Reply to MN Police Shoot and Kill Daunte Wright

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

So how do departments attract higher quality people?   Because I'm sure the way they are seen/treated by then general public isn't doing much to convince "high quality people" they should go into law enforcement.  [/quote]

In a great many other countries it isn’t possible to become a police officer right out of high school with just a short police academy course - varies by jurisdiction but can be as short as a few weeks. A few weeks’ training to go out and have a license to use deadly force.

Many countries require a university degree and YEARS of specialized police training, training that isn’t focused merely on how to use the weapons and how to apprehend suspects, but on the myriad of social issues that LEOs encounter in their work. No, not to make them into social workers - to help them mature and be capable of treating citizens from a range of backgrounds and experiences with respect and compassion. To have the emotional capability to DEESCALATE instead of always being trigger happy control freak aggressive etc.

Education alone won’t do it, leadership must foster the right kind of environment in the ranks of LEOs and must encourage good cops to report bad cops. One of the biggest obstacles to getting rid of bad cops are PBAs and those need reform as well as police unions.

Finally, I want to make this point: while I absolutely agree that people of color are abused by police disproportionately, there is also plenty of police abuse of white people too. I have worked in the system in two states that are overwhelmingly white - Maine and Montana - and I have seen egregious behavior directed at many, many white suspects. Certainly some police are motivated by white supremacy leanings (it is well known that both the military and the police have long been infiltrated by members of white supremacy organizations, and that many others are sympathetic to those views but don’t join themselves); however, many of these cops are just very authoritarian, aggressive, bullying bastards who get off on any opportunity to F with people. I have worked with them, I know. It is very common in cop culture. And it’s why there is such a high rate of domestic violence in the profession - lots of cops get off on hurting their spouses and children, too.

And while we focus in these conversations almost exclusively on the street cops who are now being caught on cell and body cam video being abusive, please be reminded that a large number of people who go into corrections at every level - from city jail to juvenile hall to state and federal prisons - also share these traits. [/quote]

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