Studies show that police and wardens who are twenty five and older or who have a college degree are less likely to commit excessive force. California is considering making this a requirement.
I support this decision. Police are the only American citizens legally licensed to kill other American citizens. It is a job with great responsibility and stress. If we can do something where we can eliminate the chance for potentially deadly mistakes I am all for it.
Plenty of other professions require education or age requirements. It makes sense that police would as well. The studies show that the brain does not fully mature until a person is twenty five. It also gives you the opportunity to have more life experiences which you can draw on in your police work. College provides the opportunity to meet and interact with people from different backgrounds from yourself. This will help you when you are dealing with other people. It may make you better pick up on cultural clues and less chance of making a mistake.
It stands to reason that you will have to start a college graduate at a higher salary since that is the way many careers work. Some may argue that is too much for towns barely getting by right now financially. I would submit, that excessive force lawsuits cost towns a lot of money defending them. Or firing the officer which means you need to invest in someone new all over again and train them. Plus think about all the bad press that excessive force instances bring to a police department.
I think the higher cost now and higher standards now will pay dividends later. If you recruit a higher caliber officer now and you can cut down on some of the negative press pretty soon these police jobs will be in demand again. I think this could be a solution to a lot of issues we are having with policing today.
We will discuss this and more on Tuesday starting at 6:30 PM Est.
