Cowards should not be police officers.

[Anonymous]

As a police officer, a big responsibility inherent to your job is to go towards the danger and face it when everyone else is running away.

In my opinion, it should be a requirement for all police officers to be as physically fit as possible and as proficient in hand to hand tactics and firearms tactics as possible.

Standards around these topics should be high and there should be a monthly qualification process to ensure each officer can pass these standards.

As a police officer, you’re a protector, guardian, and fighter. The lives of your fellow officers and fellow citizens rely on your ability to act properly when the time comes and the stakes are high.

This job carries with it a unique responsibility that set it apart from many jobs in society.

A police officer carries a firearm, wears a protective vest, carries a baton, carries OC spray, and more.

On top of all of that a police officer has the authority to arrest and authority to take a life if need be.

The inherent nature of this job carries immense moral responsibility and implications.

Cowards shouldn’t wear the badge or carry the gun if all they’re doing the job for is a paycheck and benefits.

This isn’t just a job, it’s a calling and moral responsibility in society.

The citizenry needs police officers to be sharp, brave, professional, and fair.

[MrOracle]

The problem is that police officers aren't infantry soldiers - much less Special Forces operators - and the kind of training you are talking about would break the budgets of most police departments.

The truth is that the vast majority of police officers don't need to pull their weapons very often (SWAT and gang/drug task forces and such would be an exception, but they are usually staffed by people with better equipment, training, and a narrower job focus). What police officers have to do on a regular basis is traffic control, break up domestic disputes, handle noise complaints, take reports of property crimes, and do tons of paperwork. And most importantly, they need to gather, protect, and document evidence to help their DA build a case against the criminals, which means knowing and understanding a huge number of rules, some of which are arcane or illogical, but are still the law.

Yet, most ARE willing to run TOWARDS danger when those things do happen. Not everyone, but most.

My town is about 80 officers short of what they believe they need to effectively police the city, and were hoping to hire about 25 officers this year. That's probably not going to happen now; they may lose them instead. Fighting to increase expensive training just isn't going to go over well right now.

[myTake Owner]

Well, even if the chances of an officer pulling out his/her weapon is 1% for an entire 20 years, (1) the officer isn’t going to know when this 1% will occur (might be tomorrow, two years from now, or 15) and (2) even though the chances are slim, the stakes are as high as they could ever be.

The stakes are lives.

Lastly, it’s not obvious to me that it’s a budget issue, more so than a lack of knowledge or awareness of the importance of such training and standards.

For example, jiujitsu is now starting to gain traction in LE circles as the go-to combative/self defense system. Decades prior, jiujitsu was still around but you’d be hard pressed to find even 1 out of 100 cops who were practicing it. This was purely out of a lack of knowledge on how impactful and important jiujitsu would be in LE not necessarily budget issues on either the department side or officer’s.

[MrOracle]

Right, but all training costs time (paid time for students and instructors), and shooting also costs money for supplies and expendables. It takes even more time and money to set up realistic situations (I used to compete in IDPA, so I have a very good understanding of this), and, again, budgets just don't allow for it in most departments.

JJ is a very sensible martial art for cops, who often have to subdue large, strong, and difficult suspects, but how many of those cops are being given JJ instruction on the clock? I suspect most are taking a class on their own, during off days (but I could be mistaken). Tactical gun handling would either need to be taught by the department, or would have to be taught by an outside company that had been vetted, which would likely cost even more. And for most cops who work rotating schedules, weekend civilian courses aren't very practical, though a few cops do participate when they can.

[myTake Owner]

Yeah, I can agree with all of that, I’m sure you’re right on most if not all points. I’m not exactly sure what the solution may be, but perhaps more awareness should be spread out so that more officers can take it upon themselves to get the proper training. The upside is that more and more officers are taking pistol fighting, long gun marksmanship, combatives, dry firing, and physical fitness training more seriously today than ever before and the number of officers involved is increasing.

