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Generally speaking education does not make you a better person. It can even make you a worse person than alternatives such as manual labor, working in a kitchen

Generally speaking education does not make you a better person. It can even make you a worse person than alternatives such as manual labor, working in a kitchen, or a job at a summer camp. Cops apparently don't need a two year course of study to understand the law well enough to do their jobs. Instead of spending years up front, an alternative is to spread that time throughout their career on basic stuff like fitness or gun training.

CalChris 9y ago
Gun training doesn’t make you a better person.
- SamReidHughes 9y ago
  It makes you better at the job of being a police officer. Often police can't shoot straight because they're out of practice. (Officers very rarely fire their weapons in the line of duty.)
  - CalChris 9y ago
    So you're saying that police officers should be trained in something they rarely do rather than educated in something they always do. In other countries, it's common to require a bachelors degree to become a police officer. In the city where I live, you can get into the police academy with a GED. I should also point out that the Oakland Police Department has been under Federal Court oversight for the last 14 years.
    - SamReidHughes 9y ago
      Oakland isn't under court oversight because of their lack of bachelor's degrees. A degree doesn't make you more moral or less corrupt. A police officer with a high school degree that has worked for a few years isn't going to become better at their job if they get a bachelor's. It only takes 12 years of education to learn how to de-escalate situations, make arrests, and issue citations. The reason for gun training is that when guns do get used, it's a life and death situation.
      - CalChris 9y ago
        A GED is not a high school degree. But if you are recommending that police officers should not carry guns until they learn how to de-escalate situations, you might be onto something. However right now, a GED and 26 weeks at the OPD academy gets you a gun, a license to kill and a starting salary of $69,912. And that license is valid on day one, not 12 years later. BTW, I live here. We went through three police chiefs in a week due to the coverup of officers sleeping with prostitutes. They should fire the department and start over. Except that there's a union. You know, the good sort of union.

CalChris 9y ago

Gun training doesn’t make you a better person.

SamReidHughes 9y ago
It makes you better at the job of being a police officer. Often police can't shoot straight because they're out of practice. (Officers very rarely fire their weapons in the line of duty.)
- CalChris 9y ago
  So you're saying that police officers should be trained in something they rarely do rather than educated in something they always do. In other countries, it's common to require a bachelors degree to become a police officer. In the city where I live, you can get into the police academy with a GED. I should also point out that the Oakland Police Department has been under Federal Court oversight for the last 14 years.
  - SamReidHughes 9y ago
    Oakland isn't under court oversight because of their lack of bachelor's degrees. A degree doesn't make you more moral or less corrupt. A police officer with a high school degree that has worked for a few years isn't going to become better at their job if they get a bachelor's. It only takes 12 years of education to learn how to de-escalate situations, make arrests, and issue citations. The reason for gun training is that when guns do get used, it's a life and death situation.
    - CalChris 9y ago
      A GED is not a high school degree. But if you are recommending that police officers should not carry guns until they learn how to de-escalate situations, you might be onto something. However right now, a GED and 26 weeks at the OPD academy gets you a gun, a license to kill and a starting salary of $69,912. And that license is valid on day one, not 12 years later. BTW, I live here. We went through three police chiefs in a week due to the coverup of officers sleeping with prostitutes. They should fire the department and start over. Except that there's a union. You know, the good sort of union.