That is to easy of a stone to throw. Maybe they are to young, the point of standardizing age minimums and mental health evaluations is still valid.
That overhead pic gave me the chills. Yeesh.
About that other article involving Brian Marvin and his wife, I would be GREATLY surprised if any part of it was true. In HS he drank a lot and was NOT a good kid he was a bully and extremely manipulative. After graduating he was not any better. I do not know his wife, but the whole “you are who you hang with” idea comes to mind.
No they are not too young. But they've had more training, and have been instilled with more discipline. They also operate under the close supervision of their NCOs. A small department deputy and/or town cop is much more likley to have to operate on their own. Make a big difference. A larger department would have both more extensive training and would have the green guys, of whatever age, ride along with a more mature training officer, and probably for alonger time.
I recently had occasion to interact with and observe a young MP right out of training. He was operating on his own, but support, and his NCO or supervisor (they worked with civilian post police) was right at the other end of the radio, and much closer than would be the case for a small department, with a big county to cover, deputy . He still was a pretty nervous troop, unsure of himself, but friendly. And that only to take a report of minor fender bender.