Moreover, Grits was interested to read a rare admission regarding the relative safety of police officers' jobs from Phillip Lyons, the dean of the College of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University. He told the paper:
As for safety concerns, Lyons said the job isn’t as dangerous as it once was.Because when you're recruiting, that "cops put their lives on the line every day" stuff becomes counterproductive. In that setting, factual assessments of the relative dangers of policing are more effective at convincing folks to take the job. There's plenty of time to teach recruits the ins and outs of official demagoguery on that topic once they've been through the academy.
“Even though there is a hysteria about the war on police, a lot of times, the numbers don't bear that out,” he said. “This is one of the safest times in American history to be a police officer.”
.jpg)
8 comments:
While that's an interesting spin, the hiring is also on decline for lack of qualified candidates and budgets able to sustain larger numbers of cops. At one time, there were dozens of applicants for each position; those dozens often meeting the fitness requirements, personality profile, background checks, and what have you. Now, cities have to lower standards in order to find recruits of marginal nature that view the role as a job until something better comes along. This greatly impacts what they will and will not do, the growing number of such hires typically seen in the news for us to all rant about.
Cities like Houston having budget problems are also wishing they could hire another 1200 to 1800 cops as their academia ordered study said to but there is no money in the budget, their veterans retiring faster than better compensating cities to leave residents in a situation. Many crimes are not investigated, other crimes are given a glance at best, and all the new bike trails and parks will be easy pickings for those who prey.
I had a traffic accident in Houston. Once the 911 dispatcher learned that both parties had insurance and no ambulance was needed, she informed us that no officer would be dispatched.
@1:10, given that "both parties had insurance and no ambulance was needed," what did you need a cop for?
Grits, have you ever needed your car insurance? If so, you probably remember that the process is a LOT smoother if you have a police incident report.
Anon 7/08/2015 01:10:00 PM,
Most big city departments and DPS have done that for years. You can fill out a form if you need a police report number via the DPS website but most insurance companies are very familiar with the practice. HPD started doing that several years back as one of their austerity measures, many more sure to come given reports in the local media.
Anon 7/08/2015 10:02:00 AM, the city can always hire more from the military. Many of the streets of Houston look like some third world country already and maybe the steady work will help the vets combat the PTSD they picked up in firefights. If not, what's a few more shootings that would be ruled as justified because the employee really was in fear of their life?
I live in Houston and have for over 10 years. I was jumped leaving a night club by four what seemed to be homeless crack heads, but I couldn't be sure on that. They repeatedly hit and kicked me and kept saying, "you wanna die motherfucker" over and over, and simultaneously stole my necklace, sunglasses, cellphone, and watch. (thankfully they were unable to get my wallet which happen to have more cash in it than usual) Someone that witnessed what happened ran to get help during this robbery/jumping and returned with an HPD Officer in full uniform. He first asked me was I okay, and then made the comment "looks like they got you pretty good" and "do I have any idea who it might have been" when I told him four black men is all that I know", from across the street a lady who apparently walks those streets often said, "I know every one of those niggas" and the officer said immediately back "no one asked you a god damn thing" & then turned to me and recommended I go down to the sub station and make a complaint. I said "but she was about to tell you who it was" and he said "im about to get off work man, this is what you need to do...." And he repeated the sub station advice. .. Moral of this story, most police are not there to protect or serve from my experience, they are looking for an easy bust, or arrest but have a nearly total disregard for doing what is stamped on the side of patrol cars. "To protect & Serve" Yeah US, not you.
You want to get at police? Take away their off-duty jobs.
Good article. A lot of generalities given out there so I might as well add. Police work is dangerous, no other job out there other than the military do you go to work knowing that there are people who would rather hurt you then let you do your job. Also yes, there are some police officers who would rather get off duty and go home so they can go to court in the morning than take a paper. unfortunately that is a professionalism thing. I ask, did you file an IA complaint for dereliction of duty? Police is again another one of those jobs where they are the exception, not the rule. You would never walk into an architects office just before closing as ask him for help on a huge project. Sure, the officer should have made sure you were ok, and then called for a unit to take the call off of his hands. That is what is professional, but for people to say that it is in there experience that all police are worthless, useless, or whatever how about we look at the common denominator, YOU. You keep having contact and bad contact with "bad" police. Maybe its you....
But for those who are out there who want to be a police officer, here is a good article written by a police officer I know. He isn't bad, just real.
Post a Comment