Apparently police departments are having a hard time finding candidates...

Local news station

COLUMBIA - The City of Columbia recently approved funding for the police department to hire three more officers, bringing the total number of officers to 163. But, Chief Ken Burton said the city needs 30 more officers, not three, to meet the needs of the city's growing population.

Source

Sgt. Bob Bishop (left) leads a roll call for an evening shift of officers headed out on patrol at the Bangor Police Station in December 2010. Attending the roll call are officers Jeff Millard (second from left, who retired from the force in the fall of 2011), Jim Dearing and John Robinson.

Local news

The Miami City Police Department is having trouble hiring new police officers.

You know what i see? Opportunities for decent people to get involved making a good living with great benefits. I remember reading in a thread a few days ago someone saying that if you dont like it become a police officer and do something about it.

Damnit i wish i could.

You would think that with the economy really in the crapper still people would be clamoring to make all those overtime $$$. Thats not whats happening though... whats happening is people have bad encounters with police on a day to day basis and no one respects them anymore.

a reply to: onequestion

You really need to dial down your projection of hatred. When you make blanket statements like "no one respects them" it means you're speaking for everybody. Some, many even, may not want you to speak for them because they don't agree with you.

Blanket hatred is never well placed bubba

a reply to: Shamrock6

Dont tell me what i need to do.

Wait, wait, i want a try!

Dont click on my threads and continue to attack me with every comment you make.

ok, your turn!

a reply to: onequestion

People can comment wherever they want. You keep posting nonsense you're going to get called out for it. Perhaps no one wants to be a cop in these areas because thy don't want to deal with all the scumbags running around assaulting people and trying to sue them.

Enough.

Post to the topic, or don't post. That means all of you!!

a reply to: onequestion

Being a police officer OR wanting to be one at this point in time is masochistic.

Even those who try to be good and do the right thing, are painted as racists or oppressors.

Racist is subjective, but oppressors is a given.

The police uphold the law! The law is created by politicians, so why are we all focused on hating the police?

Actually, according to the article, it has more to do about red tape than people not wanting to be a LEO

. One hiccup in the hiring process was navigating what’s called a ‘consent decree.’ As part of a civil rights investigation of Miami Police Department, the decree stipulates that a federal judge monitor the actions of the department.

Initially it was thought that the decree applied to the hiring of new cops. However, the decree was being applied beyond the parameters of its intended purpose.

This confusion stalled any hiring for more than two years. "We had gotten so out of practice hiring, and so many criteria had been set that had nothing to do with hiring, that we almost had to relearn the whole process" said Miami City Commission Chair Marc Sarnoff.

So the behind the scenes 'consent degree' crap plus surrounding towns offering higher wages in their police dept. has a lot to do with trouble hiring people

And money...

He says neighboring police departments offer not only higher starting pay but also increases after a certain number of years........

originally posted by: onequestion
a reply to: Shamrock6

Dont tell me what i need to do.

Wait, wait, i want a try!

Dont click on my threads and continue to attack me with every comment you make.

ok, your turn!

Wasn't an attack. You made the statement that "nobody respects the police" and I pointed out that you shouldn't try and "speak" for everybody, unless you're sure that everybody agrees. If that upsets you, I dunno what to tell you.

I probably wouldn't last long as a cop. There are too many laws I would refuse to enforce on conscientious grounds. I would also have zero tolerance for other officers abusing their power.

a reply to: skunkape23

thats exactly what we need!

originally posted by: snarky412
Actually, according to the story, it's more about red tape than people not wanting to be a LEO

. One hiccup in the hiring process was navigating what’s called a ‘consent decree.’ As part of a civil rights investigation of Miami Police Department, the decree stipulates that a federal judge monitor the actions of the department.

Initially it was thought that the decree applied to the hiring of new cops. However, the decree was being applied beyond the parameters of its intended purpose.

This confusion stalled any hiring for more than two years. "We had gotten so out of practice hiring, and so many criteria had been set that had nothing to do with hiring, that we almost had to relearn the whole process" said Miami City Commission Chair Marc Sarnoff.

So the behind the scenes 'consent degree' crap plus surrounding towns offering higher wages in their police dept. has a lot to do with trouble hiring people

He says neighboring police departments offer not only higher starting pay but also increases after a certain number of years........

That's usually how it is. Big departments around here can start officers a good $15k more than the smaller ones can. A department that only has about 150 officers is going to have trouble paying as well as their neighbors can. Budgets man, budgets

originally posted by: seeker1963


The police uphold the law! The law is created by politicians, so why are we all focused on hating the police?

When LEOs become judge, jury and executioner; as we are seeing all to frequently; that is why Law enforcement has lost respect.

But they don't care because now it is a we/they situation where intimidation and fear is SOP rather than respect.

Respect can be restored with better training, mandatory video cameras and citizen review boards rather than
Blue code internal affairs.

Interaction with the community would also be beneficial instead of the arrogance of a military force that many departments see themselves as; totally separate from the neighborhoods and communities they are tasked to serve.

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: seeker1963


The police uphold the law! The law is created by politicians, so why are we all focused on hating the police?

When LEOs become judge, jury and executioner; as we are seeing all to frequently; that is why Law enforcement has lost respect.

But they don't care because now it is a we/they situation where intimidation and fear is SOP rather than respect.

Respect can be restored with better training, mandatory video cameras and citizen review boards rather than
Blue code internal affairs.

Interaction with the community would also be beneficial instead of the arrogance of a military force.

Who protects them?

I am not sticking up for cops, because quite frankly I severely dislike them!

