A code of conduct like that will cull the herd. I hope that many rising law enforcement managers get a chance to see this today so they can model this tomorrow. Perhaps some state, regional or local police associations would like to vote this in to their standards for member departments.
Ha - I imagine that the national organizations we are familiar with would never do this and that is a huge problem. I'm working on a few things that should serve to expose the cowards because we need to know who they are before they surprise the next officer.
Unfortunately, I doubt anything will change until the political environment changes. Ultimately police leadership are appointed and answer to Mayors, City Councils, etc all (unless they're elected, in which case politics applies even more directly).
You can think up a million great principles and have the best crime control strategy, personality, and virtue, all of which will ether result in a leader losing their job, never being selected in the first place; the incentives are to please political masters or political interest groups. The result is kneeling Chiefs at protests, shoveling cops in front of every bus passing by. They don't have positive goals because the political system promotes those who are willing to sell their souls, that's who gets selected.
I don't know exactly what the solution is. But I DO know it has to revolve around a positive goal for police. We should be the protectors of rights, experts at preventing harm and getting aid, NOT crowd pleasers trying to desperately beg every interest group to "like" us. If the history of institutions shows anything, it is that those who stand for nothing fall to anything. And that's the policing profession now. Trying to be all things to all people and failing across the board. And the irony is, if we simply focused on what we do best, I really don't believe we'd have a problem.
A code of conduct like that will cull the herd. I hope that many rising law enforcement managers get a chance to see this today so they can model this tomorrow. Perhaps some state, regional or local police associations would like to vote this in to their standards for member departments.
Ha - I imagine that the national organizations we are familiar with would never do this and that is a huge problem. I'm working on a few things that should serve to expose the cowards because we need to know who they are before they surprise the next officer.
Unfortunately, I doubt anything will change until the political environment changes. Ultimately police leadership are appointed and answer to Mayors, City Councils, etc all (unless they're elected, in which case politics applies even more directly).
You can think up a million great principles and have the best crime control strategy, personality, and virtue, all of which will ether result in a leader losing their job, never being selected in the first place; the incentives are to please political masters or political interest groups. The result is kneeling Chiefs at protests, shoveling cops in front of every bus passing by. They don't have positive goals because the political system promotes those who are willing to sell their souls, that's who gets selected.
I don't know exactly what the solution is. But I DO know it has to revolve around a positive goal for police. We should be the protectors of rights, experts at preventing harm and getting aid, NOT crowd pleasers trying to desperately beg every interest group to "like" us. If the history of institutions shows anything, it is that those who stand for nothing fall to anything. And that's the policing profession now. Trying to be all things to all people and failing across the board. And the irony is, if we simply focused on what we do best, I really don't believe we'd have a problem.
This is about as well said as it can be. Thank you.