>

Which lowers the bar for "firing."
no shit. that cop couldn't run a quarter block, yet somehow got on a special crime unit. >

It should be made clear that the officers who killed Tyre Nichols were hired before Memphis began lowering their requirements, and were not a product of that new hiring initiative. >


It should be made clear that the officers who killed Tyre Nichols were hired before Memphis began lowering their requirements, and were not a product of that new hiring initiative.

Most important facts of the story right here. Sounds like someone is trying to obfuscate the facts >

Comes off to me like they had to set an already low bar even lower. >

Or ease up on the requirements of the drug testing or background tests.  I know a few people that want to be cops to help their community, but can't because they have prior low-level drug charges from when they were like 18-20ish
The root cause of it all is the ridiculously corrupt laws they're expected to enforce, though. >

A lot of departments actually don't care about records like that, as long as they're honest about it or it wasn't recent. I am acquainted with a guy who was a cop for years, and then later a police chief, and currently teaches classes on civil rights and de-escalation techniques. He said that in his youth him and a bunch of his buddies got drunk and broke into a restaurant that was closing, forced their way into the back and made themselves food. Got some burglary charges, still got hired by police later because he was honest and apologetic about it, and hadn't had any charges in the years since.
This guy also got denied before that because of the old height requirement, that got done away with because it was both sexist and racist and only put there to exclude most women and many minorities, such as himself. So his height was more of a problem than his criminal record. >


lot of departments actually don't care about records like that,

I'm sure some don't, but I have heard from others about superiors and unofficial policies that discourage officers from drinking, doing drugs, or even associating with non-leos who might do those things in their free time. >

Yep, but that's different from a minor criminal record from years ago, that's current behavior. >

Fair enough.  That's the relaxed standards I'm talking about.  Let normal people apply because nobody wants to take the shit cops put up with if the only people they are expected to associate with are other cops.  I would love to help my community, but I draw a hard line between my work life and personal life and law enforcement doesn't respect that.  I have friends and don't want the only people I hang out with to be coworkers.  Don't blame anyone for not wanting to jump into a position like that.  It's not the work.  It's the people you would be forced to associate with while cutting off your real friends.  That is how a cult works. >

I was told by a different police chief I was acquainted with that his biggest tip for staying sane while doing the job was to have non-leo friends for this very reason. You can't let your job become your whole life, but that's easy to do with things like policing. >

Oh, good. We need more badly behaved people with power and guns on the street >

We don't exactly have a line of studs waiting kn the wings >

Yup. The answer is probably to increase taxes and pay cops a lot better, while also increasing the education requirements to become a cop. Make it a destination job.
The issue is that raising taxes doesn't lead to reelection and raising the minimum requirements to become a cop may well lead to the same race discrepancies that you see in other professional fields like attorneys and doctors. >

The median income in memphis is 26,000 a year. A quarter of the city lives below the poverty line. The police chief makes $275,000 a year, the exact amount we spend on the  homeless. Paying them better isn't the answer.  Higher standards, less work, an end to traffic stops for anything other than extreme speeding is the beginning of the answer. You already can't get them to do simple things like write a report for your stolen catalytic converter or finding your stolen car. Why pay more when they already don't do shit. >

The increase in pay is to attract better candidates. How much does your average cop make, not the police chief? I honestly don't know. If all you do is increase training/require more qualifications, you are going to get even less qualified people, not more. >

These lowered hiring standards have also included more pay in the form of signing bonuses though. That's not attracting better quality employees, it's just getting anyone they can in to do the job. 
The problem isn't too little pay, it's that more and more people are becoming aware of what policing actually is, and it's scaring away a lot of recruits. People see all the police brutality going on, see how police departments co-sign it and cover it up as much as they can, and understand that this is all just standard operating procedure for cops, and it makes people think twice about whether they want to actually do that as a career. 
They know if they join up there's a good chance they'll be expected to break the law along with everyone else in their unit or else become someone nobody else trusts or even that they'll have to become an informant that becomes targeted by all the other cops for breaking ranks. It's no wonder that good recruits don't want to become cops in the same numbers that naive people used to want to. >

So your opinion is that good people see bad things happening, but instead of joining the police to change these bad things, they turn down these nice bonuses because they are afraid to become bad? >


joining the police to change these bad things

Do you think there are a lot of people who are so arrogant as to see an utterly corrupt industry and profession who think "if they hire me as a rookie cop, I'll change the whole system"? There might be some people who are like that, but I'd have to imagine they're very few and far between. And even the ones who do think that, how would they do so if not by becoming an informant against other cops?
Most people would look at an institution that's a complete corrupt shambles and think "no thanks, I'll go pursue a career where I won't be expected to break the law on a regular basis or become ostracized by my coworkers and supervisors." Or even if they do want to do some good, how many think "I want to become a cop so I can collect information on police corruption and then testify against my future coworkers"? That's not the career path many people would choose, to set out to become some kind of professional whistleblower or martyr. >

