• MushuChupacabra@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Law Enforcement should be a profession, just like doctors and nurses.

    Formal education. Licensing with a college whose role is to protect the public. Malpractice insurance. Requirements to remain current, and eligible to practice.

    • Aux@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      You don’t need to study to become a police officer in the US? OMFG! You have to study 1.5-2 years in the UK and then spend months in the field under supervision as an apprentice.

      • Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        The duration of the training in the Police Academy varies for the different agencies. It usually takes about 13 to 19 weeks on average but can last up to six months.

        https://golawenforcement.com/articles/how-long-does-it-take-to-become-a-police-officer/

        Up to six months… Yikes.

        In the software engineer industry, if you spent a year in a coding bootcamp, I still wouldn’t trust you to know what you’re doing.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          SIX MONTHS? what’s this, theoretical physics? just give them a gun and tell them to go about their way.

          hell, most of the training in police academy is probably done with pantone color charts teaching the exact skin tone where murder becomes acceptable.

        • realbadat@programming.dev
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          7 months ago

          Ehhhh… That’s misleading.

          In many places to be eligible for the academy you’d have to have an associates or bachelors degree.

          But again, location dependant.

          • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
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            7 months ago

            But a degree in what because if it’s a degree in literature that’s useless. I suspect no cop has a degree in literature

            • realbadat@programming.dev
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              7 months ago

              Usually called a criminal justice degree, includes basic law classes, administration, stuff like that. Offered in a lot of county colleges where it’s required.

              Not that it results in a better cop at all imo, just saying the timeframe of a max of 6 months throughout the US is really misleading.

      • frezik
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        7 months ago

        Sorta, kinda, depends on the jurisdiction. This is one of those things where you almost have to treat the US as 50 separate countries rather than one big one.

        There are 2 year associate degree programs for police. A full degree or masters also gets you better placement, like going plainclothes detective day one. Federal level, like FBI or Marshalls, generally require higher education. Average beat cops in some 'burb, though? May or may not require anything more than a High School degree or GED.

      • dependencyinjection@discuss.tchncs.de
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        7 months ago

        If you’re curious about the downvotes, I imagine it’s because you didn’t really state why you stand by your stance.

        As really it’s a pointless comment that adds nothing to the discussion.

    • The Pantser@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      How would you feel about police making $200,000 {or more since they will need hazard pay} a year to drive around and or sit in a car. There is no way a city could afford to hire enough cops to patrol a city. Yes they should have to learn the laws they enforce and carry liability insurance but there is no way we should force them into doctor/nurse level education without equal pay.

        • glimse@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          Hell, how much do they think doctors make? My friend is a doctor and his wife is a vet, I’m pretty sure combined they don’t make that much

          • cabb@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            7 months ago

            They might have a ton of student loan debt (+vets don’t make much) so their after-loan income is fairly modest.

      • Donkter@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Why on earth would you assume 200k? I’ve seen a lot of misused rhetorical terms but this is a textbook strawman falicy.

        Police officers make anywhere from 43k to 63k based on a quick Google, getting massive pay bumps as they are promoted up to over 100k for police chiefs, not to mention hazard pay and usually amazing benefits. Nurses make 56k to 88k, also generally with really good benefits and a lot of overtime. It would only be a 10-20k pay bump and I would love that if it meant fewer cops with much more professional training.

        • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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          7 months ago

          These are some really low numbers, probably from tiny towns with no resources. Police officers (and RNs) in cities make six figures easily.

          Police especially are public servants and their pay is public. Just look it up in your area. It’s very common for regular officers to make six figures with overtime.

        • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          7 months ago

          Yeah but for teachers it’s not a problem for the sort of people who want that particular job to actually get it. For cops I’d rather the people who inherently want to be cops to be outcompeted by a larger applicant pool and have to get some other job.

            • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              7 months ago

              I’m working with the premise of the above comment that it’s fine, to disagree with another aspect of what it says. You’re right that I don’t know anything about the state of education recruitment, but I don’t think that translates into an argument that cops don’t need to be paid much.

      • FreeFacts@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Meh, where I live police are paid a little bit over the median wage, and they have to get a bachelor’s degree (~3 years) in law enforcement before they can work as a police.