During my time in the military I saw and experienced significantly more racism than in civilian life. Given the fact that more cops are ex military than not, I believe that is a big part of the problem. I don't know if the answer is to screen better in the military or the police force but neither would hurt.
I think part of the problem is that in the US it only takes 3-6 months of training to become a cop. In lots of other places it takes years of training.
Three to six months— or YEARS— of training doesn’t cure psychopathy. Even when they’re trained well, they aren’t vetted well. Or PUNISHED well. Cops who break the law need to be publicly disgraced in a national level, fired instantly —without arbitration— and punished even worse than regular citizens. Not LIGHTER punishment. They are given full impunity, swore an oath and are held to a higher standard, and if they break the law they deserve to spend years in prison. Without that, cops will continue to be pieces of shit. They are NOT going to reform.
A lot of departments with decent funding have real problems with nepotism. My friend who has bachelor’s degree and 8 years of military service could not get a job as a cop in a certain department because they only ended up hiring their kids or their friend’s kids.
I have to agree with pretty much everything downndirty said in his post. It's such a complex problem and I don't know how it gets fixed. Police are asked to be the first line of defense against pretty much anything. Traffic laws. Violent crime. A dispute with a neighbour. Some crazy person stripping naked and running up and down the street. Domestic violence calls. A kitten is stuck in a tree. Sorting out a property line dispute at a construction site. And they're expected to be polite and professional at all times, even if they just came from a car crash were two kids died to talk to you about why you're upset that your neighbour keeps parking in your driveway. All this with, like, three months of training and shift work and crazy department politics that often tie into civic and provincial politics. It's an almost impossible job to do well. And, sadly, just like the priesthood inadvertently self-selects for pedophiles, policing inadvertently self-selects for psychopathy or power complex-driven personalities. It's a perfect storm. It's not a good time for policing in any sense. One way that I'm sure many departments will follow will actually make things exponentially worse: they won't respond to calls from minority dominant areas regarding crime. Oh, you're calling from a black-owned neighbourhood to report that someone is breaking into your car? Geez, too bad we don't have anyone available for several hours. They'll remove themselves from liability by simply not exposing themselves to danger in the first place. Another problem most departments who DO reform will face is a problem that's been crippling the military for some years now: a lack of qualified candidates. You need to fill 10 positions next year to keep your department fully staffed, where everyone has a reasonable schedule and holidays can be taken and the front line guys aren't burnt. But if you suddenly make the qualification list to become a police officer similar to that of a Navy SEAL, you'll learn what the SEALs already know: only 8% of qualified recruits will screen through and become officers. So you're staring down the barrel at an insurmountable staffing shortage with no end in site. The cops who do make it through will be overworked and they'll figure out fairly quickly that they can be doing the same job with a private security firm for four times the salary. Last point I'll make: if they get rid of qualified immunity, no person in their right mind would become a police officer. Imagine if you were hired for a job where you have to risk your life (even if it's standing in traffic, directing it). And you'll be dealing with people at their worst. It will pay $50k a year, and oh by the way you have unlimited personal liability, just like an engineer or a doctor. Fuck. That. The insurance a cop would have to pay, just to ensure that he was covered enough to do is job, would be higher than what a GP has to pay for malpractice insurance. No one can afford that, and the unions would have a goddamned field day. Even if it somehow passed, they'd work it into the collective agreement that the department would have to cover the insurance premiums, so it would just skyrocket the price of policing for the township. I don't know how to fix this, and I don't have much faith that you can do it with legislation and without unintended consequences.
You just described being in the military, only most don't make $50k. If you're a cop and you're worried about qualified immunity then you should not be a cop.
I don't think soldiers get personally sued when they're on duty acting in whatever capacity is required of them. They'd be subjected to a military court martial, perhaps, but McDonald's doesn't sue a soldier if a tank destroys their parking lot in Jalalabad. And I completely disagree with you. Ever been sued by a crazy person or a fraud? If you can prove that the case is nonsense - if you have emails and tape recordings of conversations and all the witnessess agree with your version of events - it will cost you $20k before you even see the inside of a courtroom. And then the court fees will be another $20-50k, and that's if you did nothing wrong. And if they rule in your favour, and you are awarded damages plus some portion of lawyers fees, it's on you to figure out how to collect. Imagine if you can sue the cop personally for being pulled over and issued a fine. Or if the family can sue every responding officer when their drug addict son gets shot during an armed robbery. It would be ungodly expensive, it would bog down the already over-taxed court system and no person in their right mind would sign on for those terms of employment.