Thanks a ton for your response @MrOracle

[MrOracle]

The truth is that most cops treat and think of their gun much the same as they think of their handcuff key - another thing to carry around on their belt. When we'd get cops at shooting competitions, they were almost always in two camps: either regular competitors who were pretty good, or practically hopeless guys who were no better than new civilian shooters - quite a few who were awed by how good "civilians" were. I've instructed plenty of both, and made most of them at least a little better.

[myTake Owner]

That might be true unfortunately, but again, as the years go by, I think more and more cops are taking their physical fitness more seriously, taking martial arts more seriously, and taking their tactical training more seriously. This could be because of social media showcasing the realities of policing as well as certain fitness guru/cops that spread their lifestyle around like wildfire.

[MrOracle]

Agreed, and I certainly support police taking advantage of whatever training they can. They've got a dangerous job, and the better they can protect themselves, and the faster they can end confrontations, the better for everyone.

[Apple1996]

1000% agreed!

[Apple1996]

Thanks for mho!

[ThisDudeHere]

It all sounds good but it's expensive. Apparently, in America at least, it's cheaper for the police to deal with the lawsuits stemming from their officer's lack of professionality than it is to fully train said, officers. Hence why you have so many shoot first, ask questions later cops.

[myTake Owner]

It’s not so much “shoot first, ask questions later.”

There’s a cascade of events that need to occur before an officer makes the decision to use lethal force. The cascade of events come from Supreme Court rulings in large part.

[SoSavageSoCal]

the cowards will show their true colors relatively quickly, as long as they are not working for a Dept in Pleasantville, Nothing Happens here America... and they are never exposed to a real threat... this is why more than one Dept has the policy of throwing their new guys along with a good seasoned FTO right into the shit and see if they sink or swim. if they are a coward as you put it more often than not before the end of their Field training they will surrender their badge voluntarily or resign under pressure from other officers who have decided that they cannot work with someone like that. If they feel like there is something there they can work with the overwhelming majority of cops are at their core good people who mean well and they will try to lift you up but the second they see something that indicates to them that can't count on you to be there when shit hits the fan. you're done. the scary ones are the ones who get drunk with the power and take advantage of it and don't know how to maintain intellect over emotion. if you can't keep your emotions in check and keep them from clouding your judgment or at least recognize when this might be happening and check yourself that is dangerous because you are going to be disrespected, you are going to be challenged both physically, mentally in addition to having your ego challenged or hurt. and If that makes you angry then there is trouble coming.. because when that suspect disregards your command to pull over and hurts someone in an attempt to flea especially a fellow officer. it is very difficult to keep your emotions in check and not beat the brakes off that person at a minimum when you do catch them. and these days there are cameras everywhere and if you can't check those emotions then sooner or later you will get caught on camera taking it to far... so the most valuable thing I think officers need to possess is the ability to regulate their emotions and not take things personally because especially as men as soon as emotions and ego get involved all intellect and rational thought is gone... we need to be secure enough to be real with ourselves and know when we need to take a step back...

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

I promise you I was going to do a Mytake on this and actually started but got lazy.

A police officer primarily job is to enforce constitutional rights and state laws on behalf of all citizens including criminals.

Police officers have lost respect at least here in the U. S. and they deserve it too.

#1: You don't shoot unarmed citizens.

#2: You don't physically abuse nor jump on criminals punching them on the face with your other 3 buddies once the criminal is on the ground isn't fighting back like some cops did here in Miami like 2 months ago.

#3: You don't file false police reports like another cop did here in Miami.

#4: You don't illegally pull someone over when they did nothing wrong (like it happened to me) and make up some bull while you did it.

#5: You don't tell the public they can't record you nor give any unlawful orders.

Once the police officers began to do their job correctly and with integrity then the public will began to show respect back to them.

As for me, I have lost respect for the police, primarily the police directors who are responsible and put these trash cops on the streets.

[myTake Owner]

The vast majority of the public respects and holds law enforcement in high esteem.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

No, they don't. Only Fox News sheeple do who overlook all the disgusting things these cops do, even worse defend them even when caught on camera.

[myTake Owner]

Maybe not the VAST majority, but the majority of Americans have a positive opinion on police. I can provide a link if you want

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

I know they do. Those Americans are busy watching Fox News 24/7 confirming their bias that cops are heros and can't do no wrong.

