Memphis cops charged with murder

[RETOKSQUID]

With the political climate the way it is in the country, law enforcement agencies are having a difficult time hiring and retaining officers. As the candidate pool shrinks, so does the likelihood of getting the best people. 25 or 30 years ago you'd have 1000+ applicants for a handful of jobs. Now the agencies can't get enough applicants to meet the recruiting goals in some cities. Some departments report over 90% of applicants fail in the screening process alone.

When I separated from the AF in the 80s I applied to the Omaha police dept. I was ranked number 3 after all the testing and interviews. None of the top 10 applicants were hired. However, people as far down as the 800s on the list were hired. That was my first exposure to affirmative action. Turned out to be a blessing, though, because I got hired by a large department in Colorado and much preferred living there to Omaha.

When I started looking to be hired by a PD and leave the sheriff's dept it was extremely difficult to get hired (mid 90s). The competition was tough and departments were very selective in hiring...because they could be. I went thru the process with probably 10 different agencies and always got washed out. Sometimes up to 2000 people would apply for 4 or 5 openings. It's certainly not that way now. Ironically, I applied to the agency that had the reputation for being the hardest to get hired by. It was a very popular dept because the pay and benefits were the best in the state. For some reason I sailed thru the application process for lateral hires (experienced and certified officers) and got hired with 4 other guys. I was the one with the least amount of experience with 10 years. Go figure.

I sat on the hiring board at that dept twice after being hired. I couldn't believe some of the things that would disqualify some very good candidates...like experimenting with weed when they were in high school 20 years earlier, or a 10 year old traffic ticket.

Remember those days. Had to go the reserve route just to get a foot on the door.

 

[TerryMiller]

With the political climate the way it is in the country, law enforcement agencies are having a difficult time hiring and retaining officers. As the candidate pool shrinks, so does the likelihood of getting the best people. 25 or 30 years ago you'd have 1000+ applicants for a handful of jobs. Now the agencies can't get enough applicants to meet the recruiting goals in some cities. Some departments report over 90% of applicants fail in the screening process alone.

When I separated from the AF in the 80s I applied to the Omaha police dept. I was ranked number 3 after all the testing and interviews. None of the top 10 applicants were hired. However, people as far down as the 800s on the list were hired. That was my first exposure to affirmative action. Turned out to be a blessing, though, because I got hired by a large department in Colorado and much preferred living there to Omaha.

When I started looking to be hired by a PD and leave the sheriff's dept it was extremely difficult to get hired (mid 90s). The competition was tough and departments were very selective in hiring...because they could be. I went thru the process with probably 10 different agencies and always got washed out. Sometimes up to 2000 people would apply for 4 or 5 openings. It's certainly not that way now. Ironically, I applied to the agency that had the reputation for being the hardest to get hired by. It was a very popular dept because the pay and benefits were the best in the state. For some reason I sailed thru the application process for lateral hires (experienced and certified officers) and got hired with 4 other guys. I was the one with the least amount of experience with 10 years. Go figure.

I sat on the hiring board at that dept twice after being hired. I couldn't believe some of the things that would disqualify some very good candidates...like experimenting with weed when they were in high school 20 years earlier, or a 10 year old traffic ticket.

I was never a commissioned officer of any kind, nor was I anything more than a flunky at the OSBI keeping up the criminal records or helping out in the SDA department on occasion. However, just to be hired at the OSBI, one had to undergo a thorough background check and polygraph test. As part of the background check, they wanted residence locations and jobs held all the way back to when I was 18 years old. I was told that the agent conducting the investigation would be interviewing neighbors and employers for as many of the history as possible.

 

[BobbyV]

Sounds like they're releasing the video this evening . . . so everyone will have all day to get people riled up and ready to riot.

 

[crapsguy]

something about this story is off - Im on the side of waiting for more facts

 

[Sgt Dog]

I got a feeling that this situation is going to be one of those that prove ‘everyone’ right.

Perps ought to cooperate. Right!
Cops bad. Right!
Profiling ‘exhibit-A. Right!
Society is in self-detonation mode. Right!
Unintended consequence of glorifying defiance. Right!
Minorities as victims of policing. Right!
But cops are the neighborhood for a reason. Right!
Power corrupts, absolute power, absolutly. Right!

And from the print so far it might be worse than Rodney King… who arguably brought it on himself, just like George Floyd. And who arguably exposed the ugly reality of cops dealing with the dregs till some act just like them. And in case no one noticed was also a victim of the police having to worry about crowd control instead of just an apprehension.

I don’t think after watching the footage anybody is gonna feel sorry for the cops. But we probably should. Just like we feel sorry for inner city kids turned into tribal gang animals by a community of neglect or just like we feel sorry for some homeless drug addict who did everything he suffers to himself. If you give them the grace of thinking they didn’t set out to end up this way, like a vet in a war zone doesn’t set out to shatter his psyche, its just another human tragedy and the price people pay for both their choices and for circumstances they fail to overcome, and for society’s folkways and mores they are careless in maintaining.

 

[Raido Free America]

People are so quick to judge. If you only knew what they had to put up with every day, you'd understand.

The NEWS industry is highly competitive, and always has been. The way news organizations compete is, gaining more viewers/readers/ratings! The way that is done is by having the most SENSATIONAL STORIES, that interest the most people, and are politically correct, that day, TRUE, OR NOT! Just one example; the 1921 Tulsa race riot, a black man was accused of molesting a white girl. arrested, and jailed. THREE news papers were com[peting for circulation in Tulsa at that time. They all three did what they always do, try to make their coverage of this event more sensational!! They started mentioning linching the balck man, which was the politicially correct thing to say, and think then! The prisoner was moved from the city jail, to the country jail, because it was more secure. Amid RUMORS the news media started, a group of black men, some armed, went to the jail to take this man out before he was lynched! A group of white men, some armed, went to prevent this! In this first ingaugement, 3 black men, and 11 white men were killed! We don't hear that part of this story NOW! You know the rest of the story!! In my opinion the news media is 100% RESPONSABLE FOR THIS CATISTROFIC EVENT!!! Like now, they received no credit for causing this, and I understand, all the archives from these dates, mysteriously disapered?

 

[TedKennedy]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/miami-cops-beat-homeless-man-173447095.html
The last couple paragraphs are interesting.

Crazy....

 

[BobbyV]

Opinion: The police who killed Tyre Nichols were Black. But they might still have been driven by racism

TLDR: yes the cops were black but it was still driven by racism

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

If they're proven guilty they should be held accountable just like anyone else, and they probably will. Kinda sounds like the department and prosecutor want to make examples outta these guys. And they're facing life in prison if convicted.

The thing I find so f'd up about all this (aside from the beating of the homeless guy) is these guys could do life. And that's OK if they're found guilty. But I was just reading another story out of Florida today about a couple of convicted felons (multiple violent felony convictions) with 80-something felony arrests between them that were arrested near Miami for kidnapping a delivery driver at gunpoint and robbing him.

80-something felony arrests, multiple felony convictions, more serious felony charges...and they're out on the street.

We do not have a fair and equitable system of justice. I don't have a problem prosecuting anyone for their crimes but it should be done equitably.

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Opinion: The police who killed Tyre Nichols were Black. But they might still have been driven by racism

TLDR: yes the cops were black but it was still driven by racism

Of course it was. Hell...everything is racist these days.