Improving American Policing

[Llarry]

Interesting opinion piece in the newspaper The Washington Post on how to improve the quality of policing in the U.S.: Hire more women police officers. Despite the increase in recent years in police and sheriff department representation by women, they are still underrepresented in virtually all police agencies and at leadership levels.

One issue is the physical requirements for the job and women have greater difficulty with physical fitness tests on the front end of training -- and fewer difficulties if given time to get up to standards.

Women officers make fewer arrests and tend to defuse and calm tense situations better.

https://wapo.st/48sTGsf

Couple this situation with my opinion of women in healthcare -- superior to men in most respects -- and you can count me a feminist!

[Pauly Wauly]

Maybe

[M-technik-3]

Every situation is different. I backseat drive an incident where you just see video is easy. I will say crime in the US is an issue these days.

[Murf the Surf]

Toronto police attempted to increase the number of women in the 90's, a pilot project was done in 32 Division where they had the division up to about 50% women. One of the main issues that arose was that a great number of women in policing were also of an age that they wanted to have families, and inevitably the issue of maternity leave was impacting the ability to put officers out on the road, it made it very difficult to authorize annual leave, or give time off when requested. The issue was so critical that the project was scraped. I worked with excellent women and men. There is no doubt that both can do the job and that some aren't very good at it as well. Maybe just fine tune the hiring practices rather than single out a single identifiable group and think that will solve the problems.

[floridaorange]

^Exactly

and

[Nuckle]

I would imagine that 99% of criminals approve of this opinion piece.

[Pauly Wauly]

Your post sounds a lot different since you edit it, Llarry.

Those that did not see they original version will never know what some of us saw.

[LuvMyE92]

It would have been helpful if the OP linked to the piece in his/her post.

I live in the South, where you'll still find older gentlemen referring to women as "little lady". I can see where it could be challenging for them to receive the respect that they deserve in a position of authority.

Me, I'm always respectful to LEO because, well, it's just respectful. They have a tough job. Unfortunately, these days, I feel like I'm in the minority.

But I think to be fair, you have to look at what motivates some of these folks to get into law enforcement. And some of those reasons are more likely to be testosterone-driven.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by LuvMyE92

But I think to be fair, you have to look at what motivates some of these folks to get into law enforcement. And some of those reasons are more likely to be testosterone-driven.

And the latter is precisely the problem in some cases.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by Wauly

Your post sounds a lot different since you edit it, Llarry.

Those that did not see they original version will never know what some of us saw.

The only edit I did was to add a grin -- trying to keep what is a very serious subject a bit lighter.

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by LuvMyE92

It would have been helpful if the OP linked to the piece in his/her post.

You are absolutely right and I should've included a link -- see revised original post where I've added one.

Thank you!

[Pauly Wauly]

Originally Posted by Llarry

The only edit I did was to add a grin -- trying to keep what is a very serious subject a bit lighter.

Some of your words are a bit different from the original version. But that`s good that you realized the mistake you made and corrected it.
You know that if you had not edit your post the thread you be shut down quick.

I`m not here to argue, I was just pointing out that the post is different from the original version. We are all human beings and every human being makes mistakes

[pikkagtr]

RoboCop
With stun lasers , tranq darts and a net
Don't comply , bam dragged to jail in a net to the paddy wagon

[Llarry]

Originally Posted by pikkagtr

RoboCop
With stun lasers , tranq darts and a net
Don't comply , bam dragged to jail in a net to the paddy wagon

There is a whole range of policing issues IMHO -- for the hardcore criminal, I agree with your RoboCop approach. But for the other (majority of) cases -- more or less ordinary people doing stupid things -- a more nuanced approach might work better. And we can only build so many prisons.

[Mason Hatcher]

As a former city cop I can tell you that more women cops is not the answer to any question, except the question of how to make things worse.

[floridaorange]

On avg more women are nurses, on avg men’s car ins rates are higher, on avg more men are in prison for violence, on avg more women are kindergarten teachers and nursery school teachers, I could go on and on but I think the point is evident.

Trollish topic imo but

[ASAP]

just bring back the show cops to mainstream and we are going to be good

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by ASAP

just bring back the show cops to mainstream and we are going to be good

FYI, "Live PD" has been resurrected as "On Patrol Live" streaming on Peacock and on the Reelz cable channel. IMHO, it's better than "Cops" because it is more spontaneous.....

[unluky]

This seems like sound policy. Hire based on gender instead of skill. This might just be crazy enough to work!

[dreamingat30fps]

I love how we are so focused on "solving" the most insignificant problems while completely ignoring the real problems.

[Germanauto]

Ngl lady officers have generally been kinder and more understanding in my experience. The men tend to be ruthless and occasionally unprofessional

Would never support hiring people to meet a quota though, competency/merit should always be first.

[B58-M340iX]

Originally Posted by unluky

This seems like sound policy. Hire based on gender instead of skill. This might just be crazy enough to work!

Sounds like the companies that are proud that they have hired only 'x' race that isn't white. Hmm, hire the best qualified candidate, or pad your D&I numbers and boast about it?