Mississippi Police Fatally Shoot a the Wrong Man While Serving a Warrant...

[Ygrene Imref]

Mississippi police shoot man dead after arriving at wrong house

...


And, then tried to say the person had a weapon after the fact...

 

[Hank77]

Wow, both cases are tragic.

 

[LaraLara]

Mississippi police shoot man dead after arriving at wrong house

...


And, then tried to say the person had a weapon after the fact...

I never read a story like this in my country. What is up with US police?

 

[majj27]

My current theory is: insufficient training, lack of proper oversight, and an unfortunately increasing War Zone mentality which encourages an aggressive stance which escalates situations that don't need to go lethal.

 

[LaraLara]

My current theory is: insufficient training, lack of proper oversight, and an unfortunately increasing War Zone mentality which encourages an aggressive stance which escalates situations that don't need to go lethal.

I remember I read somewhere that US training is very short. In our country it is three years for an ordinary policeman.

 

[majj27]

I remember I read somewhere that US training is very short. In our country it is three years for an ordinary policeman.

19 weeks is the average for the US. If you assume a 40-hour week schedule, it's 9 weeks in Louisiana (360 hours). There is no national standard.

For comparison, in Louisiana, a licensed manicurist requires 500 hours of training. You can strap on a gun and arrest people in less time than it would take you to be allowed to paint people's nails.

 

[Hank77]

I remember I read somewhere that US training is very short. In our country it is three years for an ordinary policeman.

I think the first problem in the US is that the vetting process is too lenient. They don't do the psychological evaluations that they should. Some officers just aren't suited to working out in the field and should be placed only for administrative duties.

 

[majj27]

I think the first problem in the US is that the vetting process is too lenient. They don't do the psychological evaluations that they should. Some officers just aren't suited to working out in the field and should be placed only for administrative duties.

It's also compounded by the fragmented nature of the entire policing system, where you can have an officer who really shouldn't be on the force bounce from department to department without a record trail letting them know "yep, this officer is a bad choice".

This can be a problem if there are 15,400 local law enforcement departments throughout the country.

 

[JCFantasy23]

Sigh, another sad story of misunderstandings leading to someones death

 

[Ygrene Imref]

I never read a story like this in my country. What is up with US police?

No clue, but it seems they have enough support to do what the do - otherwise they wouldn't keep doing this type of thing.

 

[Ygrene Imref]

I think the first problem in the US is that the vetting process is too lenient. They don't do the psychological evaluations that they should. Some officers just aren't suited to working out in the field and should be placed only for administrative duties.

Your IQ cannot be too high in most states in order to be a cop. Some jurisdictions literally bar IQ scores above 96, for example.

Not that they hire stupid people, they want people who follow orders without putting too much thought into the action. Basically, they need people who won't question authority.

So, the vetting process will never change until those policies change.

 

[JCFantasy23]

Your IQ cannot be too high in most states in order to be a cop. Some jurisdictions literally bar IQ scores above 96, for example.

Not that they hire stupid people, they want people who follow orders without putting too much thought into the action. Basically, they need people who won't question authority.

So, the vetting process will never change until those policies change.

I always wondered if that was true - someone I worked for told me the same thing years ago

 

[pgp_protector]

I always wondered if that was true - someone I worked for told me the same thing years ago

Sadly it is, and the Courts have sanctioned it.
Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops

 

[JCFantasy23]

Ugh

 

[Ygrene Imref]

Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops @pgp_protector beat me to it,

but this one was from 1999:

METRO NEWS BRIEFS: CONNECTICUT; Judge Rules That Police Can Bar High I.Q. Scores

I always wondered if that was true - someone I worked for told me the same thing years ago

 

[bhsmte]

My current theory is: insufficient training, lack of proper oversight, and an unfortunately increasing War Zone mentality which encourages an aggressive stance which escalates situations that don't need to go lethal.

I agree. IMO, anyone who wants to become a police officer, should undergo a significant amount of psychological tests, before being allowed to have the authority they do in the public.

After that, there is a good chance overall training regimes need to be reevaluated and changed, to include much more training, in being able to deescalate situations.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

I agree. IMO, anyone who wants to become a police officer, should undergo a significant amount of psychological tests, before being allowed to have the authority they do in the public.

After that, there is a good chance overall training regimes need to be reevaluated and changed, to include much more training, in being able to deescalate situations.

That would require police with higher IQ's.

 

[bhsmte]

That would require police with higher IQ's.

Not so much just pure IQ's, but the ability to use restraint, vs going directly to aggressive action.

 

[OldWiseGuy]

It looks to me like they went there to kill someone, but didn't want to kill a white man, so they killed a Latino instead. In fact they may indeed have gone there to kill the Latino man.

Also, if you look at the two houses in question it is 'obvious' that the run down mobile home would be where problems would occur, not at the nice house across the street.

 

[bhsmte]

It looks to me like they went there to kill someone, but didn't want to kill a white man, so they killed a Latino instead. In fact they may indeed have gone there to kill the Latino man.

Also, if you look at the two houses in question it is 'obvious' that the run down mobile home would be where problems would occur, not at the nice house across the street.

I think problems can occur just about anywhere. Cops are supposed to have probable cause of problems occurring though, before drawing conclusions.