They do get paid well. Policing is generally a family income type job. Those are increasingly difficult to come by.
Good policing = a better society to live in.
Regarding risks:
A return to robust and inclusive deescalation and related situational awareness, people awareness training can pack a big punch, as can having multiple avenues of response.
Perhaps that flying high person is better met by others, not necessarily police.
We can, and should, improve on the currently poor balance of income vs cost and risk exposure. Lots of ways to that, and putting a bunch of people to work cleaning up, repairing and enhancing our infrastructure would be top of my list.
Stronger requirements for police to be from and or parr of the community they police can cut a lot of risk too. This also can improve reward as well as respect and consideration. All these things go a long way.
Frankly, we could pay them more and invest in them more and get better policing as well as a lower risk for those police.
In my town, we just hired new officers. The difference between them and the ones either leaving or who are long into their careers is striking.
The training and overall readiness for all aspects of the job are not so well aligned as they have been in the past.
Better policy = lower risk too. The war on drugs has been particularly brutal all around. It would be great to see those risks taken for better, more mutually agreed upon rewards.
In simple terms: policing is an investment that can deliver great returns
Or... not, and a lot of that is on us, as a people, as it is on the officers.
Some people, well adapted to, or whose basic nature aligns with the job may feel very differently about what "upside" means too.
You are not fundementally wrong. It can range from OK to pretty grim.
A lot can be done. We need to have police people open to it, educating people as much as we ourselves need to be open to it, educating people.
The basic want of a better, safer, appropriately secure, helpful place to live is reason to sign up just as thuggery can be.
We can work on that too. Hiring criteria, bigger and more inclusive, robust training is a big part of seeing policing improve.
Good policing = a better society to live in.
Regarding risks:
A return to robust and inclusive deescalation and related situational awareness, people awareness training can pack a big punch, as can having multiple avenues of response.
Perhaps that flying high person is better met by others, not necessarily police.
We can, and should, improve on the currently poor balance of income vs cost and risk exposure. Lots of ways to that, and putting a bunch of people to work cleaning up, repairing and enhancing our infrastructure would be top of my list.
Stronger requirements for police to be from and or parr of the community they police can cut a lot of risk too. This also can improve reward as well as respect and consideration. All these things go a long way.
Frankly, we could pay them more and invest in them more and get better policing as well as a lower risk for those police.
In my town, we just hired new officers. The difference between them and the ones either leaving or who are long into their careers is striking.
The training and overall readiness for all aspects of the job are not so well aligned as they have been in the past.
Better policy = lower risk too. The war on drugs has been particularly brutal all around. It would be great to see those risks taken for better, more mutually agreed upon rewards.
In simple terms: policing is an investment that can deliver great returns
Or... not, and a lot of that is on us, as a people, as it is on the officers.
Some people, well adapted to, or whose basic nature aligns with the job may feel very differently about what "upside" means too.
You are not fundementally wrong. It can range from OK to pretty grim.
A lot can be done. We need to have police people open to it, educating people as much as we ourselves need to be open to it, educating people.
The basic want of a better, safer, appropriately secure, helpful place to live is reason to sign up just as thuggery can be.
We can work on that too. Hiring criteria, bigger and more inclusive, robust training is a big part of seeing policing improve.