If you only knew the videos on YouTube alone that I have seen cops doing the most disgusting things you wouldn't believe your eyes, even worse their fellow cops do absolutely nothing to the other cop which proves they aren't only bad cops but bad people too..

Here are just a couple of dozens and dozens more not recorded.

https://youtu.be/En9r4JstmlE

https://youtu.be/Z9SozbcZOYs

[JimboGB]

It depends on which police officers you're talking about. 'Bobbies on the beat' of course need to be psychically fit and are given stringent fitness tests. I agree with you and believe like nurses, police officers choose their profession out of the urge to help and protect others. I don't believe its a matter of fitness or braveness why they make decisions that can be perceived as cowardly.

Now what causes a police officer to be cowardly, I would say it is more of a mentally or political ideology focused from above with applies pressure in an already very stressful and dangerous environment.

For instance, in the Uk a large portion of knife crime in London is between young black gangs. Laws were introduced called the 'stop and search' which dropped the knife crime rate by 50%, of course, the left political parties had to use this opportunity to call foul, scream racism and have the law revoked. All for political gain, which cost many lives. Who took the brunt of the anger and blame, front line police.

[aWes0MeNeSs]

I definitely agree that physical fitness should be a top priority for being a law enforcement officer, and it also requires a specific temperament as well. Someone who is very disciplined and in control of their emotions and knows how to stay calm in situations where many people would panic or lose their temper.

[hellionthesagereborn]

Well sure, but you also have a problem here, that is we don't have enough as is. When your desperate quality generally suffers (and this has to do with how society treats police officer in my opinion). I do think they shouldn't be cowards (which should be obvious) and they should be held to higher standards (because they have a gun and they are put in morally grey situations. We cannot afford to have them act like drunken frat boys or try and cover each others screw ups, they need to be held to a higher standard (while still understanding they are human and they are going to make mistakes because its inevitable). I don't know about monthly testing (that's going to be expensive and time consuming with no real benefit), but definitely yearly.

[KrakenAttackin]

Absolutely, positively, true. Some of the biggest dangers in law enforcement have nothing to do with violence. Directing traffic at the scene of an accident or when the signal light in a large intersection is inoperative are very hazardous operations, especially in winter.

I was a cop in a very violent part of a very violent city (section 8 project homes) and I saw my share of action. Our attitude was that we were more of an occupying army than police. We tried to keep the ghetto cancer from spreading which was nearly impossible.

I can only imagine the shit cops have to go through today, with GPS and cameras everywhere.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Bad cops hate cameras.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Hispanic-Cool-Guy Not true. The problem is the constant second-guessing and arm chair-quarterbacking by the media, elected officials, and senior police officials.

You walk a mile or two in a cops shoes and you will see what I mean. There were PLENTY of times I could have shot some asshole who had a knife and was within 21 feet of me (the use of deadly force standard for confronting a suspect with an edged weapon), but I knew that if the suspect was the "wrong" color, even using legitimate force would bring about a shit storm.

Example in point. We had a shooting where two black guys robbed a bank and came out shooting. We fired a volley of rounds back, striking one of the men, crippling him for life (not killing him). The FBI was ALL OVER our asses because these guys were minorities. The black FBI agent was a real SOB and was looking for someone to prosecute (these were the Bill Clinton days).

A few months later, a drunk hillbilly was waving a pistol around and was killed by two of our officers (totally justified) and the FBI didn't even want to see the report.

What was the difference? THE RACE OF THE SUSPECT. When you are a cop, the race of the suspect plays an enormous part of your decision to use force.

[KrakenAttackin]

Let me take it a step further. I worked almost entirely the Section 8 housing which was overwhelmingly minority members. So, the people I interacted with daily, interviewed, and arrested were almost entirely minorities. Do you think a cop could get a bad reputation, "so you only arrest minorities, isn't that right officer"? How did officers like me combat this? Simple, on days when I was not working the project homes I would go over to the white side of town and hammer out a ton of stop sign and speeding tickets to white soccer-moms. We had to do this to balance our numbers or risk being called "racist" can get you sent to prison in the U. S.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

Look man, don't BS man. You mean to tell me its right to shoot a suspect who is 21 feet away from you just because he is holding a knife without moving toward you to attack? Does the suspect has inspector gadget arms to stab you from that far?

