>

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.
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.