I get a different vibe from cops in Europe, and I wonder if it has to do with countries where they have mandatory military conscription / civil service.
I sometimes wonder if in the US, we had some kind of system where everyone was forced to serve as a police officer, say between the ages of 18 and 21, we would have an entirely different system. Instead of attracting power hungry psycho killers, you would have normal people who understood they were performing a required service for their community and society in general. You might then get more mutual respect between cops and civilians since everybody will have been on both sides.
Also, it’s almost as if anyone who wants to be a cop should be immediately disqualified. Same with politicians.
No, no. Many European countries don’t even have mandatory service. The real difference is we don’t have a gun fetish and we don’t view cops as warriors that need to be armed to the teeth with military surplus to be able to stand a chance against civilians criminals. We also don’t teach courses on how it’s us vs. them and how you should always have killing on your mind in encounters with the public.
You wouldn’t arm them necessarily.
They might serve unarmed to enforce traffic laws, write tickets, deal with non violent offenders, operate 911 call centers, etc.
We already “arm and load power” onto 18-21 year old kids by signing them up for the military and sending them overseas.
Do you not trust those same kids in your own neighborhood?
I get a different vibe from cops in Europe, and I wonder if it has to do with countries where they have mandatory military conscription / civil service.
I sometimes wonder if in the US, we had some kind of system where everyone was forced to serve as a police officer, say between the ages of 18 and 21, we would have an entirely different system. Instead of attracting power hungry psycho killers, you would have normal people who understood they were performing a required service for their community and society in general. You might then get more mutual respect between cops and civilians since everybody will have been on both sides.
Also, it’s almost as if anyone who wants to be a cop should be immediately disqualified. Same with politicians.
No, no. Many European countries don’t even have mandatory service. The real difference is we don’t have a gun fetish and we don’t view cops as warriors that need to be armed to the teeth with military surplus to be able to stand a chance against
civilianscriminals. We also don’t teach courses on how it’s us vs. them and how you should always have killing on your mind in encounters with the public.Our training is fucked.
Maybe so. But I still like my idea too.
Retail customer service. Every American should serve mandatory minimum of five years in retail customer service.
Let’s arm and load power onto every 18-21 year old in the country! Genius idea!!
You wouldn’t arm them necessarily.
They might serve unarmed to enforce traffic laws, write tickets, deal with non violent offenders, operate 911 call centers, etc.
We already “arm and load power” onto 18-21 year old kids by signing them up for the military and sending them overseas.
Do you not trust those same kids in your own neighborhood?
I do not. I don’t trust those same kids when they are deployed in other countries, either.
Ok fair enough. Then I think I made some bad assumptions about where you were coming from. Sorry about that.