[erkelly]

It seems for the first 50 years or so of my life, this kind of thing never, or almost never, happened. Now it happens frequently. Some years ago, I read that many police depts were trying to recruit officers with IQs of just 100. I wonder if this has something to do with this. Are we hiring dumb police officers these days?

[editor-surveyor]

.
>> “Are we hiring dumb police officers these days?” <<

Does being a police officer strike you as something a mentally gifted person would seek?
.

[Ace's Dad]

I read that many police depts were trying to recruit officers with IQs of just 100

I don't know what standards are for police hiring, but 100 IQ is supposed to be average intelligence.

[eyeamok]

How dare you try to equate yesterdays Peace Officers with todays Law Enforcement Officers, they are diametrically opposed.
but your assertion is Correct, a “Peace Officer” never would have shot or killed an unarmed and non threatening person. But a “Law Enforcement Officer” well those are the folks my Grandfather told us he was fighting in WW2 in Germany.

[Blurb2350]

I’ve also heard this. Or, rather, I’ve heard that candidates with high IQs are weeded out. Of course the nonstop push for affirmative action doesn’t help...

[RedStateRocker]

Now that cell phones and social media have changed the game there is often information besides *just* the police report.

Many cops - and many authoritarians and/or people with State power over others have acted this way since ancient Sumer, I’d bet, just now it can’t be swept under the rug.

Don’t worry, there will probably be someone along saying ‘but he *could* have had a gun and/or ‘claiming that the person shot had an arrest warrant, was gay, didn’t respond to police requests or some such mitigating factor existed or might have existed. I have seen very few threads where somebody didn’t give the police ‘benefit of the doubt’.

[Safetgiver]

I’ll catch a lot of crap for this post but...it has to do with the militarization of the police forces. I remember when they gave the rookies semiauto S&W ‘s and one day at the range for quarterly qualification, we ran out to the targets and us old ‘wheel’ guys pulled our .357’s and shot two to three right in the X ring. These new kids pulled out their weapons and unleashed with 16 shots each, never putting a single shot in the ‘X’ but hitting the target every where else if they were lucky. I turned to the other old troops and said “There’s gonna be a lot of collateral damage to the citizens coming up”.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

We are hiring police who don't know the people in the area they are suppose to protect.

So they see anything unusual as a "threat" and "fear for their safety".

Problem is that nearly every thing is unusual to them because they have no idea of what is normal.

[JP1201]

Anytime you bring that up, cops start parroting “training, training! “ or “it was a good kill! “. It’s like they’re proud of being drones incapable of critical thinking

[DoodleDawg]

It seems for the first 50 years or so of my life, this kind of thing never, or almost never, happened. Now it happens frequently.

It probably happened 50 years ago, just didn't have the 24x7 media coverage we have today.

[AllAmericanGirl44]

It did happen in days gone by, it just didn’t get publicity. I’ve know Chicago police officers and Sergeants for a long time, believe me, it happened.

[GrandJediMasterYoda]

No, dumb cops aren't being hired. Matter of fact it's quite the opposite: Most cities require at least an associates degree and above or military service. What's happening is the current climate perpetrated by the media and other leftists that is making cops fear for their lives, the message that is constantly put out that white people and cops are the enemy, so if you're a white cop and you are out there in a tense situation, panic sets in.

My father is a retired NYC cop, retired in 1980. He was a cop all through some of the worst times in New York city and I remember me and my mother going into a panic anytime we heard on the TV or radio about a cop being killed on the job while he was working. All cop families go through that. Matter of fact, his best friend was killed, Patrick O'Conner Emergency service 1971, killed right on Thanksgiving helping someone change a tire on a highway and an oil truck plowed into him. I remember him crying for weeks, it was terrible, absolutely horrible. But there was one big difference back then as compared to today though: Cops back then were seen as heroes as they SHOULD be by EVERYBODY but the crooks. The media, both parties, Democrat and Republicans always showed respect towards the police. They had the public at their back and the crooks were seen as crooks as THEY SHOULD BE

Today though, it's the complete opposite. You could not pay me enough to be a cop today. My dad is still alive, 78 years old, he says the same thing. Now it's this "War against cops" agenda. Punk ass millionaire mofos who play a kids game kneeling at the national anthem while wearing "cops are pigs" on his socks, or Hillary and Soros financed groups calling for the execution of cops - Did you hear that today? Hillary giving $800,000 to the Antifa terrorist organization? Not surprising though as she did have the mother of an attempted cop killer celebrated at the DNC. Cops are also regularly executed, literally executed while sitting in a car or just on their beat and the media says NOTHING about what perpetrated it which is THEIR constant cop bashing. It must be absolutely hell on earth today to be a cop, constantly bashed, to wonder if today is your last day on earth, constantly threatened and we wonder why they panic? If they see someone with a knife or holding a pipe, how do they know it isn't a set up for an ambush? And nobody helps them except Trump. Trump is the first POTUS in a long time that stands by our cops and vets and look what the left is doing to him.

Antifa: Financed courtesy of Hillary Clinton

Here's a remembrance of Patrick O'Conner. I remember him clear as day, he was huge, 6'5" tall and he left behind a wife who never remarried and 3 kids

http://www.nypdangels.com/cop/cop.php?id=166

That's him on the right in this photo. I believe this was right after them saving someone who was trying to commit suicide..All the time you would see photos like this in the press. Not anymore.

[stinkerpot65]

Deaf or not, if he was dumb enough to approach two cops with guns pointed at him and not drop a pipe in his hand, well ...

I think the training has changed, but people are more dangerous than they used to be. Too many worthless thug animals out there.

[MrEdd]

For the first fifty or so years of your life, local governments could and did quash stories like this. It was the word of a citizen against the word of an officer of the law.

The only difference is that now almost every adult and teenager carries a phone that makes video recordings.

[raybbr]

It’s not IQ. Cops are being trained like military. There is no trading to find out what’s going before shooting.

[trebb]

It seems for the first 50 years or so of my life, this kind of thing never, or almost never, happened. Now it happens frequently. Some years ago, I read that many police depts were trying to recruit officers with IQs of just 100. I wonder if this has something to do with this. Are we hiring dumb police officers these days?

I agree that there seem to be too many cases where cops go for the kill way too early and before other options have been exhausted.

On the flip side, way back then, there weren't as many nut cases targeting cops for assassination either.

It takes a person with exceptional situational awareness and self control to be an effective cop these days and I fear too many get in either for the thrill or for the potential of an early retirement with great benefits.