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Originally Posted by Rich Z
Heck, law enforcement has to be so afraid of litigation with every move they make, it's a darn wonder that laws get enforced at all. Every move is scrutinized to such an extent that an officer has to be basically psychic to KNOW what is the best move to make when everything happening NOW with split second decisions will be scrutinized after the fact in slow motion with 20-20 hindsight. In a stress filled incident where your life may be on the line, you are expected to be omniscient and absolutely 100 percent correct with every decision made under those circumstances. Or you get sued, lose your job, or even your own dignity from being humiliated because you made a decision that some attorney somewhere might think you should have made differently with the benefit of hindsight and an objective view.
I sure as hell wouldn't want that kind of a job. And probably more and more people think the same way, making it harder and harder to get good quality people willing to take it on.
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You'd thinkg so regarding your last paragraph, but the line forms at the door....
People (young un's and former military types) are standing in line, putting themselves through acadamies, and such, waiting fot the "opportunity" to serve and protect
TRAINING,
TRAINING,
TRAINING,
TRAINING!!!....
I can't stress it enough!!!
It'll save your azz every time
you do something repetitively enough, hear something reptitively enough, say something repetitively enought, and it becomes second nature. You respond automatically with little thought, which is necessary in a critical incident on the street. A SWAT team has time to think, plan, support thier movements and actions. A patrol or street officer (narc, etc), doesn't
It's all right here, right now!
Deal with it!
Your training, along with a modicum of common sense (which is what gets most cops-you can't train that) will get you through most matters relatively unscathed.
Fact is, if you don't act malisciously (as with the officer in the cops gone wild Youtube event) then you're pretty well in good shape. Sure, you'll go through an IA or SAO invest, and maybe an FBI review. If you did what you're supposed to do, regardless of the 2nd guessing, you'll be ok
Hind sight is 20/20 ad we can monday morning quarterback all day long.
An example of
what NOT to do is what I understand happened in Miami (actually Broward) the other day
"IF" what I understand is correct (froim the departments own information), then they did something I can't support, regardless of the circumstances
I'm still hoping there's more to it than what I've gotten so far.
Beign a cop, even today, is not that difficult. It's as you mention, the administration, the politics that will drive you nuts!!!!