But unlike some folks, I want to find a cure, not treat the symptom........

a reply to: olaru12


Out of over 900,000 LEO across this country, there is no way I personally can paint all of them together with one broad stroke of the brush

It's not right nor fair to the good ones

Just like it's not right nor fair to lump all 'blacks' as being bad aggressive people that defy authority at every turn


But while everyone is dumping on the cops, not one person is pointing out the obvious......

What about the victims and their actions to begin with??

Had they just done what they were told instead of resisting arrest or something as stupid as going for a cops gun, then the cop(s) never would have had to resort to their own actions

The death in NY is mind blowing, totally uncalled for, should have had at least involuntary manslaughter charges against the cop
And no, it had nothing to do with his skin color, just the fact he was fighting the cops, resisting arrest, but still I find it ludicrous that what he was doing prior to that was worthy of arrest to begin with

In the MB incident, he himself alone was the cause for what led up to that tragic moment
No that also was not about race but about a guy who started out stealing cigars and thought he could manhandle a cop and go for his gun.......really now? That's crazy

He too should not have been killed, but I side with the GJ on this one
The NY incident the GJ got wrong IMO


-----------

NOTE: Glad I don't live in NY....first of all, that guy should have been given a citation for illegally selling cigs on the street, not arrested IMO
Sheesh, $15 per pack??? Most of it in taxes it seems

Some people have made it perfectly clear that they don't like cops,,,period
Many of those people are pro union, just not police union.
When they protect each other it's automatically a coverup.
Why would anybody want to apply for a job that they will never be viewed as doing correctly?

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Some people have made it perfectly clear that they don't like cops,,,period
Many of those people are pro union, just not police union.
When they protect each other it's automatically a coverup.
Why would anybody want to apply for a job that they will never be viewed as doing correctly?

Not only that, but are people that damn brainwashed to not realize that it is either cops on the streets or military/mercenary boots on the ground?

Be careful what you wish for, because the politicians who pushed this racial division will be in their underground bunkers while we all fight it out on the streets......

originally posted by: seeker1963

originally posted by: Hoosierdaddy71
Some people have made it perfectly clear that they don't like cops,,,period
Many of those people are pro union, just not police union.
When they protect each other it's automatically a coverup.
Why would anybody want to apply for a job that they will never be viewed as doing correctly?

Not only that, but are people that damn brainwashed to not realize that it is either cops on the streets or military/mercenary boots on the ground?

Be careful what you wish for, because the politicians who pushed this racial division will be in their underground bunkers while we all fight it out on the streets......

This is my problem with most cop haters. They have a short sighted view of the problem. Don't like the law? Change it. Don't go after the ones enforcing the law. Don't like that cops are getting away with stuff? Work to ensure they can't. Things have to change from the top down, not bottom up. There will always be bad cops. There will always be good cops. Change things so the bad ones get outted. Enable departments to give better training if you think training is the issue.

Individual officers are cogs in the wheel. Some are strong. Some are weak. The system is the wheel itself, and the system is what needs changing. Change that and I guarantee you'd see a change in how bad officers are dealt with. Good cops don't like the bad ones anymore than citizens like them. But guess what? If you think your DA won't touch a cop because he's a cop and you're "just a citizen" what do you think is different if another cop tries to arrest the bad one? Same result. That's not the good cop's fault. It's the system's.

Cops aren't going anywhere. So tired of the "all cops suck" drum getting worn out.

Not disagreeing with you Seeker, just going a different direction with it.

its a lose lose job being a cop these days.

its different from back in the day when a lot of our parents were coming up.
seemed like back then the cops were more a part of the community.
along the way, things changed.

i think a lot of it has to do with perception and that perception comes from the constant stream of videos that only show half of what happened or pictures that show things out of context..

of course there are cops that abuse power and are excessive but over the course of however many years it seems like people have started to view cops in a more negative light as a whole.

all the pics, vids, and articles with edited content and sensational headlines do not help.

i will use the article i posted the other day as an example.

'cop stops black man for walking down the street with his hands in his pocket'

ok, well im not one to just go by a headline so i click the article and read it and that was not even the reason. but of course, the guy stopped put up a video that did not show the entire interaction and it went viral.
what happened was a guy that had been robbed 7 times(a store owner)called the cops cause he was spooked by a guy looking in his windows. a cop followed up on the call. stopped the guy and talked to him for a minute and that was it.
no pat down. didnt run his name. nothing at all and it was done.

but, people see the video with the end cut off and flip. people see the headline and take that and run.
so, people start hating/disliking the cops as a whole. the cops start to act less like part of the community, which causes more people to dislike.

its a viscous circle of # and its too bad.

it is not any one thing that is making things the way they are.

my take on it anyway.

im not a fan of the cops but i dont hate them. we need them and sure as hell would not want the job.
i try to avoid them at all costs. i dont have been hassled(i feel) before but its not a constant thing.
i also met who i feel is the coolest cop in the world. i related the story in the good cop thread.
yes, they are cops but they are people first. i really believe that all cops join the force to make a difference and help people and then for whatever reasons that becomes less important(for some) along the way.

thats my take anyway.


and onequestion, if you know how to fix it and know what needs to be done, why not join the force?
do some good.
show the world how a good cop handles things...

a reply to: Grovit

I've said many times on here that for every video of a jerkwad with a badge losing his mind on somebody, there's ten instances of an officer doing something good that nobody ever hears about.

A while back there was an officer who was killed in ambush while stopped at a traffic light. Never even saw the person who killed him. Half an hour before he was killed, he bought cookies for a kid who wanted some but didn't have any money. Why did that info make the news? Because the officer was killed right afterwards. Otherwise nobody would've cared or known, except for that officer and that kid.