When it comes to the national number of sworn strength in law enforcement agencies, the shallow anti-police sentiment hampered the police profession’s ability to recruit and bolster the ranks. Nevertheless, some modest-sized classes of young police academy graduates are swearing the police officers’ oath.
Besides formal training, will these freshly minted cops have enough veteran officers to “learn the ropes” and ensure public safety for citizens and safeguard themselves?
When I joined the force, one of the static aspects of policing was the ample presence of seasoned police veterans (some of whom also had years in the military) sharing their knowledge with the newest recruits, largely consisting of young officers whose chronological age tacitly signaled little life experience.
But that was then…when there was not as much concern about torching police stations, hostilely occupying precincts, dousing police cruisers with gasoline, watching tax-payer-funded vehicles ablaze, brazenly approaching and punching cops in the face, attempts to wrest away and murder them with their service weapons, much of this facilitated by a hands-off order barked by an elected figurehead far from the volatility and anarchy.
Even judgeships are dubious nowadays, so much so that crowds of NYPD cops now make it a practice to thickly populate courtrooms and justice center hallways with uniformed cops, symbolizing watchful eyes and listening ears to proceedings involving barbarians who think it is fine and dandy to assault/batter (if not kill) any officer of the law.
The inherent purpose behind the show of wide attendance by NYC cops is to tacitly put judges on notice that the bogus reforms freeing violent thugs are asinine decisions for which they should be held responsible. Strength in numbers theory?
The NYC Police Benevolent Association membership saw a victory recently:
“Outstanding turnout by 43 Pct. members at Bronx Criminal Court tonight. It made a difference — the individual who brutally assaulted our sister is staying behind bars. But we can’t let up. We’re going to keep turning out in courtrooms across this city to send a message: We are watching, and the justice system must do its job.”
(Photo courtesy of the NYC Police Benevolent Association.)
Sea of Badges
New officers may take inventory: Whether you are subpoenaed to be in court or not, you are more likely to spend ample time at the judicial centers…assuring crimes against justice are adjudicated and not freed with a bang of a gavel. This factor is a product of poor politics—surprise, surprise.
All this is compounded by the donkey-brand of bail reforms and dark financing backing rogue prosecutors shaking hands with bona fide criminals while metaphorically slapping the faces of law enforcement officers, all of whom risk life and limb to apprehend violent individuals.
With today’s overly complicated societal flux and the complex dynamics fluidly changing by the day, the challenges of policing are exacerbated. A Bizarro world awaits brand-new cops. Beyond what the police academy instructors taught them, we hope each cadet has been paying acute attention to the topsy-turvy world and how deep malevolence is rooted.
I recently watched a brief video recorded by a bystander filming a group of uniformed NYPD officers tussling with a boisterous man on a sidewalk. It seemed as though whatever situation was at hand, had been de-escalated. The officers started to depart, until…
The suspect decided it would be a great idea to push his cell phone in the face of the only female cop in the bunch of blue. I suspect multiple use-of-force reports were authored once the melee was over and the assailant was carted off in cuffs.
It is episodes such as this that I hope young police aspirants are consuming, constantly studying the pitfalls out there, enabling the requisite mindset to vigilantly combat evil. Respectfully, scenarios in textbooks are fine but physical reality is another animal altogether…and, boy, is it a zoo out there!
As Doris Lessing said, “In university, they don’t tell you that the greater part of the law is learning to tolerate fools.” For police cadets, the academy harps on this factor but it remains to be seen how recruits process this due to untold possibilities posed by the people with whom they are in contact.
Policing in our society nowadays is like being on a different planet whose unknowns automatically default to inexperienced officers being challenged by forethought potential —namely officer safety— and the shock of inexplicable behaviors opposing agents who stand for good.
Our friends at Effective Fitness Combatives (EFC) remarked about today’s topic: “The challenges faced by law enforcement officers are very unique. These challenges are foreign to those that have never worked in LE. That’s why it is important for [Defensive Tactics] program development and DT instructors to have experience in LE. The environment of policing, the gear worn, the integration of weapons, and the governing laws are all elements that need to be considered.”
(Photo courtesy of Effective Fitness Combatives.)
In a brief video accompanying that EFC write-up, officers were told that a young man armed with a hammer was experiencing a mental health crisis. The neighbor informs cops that the man uttered statements indicating his desire for a suicide-by-cop situation. He sits there, slowly banging the hammer on the wooden veranda floors.
Despite young, inexperienced LEOs paying acute attention to academy courses teaching cadets the stark realities they may encounter, anyone using an officer to facilitate their demise is a surreal thing to process, especially if it winds up where the police are forced to pull the trigger (self-defense) due to the individual launching a would-be attack.