Maybe Canada is different, but LEO's make WAY more down here. California Highway Patrol starts at $84k and that's before OT. Friend of mine became a CHP* and made over $100k his first year. I know 4 LEO's decently well, and I can tell you that none of them are making anywhere near $50k. *The friend that became a CHP also became such a raging dickhead that we're no longer friends.
Does that include all the people who get hired as part time, or for the Sheriff's office, or in small rural areas? I know an actual full-time cop salary is decent*, but I think the full-time union positions are also kind of rare comparatively speaking. *Decent provided you don't have to pay for your own liability insurance and lawyers if you get sued for executing the standard duties as part of your job. Lawyer costs are bananas.
I know cop pay tends to scale to where they live. That kind of salary in California isn’t shit. It’s not nothing. But it’s also not enough to buy a home or anything.
There are a few things to consider when it comes to police salaries. One, cops can put in a ridiculous amount of overtime. While a base salary of $100,000 a year for a California patrolman seems low, consider that they would only be getting that if they started and finished at the exact same time every day. For example, in 2019, a Seattle cop made $414,500 due to overtime. This didn't include any vacation or sick leave. Two, cops typically don't work a normal 5 days a week. It may look something like 3 days on, 4 days off, 12 hour days, 4 10's, etc. Those other days they aren't on the clock, they could be doing anything from directing traffic outside of a stadium after a ball game, to running security. In addition, they get perks like holiday bonus pay, uniform allowances, full salary pension after so many years, etc. If you're not making decent money as a cop, chances are you're either lazy, dumb, or both.
I'll tell you this: if the base salary was half a million, you still couldn't entice me to apply. Oh, you mean I can work six 12's of night shifts, then switch to three 10's of days? And I get to handle every drunk and drug addict in my town? And I can sprinkle in some catastrophic car accident investigations with occasionally standing outside in the blazing heat or freezing cold directing traffic? AND I get to go to court several days a month and justify something that I said or did or filed from a year and a half ago? And everyone is mad at me for not showing up fast enough or for being there at all? Yay! Hard pass. It's a no-win situation.
I'm in CA and all these cops own homes. Quite nice homes actually, with all the toys. Boats, hot rods, RV's etc. Trust me, they aren't hurting. One detective friend will retire in about 7 more years (age 46) and will retire making well over $100k for the rest of his life. Dcc - I'm not sure what you're asking. Does a part time desk jockey make the $84k starting salary? I'd say no, but I don't consider them LEO either. I 100% agree with you that I wouldn't do that job no matter the salary. But, I wouldn't work at a day care for any amount of money either.
Sorry, I was trying to say that I think cops are like firemen and EMS...on paper, they make a great salary but in practice most positions are part time or volunteer until you can get your foot in the door, and even then to get awarded a full-time gig you may have to move wherever they need you. My assumption is that a lot of cops on the streets could be junior or part-time or volunteer, and thus not making close to the $100k a year we're talking about.
Most EMS and fire and police at the local level make FAR less than six figures. Most of the folks I know are barely scraping $50k, and "Volunteer Fire Fighter" means exactly what it says. Some cops, especially state level can do very well. Just like most other industries, though, they represent the top few layers of the pyramid.
I left my last job mainly because of my boss. He hired me to do a job that he himself had no idea how to do. He repeatedly tried to micromanage me at every turn even though he had no clue what he was talking about. He constantly badmouthed me to the higher ups and lied about me. When I gave my notice he included me in emails where he said that I was never his first choice anyway. About a month ago I left for my current job. My salary is 50% more then the other job and the people I work with are amazing. Today, I received a job application for my position from my former boss. The company was supposed to discontinue the job ad but they paid in advance for three months so they didn't. The way I see it I have three options: I can take the high road and ignore it. I can send him a polite email thanking him for his interest but that the position has been filled and attaching MY signature block so he knows it's me. Or I can call his boss and enquire about his work ethic as a perspective employee. I feel that the second option is just a little petty as the company would not normally send him an email. The third option is very petty as I would be calling his boss over a job opening that no longer exists. Thoughts?
Sounds like turnabout is fair play. Pretend he badmouthed his current job in his application (using information only someone who worked at his company would know) and then ask them to clarify his comments. Good luck to him trying to convince his current employer that the information didn't come from him.
Never, ever burn a bridge and never do anything that could make you liable. Handle it exactly as you would any other application (in terms of what you'd say to an outside applicant). Do go to your higher-ups, though, and explain that you felt your past boss lacked skills and ethics and was the impetus for you leaving, so that if he applies for anything else they know not to consider him. Just as you would if he used you as, say, a reference when in fact you would not recommend him.