I can't get mad about it. 
I can't imagine someone with good job prospects seeking out that job unless they had ties to it through family or military background. You'd have to pay me 150k a year for me to consider it. >

I think this is the issue that a lot of people on here don’t want to acknowledge. The majority of people would never even consider applying to be a cop, even if the pay was $150K. I’m guessing there are a lot of people on here who were raised and live in middle class areas and actively avoid spending time in the bad parts of town. Sure they might drive through those parts but they aren’t visiting parks, getting gas, buying food, or hanging out there. Then they wonder why there aren’t more people that share their world views and experiences applying to be police and have to not only patrol those bad parts but also respond to possibly dangerous situations there. >

Your good cops are going to be someone who is motivated for the right reasons, and has good applicable skills and is willing to learn.
A good agency will give the required training, the equipment, pay, and security people want.
Memphis pd has none of these things and the people applying have none of the traits required because if they did they would work elsewhere.
The number of people who would actually make decent cops is very low. It used to be that a ton of people would try to get in, and the drop out rate was very high. These days agencies are desperate and willing to hire anybody with a pulse >

This isn't a problem caused by a "low bar" because this isn't a problem of individuals. This is a problem with the culture of the department (and many departments throughout the country). There's no way the SCORPION unit was all peaches and cream up until that one night, and there's no way it got to that point in secret or isolation from the rest of the department. The fact that individuals who weren't part of SCORPION, like the EMTs, contributed as they did demonstrates that. >

Bingo. That kind of behaviour doesn’t just exist in a vacuum. How many incidents do we not know about? >

Exactly. In addition to that, how many more possible police recruits today know about the pervasive culture in most police departments of brutality and lawlessness that are endorsed and covered up by those departments, and feel like that's not the kind of career they want to have? You want to talk about what is contributing to lowered rates of hiring among police agencies, that's a big part of it right there. >

Cheap, fast or high quality. Pick one, maybe two if you're lucky, almost never three. >

They drastically cut benefits for cops a few years back and many of the better cops who had some tenure left because they no longer had any reason to stay. Soon we started to see the force degrading as field training officers were mostly former military. Hammers looking for nails training new hammers. >

The bar has been lowered everywhere and for years. This is not new. >

And what praytell causes soaring crime? >

Cops don't stop crime. Everyone in the city could be a cop and you would still have rising crime. Until you deal with systemic issues such as poverty, dwindling community centers, decrepit school systems, and an over-militarized and hostile police force; nothing will change. 

The department also sought state waivers to hire applicants with criminal records. And the police academy even dropped timing requirements on physical fitness drills and removed running entirely because too many people were failing.

These are the major issues. You get people who can't chase down a suspect, you're gonna get more cops just shooting people because they can't run 100 feet. >

It's not the cops' job to stop crime. It's their job to file reports, collect evidence, go to court, etc. The more crimes there are, the more reports need to be filed.
If you have a giant backlog of crimes that are overwhelming your current employees, then the correct action is to hire more. But I'm not sure that lowering the hiring standards is the correct strategy to do so here. >

Marty McFly: "Hey, I've Seen This One!" >

more cops has never and will never curb rising crime, it will only kill or jail more people. >

It's a literal bar. If you can limbo under it, you're in! >

It's so low now you just need to trip over it. >

Great, Chicago wants to do the same fucking thing! We’re governed by a bunch of fucking idiots! >

ah yes, this will definitely turn out well >

A few years ago they diminished health and other benefits for the police officers.  Most transferred to other departments. Thus they lost a lot of experienced officers. Then they passed a law that all new employees must live in Memphis. 
The hiring pool of new employees attracted less qualified applicants. >

How do we get the crooks off the street?
Give them badges. >

Some people will assume you’re exaggerating, but that’s exactly what they did. From the article 

The department also sought state waivers to hire applicants with criminal records >

Is hedley lamarr doing the hiring >

Somebody's gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes! >

Because police departments are notorious for ridiculously high hiring standards, like not scoring too high on the iq test >

The police: A welfare program for sociopathic and/or authoritarian dirtbags. >

I thought that was TSA >

We’re both right! 😊 >

That they're causing and committing the crimes only made their recruitment easier. >

Fox News was running around and saying the lower standards were due to "defund the police"

the scorpion unit existed because of additional funding
No one "defunded" their police deoartment

conservatives are just insane >

I see this shit on NextDoor all the time regarding my local police as well. People report minor crimes or mentally ill homeless people disturbing the peace and how the cops show up hours later or not at all. Someone always decides to post that’s because the police were de-funded which is so easily disproved. In fact the department has only gotten budget increaess but you can’t change an opinion with logic if logic wasn’t used to form the opinion in the first place. >

and of course
housing the unhoused is also off the table for these people
because that would be "bad" for some reason
even though ti would objectively make their lives better as well as the unhoused persons
it's truly brainwashing >