Indeed, young and courageous cops are necessarily physically conditioned well before they graduate from the academy. Real-life police experience lacks and materializes by doing the job…one that is increasingly perilous.
The cover photo up top portrays a modest-sized class of Chattanooga Police Department academy graduates, the first batch readied in 2024, with vacant slots available for others to claim in their upcoming class of cadets to train.
Per a Chattanooga PD press release: On August 8, 2024, “…we proudly celebrated the graduation of 13 new officers from our 22-week intensive training program! This milestone marks the beginning of a promising journey in law enforcement for each of these dedicated individuals.
“Our graduates have completed rigorous training, including classroom instruction, defensive tactics, interpersonal communication, and in-depth studies of criminal and Constitutional law. Their next step is 16 weeks of hands-on experience riding alongside seasoned Field Training Officers to further hone their skills and apply their training in real-world scenarios.”
(Photo courtesy of the Chattanooga Police Department.)
The world awaits…and it is rife with violent individuals emboldened by a string of years laden with anti-law enforcement harangues ignited by a solitary incident disproportionately leveraged by elected figureheads who have zero toes in the turbulent waters across America.
Politicos know how to rock the boat…as long as they are not in/near it, making them nautical nightmares. They’ll be the first to summon police personnel when a tiny leak is observed, staying mum about their boisterous proclamations of a police-less society.
Politicos also know how to duck the truths aiming to poke them in the eyes, erroneously propagating and selfishly clinging to blatant lies about cops, all designed to garner votes and bolster power-holds in their communities—betrayed and ruined.
That makes any newly minted cop a prime candidate for mitigating clusters of mayhem, in many urban jurisdictions unrelentingly, repeating the endless loop of anarchistic hoodlums salivating over creating bedlam…
People call the police when life does not go their way, even those who bellowed the inexplicable desire to defund and abolish law enforcement altogether—a caricature of immaturity and emotions perpetuated by orators spewing hate and listeners’ inability or outright denial to reason for themselves.
It’s gotten so volatile out there that even cops surviving a tour of duty and returning home receive hate from people in the community in which they live.
In a recent forum discussion on the blatant devaluation of those engaged in the policing profession, a commenter suggested proper police leadership and support for cops by administrators will result in increased morale among officers, thereby signaling sound reasoning for candidates to join the force, equating to recruitment woes being less challenged.
Perhaps.
More viably, getting back to basic conventions of criminals being held accountable and cops being unencumbered by zany social justice schemes will restore law and order and safeguard law-abiding citizens who wish the good guys/gals would help ebb fears and flow freedoms to roam without monsters terrorizing their every move. Horrifically, children are witnessing all this! First impressions?
Given the percolating election season and its deeply divisive antics hatched by power-craving politicos, many of whom boldly proclaim their idiotic anti-cop ideologies, the sea change of newly minted law enforcement officers has turbulent currents to occupy their minds and instantly fill their bucket with experience, so there’s that.
On the daily, seasoned law enforcement officers are announcing their retirements, taking with them a sea of experiential material. These are solo departures compared to groups of academy graduates entering policing, raising concerns over ratios.
FTOs (field training officers) are vital sources for new cops from whom to learn myriad law enforcement principles. But are there enough FTOs to go around?
I came upon two examples recently, from two different departments, whereby the revelation was that FTOs are getting assigned back-to-back, without breaks from the enormous responsibility of training new recruits.
(Photo courtesy of the Bradenton Police Department.)
In my department, the protocol was that every FTO received a break from training after each recruit succeeded in the months-long rituals of doing The Job and scoring successfully, the rite of passage known as being “cut loose” (riding solo).
In conclusion, working as a new/young cop encountering many surreal life-and-death episodes pales in comparison to most other professions (respectfully) and traditionally rely on walking/talking law enforcement libraries (senior cops). Although it is logical to hone young able-bodied people for police work, seasoned officers serve crucial roles in the force’s mindful mission.
A veteran officer seeking lateral transfer to the Grand Junction Police Department candidly shares his journey and philosophy about our subject today, saying:
“I feel like with me you’re getting the enthusiasm of a rookie officer but the maturity of a 22-year combat veteran. I want to be just as go-getting and exciting and doing as much as these rookie kids. But I can also know when to slow it down and have the maturity of ‘let’s think about this type of thing first’.”
He got the job! Sounds like a highly experienced officer from whom newly-pinned cops can be guided until they, too, can offer mentorship through mayhem.
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