Submitted by sue_me_please t3_119evw1 in news
igankcheetos t1_j9m2zow wrote
Reply to comment by InsuranceToTheRescue in Supreme Court rejects man’s bid to sue police over arrest for Facebook parody by sue_me_please
I remember reading an article stating that some police departments have IQ caps. oh here it is: https://www.yourtango.com/news/police-high-iq-max-limit-degrees-police-reform
reaverdude t1_j9n8510 wrote
Oh hey, it's also the same article someone posts to farm karma every time this topic comes up. Of course, nobody ever actually reads it including yourself because if you did, you would have seen that it's not a widespread practice.
The case in question was at one small agency, in a small town, with one candidate, over twenty years ago and the candidate was 49 years old at the time he took the entrance exam.
Most cops retire at 50. The agency didn't want to spend thousands of dollars training someone only to have him quit or retire a year later.
But hey, just keep believing the false narrative that people push that police agencies only hire "high school dropouts or roided up jocks". Every agency requires a high school diploma as a minimum and the drug and background check before being hired is more strenuous than many other jobs.
Not a cop supporter by the way, reform is needed in many departments in the country, but really tired of people spreading misinformation. The average redditor would not pass the hiring process for their local police department whether it be for doing drugs, not passing the entrance exams, not meeting physical requirements, bad credit or having a criminal history or just plain not having enough life experience.
Miaoxin t1_j9nc2yw wrote
The average "local police department" applicant couldn't get a 4-year degree. Raising that bar up just the slightest bit to require a B.S or B.A in a Criminal Justice field before they even get to care about physical fitness or credit ratings would clean up a great deal of those 'rare bad apples' whom so frequently appear on the news each day.
Catering to the lowest common denominator results in exactly more of what we already have plenty.
Contra_Mortis t1_j9ot667 wrote
You realize that cops as a group are better educated than the general population right?
Miaoxin t1_j9pz6ed wrote
>You realize that cops as a group are better educated than the general population right?
Police in the US have a combined 9% rate of a bachelor's or higher education. Masters and Ph.D. rates are statistically insignificant to the point that those are effectively 0%.
The average US population above age 25 has a 4-year degree rate of 38%. Roughly 14% has a Masters. Roughly 2% has a Ph.D.
Most of us have access to an internet search engine. This stuff isn't that hard to look up.
Contra_Mortis t1_j9qb4z8 wrote
Did I say that they had a higher percentage of bachelor's degrees?
thederpofwar321 t1_j9qy3hz wrote
You do realize you're argument was invalidated by him showing statistics that you can look up yourself right? Saying they're more educated than the average citizen honestly doesnt sound right with what we hear daily.
Contra_Mortis t1_j9qychg wrote
My claim: cops are more educated than the general public
Their claim: cops have fewer bachelor's degrees.
Do you see that these claims are different?
thederpofwar321 t1_j9qyses wrote
No, not really. College is a decent-ish indicator of someone that can properly read, process information, and make proper conclusions from it.
Now account for law which requires you to read -or at least absorb the information of the law in some fashion-, process information from the scene, suspects, and victims, and draw a conclusion that matches the information.
reaverdude t1_j9nd8wb wrote
I completely agree, but then if this was implemented, people would longer be able to make themselves feel better by saying “haha police departments only hire dumb people”.
The news mainly only reports on these bad apples because it gets ratings. You never see news about the thousands of cops who spent their day just doing their jobs. It’s too boring.
One big problem that will also happen and that you’re overlooking is that there would be almost no recruits. Most people who have the means to complete a four year degree don’t want or need to go into law enforcement.
Miaoxin t1_j9nds6d wrote
> Most people who have the means to complete a four year degree don’t want or need to go into law enforcement.
That would appear to be the very root of the problem, would it not? It doesn't take a psychologist to understand how that inevitably leads to scraping the bottom of that candidate bucket.
Maybe we should start there.
[edit] And now that I think about it, one more thing:
>The news mainly only reports on these bad apples because it gets ratings.
The news reports on those bad apples for doing things that would get the average Joe imprisoned for decades or executed in several states. Is that what it takes to get "ratings?" Unarmed, non-violent people being executed by government officials, in broad daylight, on sidewalks and in their cars and in their homes?
I changed my mind. Let's start there instead.
reaverdude t1_j9nj9rn wrote
The majority of agencies already hire candidates with a college degree over candidates who don’t. Having a high school diploma is a minimum requirement.
You’re casting a way wider net regarding the news, certain cases involving misconduct, and the justice system in general.
The point I was trying to make is that most cops go through their days doing their jobs. In fact, most cops never fire their service weapon a single time in their careers while on duty. The news never reports on them because it doesn’t get ratings.
It’s the same reason news only reports murders, accidents, and other bad news 24/7. They don’t report on babies being born, rainbows and puppies.
Rope_blaster69 t1_j9o8bwh wrote
The news doesn’t report on them because that isn’t news, it’s what should be business as usual. Police killing unarmed citizens because they feel like it, however, is news.
[deleted] t1_j9octdk wrote
[removed]
macweirdo42 t1_j9o95fv wrote
I think you're missing the whole "one bad apple corrupts the barrel" thing. There's no such thing as good cops, because those "mostly good cops" know their fellow officers commit horrible deeds and actively cover for them.
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