As I said, if you do things correctly and with integrity you won't have nothing to worry about, but if you shoot unarmed suspects or armed suspects who haven't raised a gun at you nor at anyone else, physically bully people, give unlawful orders then expect people to criticize the trash job you do.

Criminals have rights wheather you like it or not and cops aren't above the law nor are they judge, jury and executioner who think they can do whatever they want then excuse as it's as "its tough job out there" BS.

If its too difficult and stressful then quit and go be a mall security guard.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Hispanic-Cool-Guy You can probably find the video "Surviving edged weapons" on YouTube. Yes the rule was 21 feet, watch the video and you will see why.

Incidentally, I did leave LE for this reason. I was more afraid of politics than the criminals.

[Barbaric]

It's funny to me how most people see this completely backwards with the race thing. What you mentioned here doesn't surprise me at all. And also how people who've never experienced real violence, and it really shows in their clueless arguments, want to tell cops how they should handle such situations.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

@Barbaric: A cop can't handle things how he feels like it. A cop must always operate within the laws and with what he received in training. Period.

[Barbaric]

@Hispanic-Cool-Guy

You don't even know what you're talking about, as you demonstrated in your last comment.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

@Barbaric: I know. Evil people like you don't understand justice. I won't waste my time.

[Barbaric]

@Hispanic-Cool-Guy

"Evil people" lmao. Okay.

[KrakenAttackin]

@Barbaric It's true. It is easy to say what a cop "should have done" but when faced with a situation you don't always have a chance to think things through, you have to act.

[archiz]

I totally agree.
I think there should a psych evaluation too.
And they should go to therapy constantly.
Like you said, the job puts you in a lot of stress and you see the worst of humankind.
If you are not mentally stable, then everyone is at risk.

[VdoubleUp]

I agree you have to be willing to sacrifice everything

[KrakenAttackin]

It has to be in your blood. When there was emergency it was just second nature for me to move toward the action, especially when another officer was calling for help. You don't overthink it, you just go. You use good tactics (don't park in front of the house/business of the call, make sure your second snap on 3 retention holster is unsnapped, signal out before you roll to a stop, udue your seatbelt a couple of blocks prior to arriving, approach the suspect house at an angle while watching the windows, etc).

I was good at this job, but the constant interaction with such awful ghetto idiots was bringing me down. This is soul sucking over time.

[myTake Owner]

@KrakenAttackin

Yeah, I was going to ask you why you aren’t working as an officer anymore. I understand if you can’t say so due to a personal reason.

[alice55]

You're right.
In my country there's some police officers who have bad morals and bad physical condition (because after passing the test they don't care and don't stay fit anymore).

[vannefftor]

Sad that this isn't obvious to a lot of cops in america. Wish they all had your mindset sir. Too often the cops on camera caught killing unarmed civilians are shook pussyboys who realized theyre in the wrong field of work in the same instance they killed an innocent person over expired tags or a broken taillight...

[DeeDeeDeVour]

I totally agree with this... 100%.

[Agape93]

I agree with @BlackWidow93. While you posit an idealized version of cops, and yes many ascribe to do just that, they are human. They aren’t always fair, brave or honest. I’d rather a fair and honest coward than a brave bully.

[myTake Owner]

I don’t like bullies or cowards, but I would argue that cowards will get themselves killed, fellow partners killed, and citizens killed.

We also have to define what a “bully” means in this context.

How are you defining it?

An officer doesn’t have to violate your rights or do anything illegal to come off as a bully if that makes sense.

[Agape93]

And bullies have and do kill, steal and abuse their powers and position.
Officers have hidden behind badges in order to plant evidence, kill suspects, rape women etc. it’s not cowards doing it, only bullies. So yes I’d prefer an honest and fair coward officer, than a bully one.

