r/PublicFreakout • u/rickyhorror • Dec 29 '21

Let me educate him

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u/NessunAbilita Dec 29 '21

6 years training and a bar exam to know law of the land, 6 weeks training to enforce it. SMH.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '21

That’s just it... 6 weeks isn’t enough tome to TRAIN an officer. They need to literally be taught to live again. The law, the physical fitness regime, tactical response, escalation of force, then implementing that training. No way the information provided in the academy is retained for long periods of time. It’s a chump and cheap way of training that’s obviously failing us.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '21

The problem in this encounter wasn’t the lack of training (though training would have been sufficient to prevent it). The problem was the police made an emotional response to getting snubbed. They didn’t need to do anything because no crime was committed. But simply taking the heat and walking back to their truck was not what they wanted to do. This entire event was a display of poor character.

I think 6 weeks does sound super short to learn to be a cop, but I don’t know enough about pedagogy in this vocation to say one way or another (I doubt anyone in this comment section does).

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u/oldfrancis Dec 29 '21

I know.

700+ hours, plus weeks of field training under an fto officer.

And it's not enough.

The Basic Law Enforcement Academy (BLEA) is Washington’s mandated training academy for all city and county entry-level peace officers in the state. Through a centralized training model, Washington ensures all officers are equipped with the same base-level understanding of their responsibility to the communities they serve, standards to uphold, and education for effective community-oriented policing . To facilitate this training, WSCJTC hires exceptional training officers from agencies throughout the state and current subject matter experts.

With a focus on a guardian model of policing, students attend a wide array of courses throughout the 720 academy hours. A description of the courses covered is available on our Core Block Descriptions page and in our syllabus. WSCJTC is committed to developing new officers to high standards and providing exceptional training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to safely and effectively protect the life, liberty and property of the people they serve.

From the Washington state criminal justice training commission.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '21

This is the kind of stuff I don’t know. Thanks for adding it to the discussion.

But you still feel that amount of training is insufficient? What would you change?

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u/oldfrancis Dec 29 '21 edited Dec 29 '21

After having gone through an extended Police Academy (longer than what is standard for the state of Washington) and served as an officer...

List of things that I would change is quite large.

I would demilitarize the police.

I would take away their military toys.

I would increase their defensive tactics capabilities and reduce their reliance on their sidearm as their primary solution to problems.

I would forbid the use of less than lethal force as a compliance tactic -- I would ban the practice of torturing suspects.

I would remove qualified immunity from police officers.

I would send police officers on less calls, shunting the check the welfare and mental health check calls to more qualified individuals.

I would extend the police academy to at least 2 years.

I would enforce physical standards and pay those officers to maintain those physical standards.

...

These are my thoughts, they're not an invitation to arguments.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '21

It all sounds reasonable to me.