The problem is not generally IQ. It's that police officers in the US are such a poorly-trained bunch while simultaneously being equipped with deadly force as

The problem is not generally IQ. It's that police officers in the US are such a poorly-trained bunch while simultaneously being equipped with deadly force as a nearly default option. They do not get practice at what they would have to do if they didn't have the weapon, or if their weapon were ineffective at dealing with the problem. Any new / uncertain situation is to be approached with the technique "pull trigger until thing in front of you falls on ground". Which produces the exactly the stupid result that you think it would. Combine it with the lack of experience (and fear) of most officers in any really serious situation = the first time ends up being their last. If you look at police officers who are selected from soldiers who returned from Iraq/Afghanistan, where they've seen some real shit, they don't default to opening fire nearly so often as with suburban never-seen-anything officers. Funny how people who've been to war are less twitchy than someone who's only sat in a car all day for the last year. [1,2,3]. Of course, there are opposing observations / opinions also [4]. Even in other countries, when officers are trained to finally shoot someone (and maybe never have to do it in the end), they do it in a targeted way, stop, see what happened, and decide whether another shot is needed to control the situation. The problem is not IQ. It's practice. [1] https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/Publications/IACPEmployingReturningVets.pdf https://bja.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh186/files/Publicatio... [2] https://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504718239/military-trained-police-may-be-slower-to-shoot-but-that-got-this-vet-fired https://www.npr.org/2016/12/08/504718239/military-trained-po... [3] https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/08/17/how-can-police-do-a-better-job-of-recruiting-officers/military-vets-can-bring-much-needed-sensitivity-training-to-police-departments https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/08/17/how-can-pol... [4] https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/01/asking-our-soldiers-to-do-police-work-why-it-can-lead-to-disaster/251380/ https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/01/asking-...