[TienShenhan]

Ever watch Live PD? So these 2 cops, a male and a female, got a call to a house and the lady warned them that she had a dog in a kennel and that he was excited but he wouldn't hurt anyone. The male cop seeing the panicking dog, also panicked and attempted to shoot the dog, maiming his partner instead. You can't even blame that on training or lack thereof, that is just fucking pathetic. People need to quit being so afraid of everything

[eschneider]

I agree, they should be brave.

The biggest problem I see with cops are young idiots, cops that do not understand or uphold the constitution. More worried about the law than what is right.

Cops covering-up for other cops, and many of them will lie to cover their ass.
Lack of accountability for when they break the law or violate someone's rights.

[YHL6965]

I also think that officers should be evaluated regularly on how they handle their firearms to make sure they know how to shoot and when to shoot. I can stand police officers thinking they are cowboys above the law. In fact, this process should be extended to arrests and all of that to make sure the officer is fair and not abusive. Some officers like to get a feeling of power by annoying people, being overly harsh just because they represent the authority.

[ItalianGuy2021]

Well in order to be a cop you gotta be capable of killing innocent men based on their race and being corrupt in general so I guess a coward could not do what those pieces of garbage do.

[myTake Owner]

So, when you say that you’re talking about some cops right? Surely you can’t mean all cops that have ever existed and currently exist?

[ItalianGuy2021]

Well maybe like 1% of cops aren't doing this. Maybe 1% aren't Freemasons and/or taking orders from Freemasons and locking up poor people but letting Judges and others get off scott free. The rest though are complete trash. I was in 2 car accidents where cops tried to lie because they knew the people who hit me. The second time the loss prevention guy at the store I was at told the cop he had it on tape so he had to go along with the truth. When I was a a minor a friend brought an air rifle over I came out of the house I did nothing illegal just walked out of the house. My friend and some guys were yelling at each other. Cops came and arrested us both. Cops are pieces of garbage and I laugh when something happens to them.

[myTake Owner]

Well, I was hoping you weren’t unintelligent and greatly misinformed but I guess I was wrong. I think you know you’re wrong, but don’t want to admit it because you’re going by some traumatic negative experiences you’ve had with cops.

[ItalianGuy2021]

No I know I am right because they always fuck with people non stop just to do it I have been in the girl 25 times where cops pulled us over just to do it and act like a prick. Bored cops in the suburbs who were pussies all their lives so they need a badge to hide behind to harass people.

[myTake Owner]

What country are you referring to?

[ItalianGuy2021]

Here in the US this is how they are and they will shoot anybody I saw a video from the dash cam a while back a cop pulled over a 17 yr old white kid the kid asked why was he being pulled over? The cop ended up killing him. Just for asking him that. This happens all the time.

[myTake Owner]

So, a cop killed someone for just asking him “why am I being pulled over?”
I don’t think that’s true at all.

[ItalianGuy2021]

Yea the dash cam recorded the whole thing the cop was bullying the kid then shot him. Cops are basically Nazis and the only people who defend them are only defending them because the cops have never hurt them.

[ItalianGuy2021]

But the cops hurt other people so you might think they are heroes well wait until you get stuck in a situation and see how you are treated.

[myTake Owner]

Well, I can’t reason with you any further if you actually think this. You’re using your personal experience and subjective interpretation of videos you see on the internet to cast a wide net that paints all police officers in the US as evil.

How can I possibly change your viewpoint? I don’t see any way to, nor should I.

As the saying goes “you can’t fix stupid.”

[WeAreQ]

Racist Police officers should not be police officers either. Or those who can't control their anger.

[BronzedAdonis]

I don’t think you’re ready for all that responsibility son

[Ellie-V]

I mean... isn’t this common sense? 😂😂

[myTake Owner]

Well, I hope it is but I may be wrong.
Policing, like any other profession, has its share of individuals that don’t belong for one reason or another. Many individuals may think that going into policing for a stable paycheck and great benefits is a good reason to go into policing, but something more important should take precedence and only when this prerequisite is thoroughly satisfied can thoughts of a stable paycheck and great benefits be thought of more.

[Ellie-V]

I understand