So over thanksgiving my brother-in-law was talking about how he's currently going through the training to become a cop (being fast tracked for reason below) and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. On one hand, I'm firmly in the ACAB camp. On the other hand, if somebody is going to be hired a cop, he seems like the kind of person that would do the least harm.
Frist off, he is an MP in the army and has been for several years so he already has more and better training/dicipline than most cops out there. He has actual training in conflict deescalation and proper restraint methods that don't kill people. Unlike most cops he actually has real firearm training so he can be trusted not to shoot at falling acorns or blow an infants head off in an altercation. He has actual medical training, which most cops aren't required to have.
Outside of training he also does seem like a decent guy. He's not an agressive macho shitbag like most cops and he does what he can to help people. He does strike me as leaning slightly conservative but he also lives in a rural area of a red state so that's to be expected. I don't think he's a trump supporter but if he is then he's smart enough to keep his mouth completely shut about it even after the election (which trump supporters usually aren't).
So I'm kind of torn on this one. On one hand, our current policing system is rotten to the core and he's someone looking to be a part of that. On the other hand, even though the current system needs to be burned down and rebuilt, we do need some form of police force and he seems like someone who would do the least harm in that roll.
So yeah, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I would be interested to hear what y'all think though. Have any other lemmings experienced similar or have family members who are cops?
It depends on your local police department, honestly.
People are products of their environment. If the local police are decent, your brother-in-law may actually be a good fit. If the local police are shit (ie the average in the US), then your brother-in-law will either become fired, immensely stressed, or shit just like them.
We relate a lot of stories about bad cops, and Lemmy isn't the most military-friendly place, but one thing I constantly see repeated by veterans, both those with and without police experience, is how baffling the utter lack of discipline and oversight in US police is. Pointing out that RoE are looser for cops than infantry in active combat zones is common.
I wonder if the ROE thing is more about a lack of command and control. There are whole buildings dedicated to tracking what everyone is doing and a lot of vets say you couldn't do ANYTHING without contacting higher command. Usually cops are mostly left to use their judgement as long as they are in the area their designated patrol area. There's more and more gps tracking these days but odds are that isn't monitored in real time.