should treat itself. Here is a civil servant who may or may not be competent. They perform a duty. We don’t give process servers and highway workers and comptrollers guns. Most don’t think teachers should have guns in school, and bus drivers aren’t given a strap by the city most places. So if the “best” that is practical is what we are getting- and we cannot get better- then we need to take away some of the trust carried by the position and move the privilege to exercise those trusts to those who show they are more than the bare minimum to fill the role.
Another problem is $. The best want to be fairly compensated. I would like to see cops better trained and trusted by citizens. There are good cops doing great things but the focus is always on the psycho bull cop. Then again the news doesn't make a report on the plane that landed safely. I hope that body cams become standard equipment , so without doubt we can say good job or guilty with confidence after every police shooting/use of force.
I'd hope so too, but too many people equate "unarmed" with "harmless", or fail to understand that you need to surpass the force used by an aggressor to pacify them.
I’d hope for body cams too. Force is a double edged sword. Floyd and many others- famously Rodney King- show clearly that without guns- one can still be dangerous. King was brutally beaten by several men with clubs- and lived. George Floyd was killed by the direct force of one man in a mater of minutes. A single punch can kill a man- but a man can also be shot, stabbed, even plummet off a building- and keep walking. So the public doesn’t understand- largely believes movies- where a single bullet to the leg will “take someone out of the fight” or that with “martial arts skills” you can safely stop any attacker. The truth isn’t so clean cut. The same taser that kills one man doesn’t stop another from ripping your throat out.
But ultimately- while they may face danger as part of the nature of their jobs- police officers aren’t soldiers. They do not operate in war zones and aren’t intended as an organization that overcomes force with superior force. Their primary jobs are to be of service, to provide a visible deterrent and presence of authority, and to take care of the things that happen AFTER a crime. Asides community bonds and service, as a deterrent by their presence, or perhaps detective work- no part of police work is meant to stop crime before it happens. It can’t be. That put too much power on one person who now also arrives the role of judge and legal expert. It also gets into some “pre crime” dystopian type stuff.
Most community officers are the next tier after security guard- but we’ve rolled up just about every speciality of law enforcement into one person with the average officer. They need to have great judgment, be good with a weapon and unarmed, cool under pressure, they act in tactical capacities and clerical and administrative and... so on. And the statistics don’t back it up. The “average” stop can go 6 ways from Sunday- but by the numbers- the large percentage of public interactions are just what they appear to be. Normal, boring.
In 2018 89 US officers died on Duty. 48 from a criminal act and 41 from... accidents. Your odds as a cop of being killed by a suspect are almost neck in neck with having an accident. While police aren’t military- even the military who IS the military- doesn’t issue weapons to every soldier on every duty. I dunnoh- it seems to me that by the numbers- not all officers need to be armed at all times. Having specialists and response tiers tailored to a situation seems like a good start to improving both service and safety for all concerned.
Look. It doesn’t take the sharpest tool in the shed to see that if we label ALL police or even MOST police a certain way because of our experiences or what we see of them... that’s not really so different that the thing people are upset the police are doing is it? Labeling and thinking of an entire group under a single stereotype? Now... for the most part, this isn’t getting police killed the way it getting civilians killed- but on a philosophical level we really can’t paint every officer badly. We CAN however say that as a whole- our concept of policing, laws and restrictions and regulations surrounding policing- we CAN say those need to be better, and we CAN say we need to hold ALL officers to these new standards.
While this may be true, saying so in the current climate smacks of the tired old refrain "all lives matter."
It rings hollow and strays close to logical fallacy. In that, "Non Sequiter," because that's not the point right now and "Either/Or" and "False Dichotomy," because there's a spectrum and because of the conspiracy of silence from "good cops."
As well as "Unstated Major Premise" with "NIMBY," in that because that the problem isn't everywhere and all encompasing, it isn't a problem.
the average US police officer has an IQ of 105, that's average, so some are higher, and unfortunately some are lower as well.
That being said, in Australia, you need a university degree or to have run your own business successfully for 5 years.
Here you need... well... basically can’t have any felonies on your record, and some community college courses basically. And you can skip some of that if you were in the military- because.... Basic training is full of great tips on non violent conflict resolution and civilian laws, and most soldiers are masters of arrest and control procedures under civil law..? Wait... that... the last parts don’t sound true.... oh naw. Yeah- it’s less training than a cosmologist (even less for former military) and quick evaluation. Yeah. That’s what it is.
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What matters is whether you're doing your best not to hire malicious dumbasses, and what your response is once you realize you HAVE
It rings hollow and strays close to logical fallacy. In that, "Non Sequiter," because that's not the point right now and "Either/Or" and "False Dichotomy," because there's a spectrum and because of the conspiracy of silence from "good cops."
As well as "Unstated Major Premise" with "NIMBY," in that because that the problem isn't everywhere and all encompasing, it isn't a problem.
That being said, in Australia, you need a university degree or to have run your own business successfully for 5 years.