My requirements for police recruits

[Montell C. Williams]

As many of you know I'm retired Sgt. from Camden, N.J. and 25 years working there has given me strong opinions on traits common to good cops.
1st- must be at least 25 yoa when joining
2nd- must have worked at a regular non-military job
3rd- cop job must pay more than the job he left.

In addition to these, having a white wall haircut is a strike aginst you, but you may still qualify. Must pass a psych screening to make sure he wants the job, not just authority, also being overly muscular draws my suspicion.

The reason for my feelings are to avoid the 'them and us' mentality and guys who are too militeristic, they should remember that although holding an office of authority they are still civilian employes of a civilian government like many other govt employees for example public works and have no power native to them, it all belongs to the office they hold. This may sound unuaual for an ex-cop but it is how I feel.

[Punisher]

just curious - why the age requirement? i plan on being a police officer, but i'm not 25 yet - it might be interesting to pm and ask for some advice............ seeing that you kinda of set yourself up for such things by listing your qualifications.........

[Montell C. Williams]

The purpose of the age requirement is to have more life experiance, not tought at an acadmey, and young guys tend to be more excitable.

[Punisher]

The purpose of the age requirement is to have more life experiance, not tought at an acadmey, and young guys dend to be more excitable.

i definitely agree with that .......... (although not sure it applies to me).

[D-FENS]

2nd- must have worked at a regular non-military job

This is a huge one and the one I agree with the most. Personally, I feel like some cops want to act like their in the middle of an occupation and you're the native of the country being occupied.

On a separate note. I think most cops should be paid better in order to attract a wider audience of people to fill the ranks and I don't believe any public servants should be allowed to unionize.

/.02

[MarcS]

What's funny is people told me "i can't seriously believe that" when i said that new cops are coming out of the academy with this us v. them mentality. That they seem to believe that the civilians they are supposed to be serving are the enemy.

Well, there you go. An echo from across the room? No! It's just a 25 year police veteran.

Glad to hear this opinion from someone who has more time on the job than I have living. Something puts me at ease when i see gray hair stepping out of the cruiser and this is why.

[OneLungMcClung]

I don't believe any public servants should be allowed to unionize.
/.02

Amen. I second this one.

IMHO I think I see not enough cops on the streets here in Killadelphia, and a small bit of the blame lies with the union:

1) No reserve unit - ALL Philly cops are full time (or so I've been told by their recruiters). Word from cops is that its because the Union looks at Unpaid Reserve as a threat to their income and their members. Out in CA, The police forces were able to-

*Increase their force by up to 50% with unpaid reserve
*Attract far more recruits - Reserve is a great way to get expereince that helps for hiring.

2) I hate it when I see two on duty cops switching the lights at a construction zone. A lesser paid minion of the city can do that (saving my tax dollars). Those 2-4 cops who are being light-nannies could be elsewhere.

[soberbyker]

Amen. I second this one.

IMHO I think I see not enough cops on the streets here in Killadelphia, and a small bit of the blame lies with the union:

1) No reserve unit - ALL Philly cops are full time (or so I've been told by their recruiters). Word from cops is that its because the Union looks at Unpaid Reserve as a threat to their income and their members. Out in CA, The police forces were able to-

*Increase their force by up to 50% with unpaid reserve
*Attract far more recruits - Reserve is a great way to get expereince that helps for hiring.

2) I hate it when I see two on duty cops switching the lights at a construction zone. A lesser paid minion of the city can do that (saving my tax dollars). Those 2-4 cops who are being light-nannies could be elsewhere.

The city could use more cops, that's a given. In 1979, the Philadelphia Police Department reached its peak size at approximately 8,500 officers. The current Philadelphia Police Department employs more than 6,600 officers, not nearly enough.

As a construction worker myself, I know a little about cops in construction zones. They are technically off duty, and they are needed. I can't tell you how many times the laborers on the highway construction site have been almost run down by inattentive or just plain ignorant, in a hurry, drivers, having a cop around with red & blues flashing helps, albeit not much, slow folks down and pay a little more attention.

[MarcS]

the difference in police from 79 to now isn't that significant given that Philadelphia lost about 300,000 people in that amount of time

It's gone from about 1 cop per 200 people to 1 cop per 215.

Any kind of drastic shift in crime rate has to have other factors. My guess is that the war on drugs artificially increases the number of crimes and substantively increases the homicide rate via "business negotiations" Couple that with market factors over the last 7 years which has lead to poverty and unemployment in the city and you get a recipe for criminality.

More cops helps, but it's like taking Tylenol for your cold. It relieves the symptoms without treating the root cause, and ignoring the root cause can make it worse....and Tylenol doesn't have a history of civil rights abuses....but back to the topic, the ideas expressed in this thread would probably go a long way in curtailing abuses.

[Steve in PA]

So, no military experience or just a non-military job as well as military experience?