Add this to the list of many things that are severely fucked up around here. I've never been to police academy so I can't speak for the training but it certainly seems that use of weapon is something they ensure the officers are well versed in but negotiation, de-escalation, hand to hand combat/submission/defense, etc, etc is not as highly prioritized.
And put a gun in anyone's hand, get the adrenaline coursing through their veins and I can see how this could happen. I think it takes an extraordinary person with extraordinary training in both physical and more importantly mental/self-control to be able to react quickly in a more methodical way in a highly charged situation. Unless we've been in their shoes it's hard to say for sure but there are also nurses, ER docs, mental care workers, etc who deal with unruly, sometimes violent people face to face without the need of guns, not even tasers. Something is fundamentally wrong with the training IMO.
This is a good post. You make great points here. Theres an awesome book called Extreme Fear by Jeff Wise. He goes into detail about how fear, panic, and adrenaline completely shut down all logic and human instinct takes over, the "fight or flight" response.
I can't speak for the entire country, but I know a little bit about the police academy in New Jersey. 6 of my closest friends are police officers. Some are township police, state troopers, and NY/NJ Port Authority police. It is pretty damn difficult to get hired these days. Most require at least 60 college credits, but a bachelors degree is the norm now. You have to pass a written exam, a psychological exam, and physical test. The police will talk to all your references, visit your neighbors and ask about you, and come inspect your home. If you pass all that, you will then come in for an interview in front of a panel of people for further psychological evaluation.
Most of them spent around 6 months in the academy and 1 actually had a little less than 3 months for their academy. You'd be surprised how many people break mentally and can't complete the entire academy. They teach you hand to hand combat, krav maga type shit, and even some jiu jitsu. It is extremely hard to replicate in police training the dangers you are going to encounter in the real world. They are drilled and put through various scenarios like robberies and school shootings, but it is impossible to generate the kind of fear they will experience during the real thing. They practice shooting at targets, but they are not experiencing what its like to stare down someone with a real gun aimed right at you. And once you graduation from the academy, theres no more shooting practice required. They have to go once a year to get tested on their shooting and it's nothing difficult at all to pass. Also, none of them are allowed to carry tasers.
The case we are discussing in this thread is certainly disgusting. That appears to be straight up murder and theres no excuse. However, other recent instances where police have received criticism really bothers me.I just want to stress that all police officers are human. Humans are not perfect and everyone makes mistakes. As
@girlandcoconut pointed out in her post, we dont really know what we would do in those stressful situations. It's just absolutely impossible to be perfect in these life or death decisions you have to make in seconds. A few years ago, my friend and his partner were on duty and got called to a parking lot for some kind of disturbance. They got out of their car and saw a guy wielding a butcher knife talking to a woman. They drew their guns and told the guy to drop his weapon. He didn't listen and started walking towards them. At this point he was around 100 ft from them and then he started jogging towards them with the knife. The guy with the knife got to around 15 ft from them before he was shot and killed. My friend froze from the fear and couldn't fire his gun. If it wasn't for him being with his partner, he might be dead right now. He graduated the top of his academy class, won awards for his marksmanship, had been in multiple fights with perps, just an all around good cop, but in this one instance, there was nothing he could do. He went to desk duty afterwards and spoke to a psychiatrist twice a week, but in the end he was not able to overcome the fact that he wasn't capable of doing his job. He retired. His life is pretty fucked up now. Being a police officer has to be the damn toughest job in the world. I guess my point is that it's alot easier for us to look at videos and say what we would have done while sitting comfortably in our homes.