You’re absolutely correct. For some reason people see giving housing to the homeless as some cardinal sin even though it 1) is wildly successful in areas where they do it and 2) actually costs less than policing >

it's turned into this weird moral issue that if we house people that somehow makes them dependent
as if housing isn't a basic need that any society should provide it's citizens
as if homelessness doesn't impact the housed
we are the wealthiest country to ever exist in the history of humanity and we still won't provide for our citizens
and then we blame the unhoused for all kinds of social problems, leading to discrimination and violence against them
all because the threat of homelessness is seen as necessary to discipline people into working >

Yeah it’s like no shit they are dependent. They are typically battling health problems and other issues. You’d rather they starve on the street?? >

Isn't the bar dragging on the ground by now? >

This is worded to excuse the department aside from their hiring practices.
It's all bad. Everything they do. Not just "how they hired due to recent circumstances". >

Being a cop means you’re going to be held to a higher standard than other people. If you can’t handle that, you shouldn’t be a cop. >

Even people with criminal records! It’s like the jokes write themselves. >

Lowering the bar..... dynamic.  Similar to saying the police beat Tyre.  The blueprint for reform on so many levels .... >

The bar wasn’t that high to begin with.  What a crock of shit. >

can the media please stop with this fear mongering  “soaring crime” narrative? yes, there has been a recent increase in crime and that should be looked into and addressed (probably has something to do with a pandemic & inflation decimating a lot of people’s livelihood) but it’s still lower than crime rates from just 10-15 years ago ffs. 
Screaming about “crime is out of control” helps the police because cities then increase police budgets, often with little oversight, rather than using that money to actually address the reasons crime is increasing to begin with. >

The bar is already on the goddamn floor. >

Can't hire good people to be cops if you have a bunch of bad cops on the force. Like wants to be with like, so bad cops on the force only attracts bad people to be cops. >

Unsurprising. Who in their right mind would want to be MPD, even before this? >

Maybe. And stick with me here.  Maybe the solution to crime isn’t to give idiots with anger issues military grade weapons.  Just positing that theory in response to decades of failure. >

Woof... I'm picturing the scene from Blazing Saddles. 
"Qualifications?" >

Poverty is the mother of crime. Instead of fixing it though let’s just hire more criminals. >

Poverty is not the mother of crime. Its the uncle. Inequality is the mother and father of crime. There are countries far, FAR poorer than even the poorest neighborhoods in the US with practically zero crime. Its because they are all in poverty equally. But when you have extreme poverty next to extreme wealth, crime originates. >

I was quoting Marcus Aurelius. >

But they still won’t take anyone that gets better than 90% on the entrance exam. >

I have a masters in criminal justice and couldn’t get hired anywhere I applied. >

I keep hearing that there is a big shortage of cops across the country. 
I think a bunch of them died off or retired during covid.
Also heard one police chief actually admit that they don't get the best candidates for new hires. Basically they have to choose from a bunch of crappy cops. Like cops who move around from PD to PD because they fuck up so much. I guess to them a shitty cop is better than no cop at all. >

It's not like the bar was particularly high to begin with. Especially in a Red state. >

Because of course they did! They’re already getting maybe 20 weeks of police training before being out on patrol - it takes longer to learn to cut hair!!
  “WhAt CoULd PoSsIbLy Go WrOnG?!?!?” >

When all you have is a chainsaw, everything looks like grass. >

There is an IQ cap… maybe the should get rid of that standard first…. >

Basically if you want to continue with crime, join the winning team >

Question from across the pond:
So how long does a copper get training over there? Or does that vary from state to state?
Bonus question: is police training like 'federally standardized' across the States? Or is it more like your public schools, where the richer States/counties get the good stuff? >

Typically 4 to 6 months of training. I'm pretty sure each state has its own legislature that oversees the training standards required. 
Federal laws over state laws, state laws over county laws and individual county bylaws. 
Easiest way to break down how most shit works in the US is, each state has its own state taxes for stuff like state police, state colleges, national gaurd etc. within each state you have separate counties. The higher the population and income in the county, the higher the funding collected through various taxes. That's how public schools get funding. you could have a high income county next to a low income county and they wouldn't share money for funding. You also have state and federal grants where tax money collected can be given if you meet the needed requirements to supplement lower income areas. In a nut shell with leaving stuff out for simplicity lol >

Wouldn't it be easier if they just committed to helping people and solving crimes with the resources they have? >

I didn't realize that was a bar that could go lower. >

Pushing the blame on the public. As usual.