Family lore passed down to me has it that during the Great Depression US police were often highly educated people. White collar jobs were scarce, and many men with college degrees turned to policing to make a living.

I am all for upping the educational requirements for entry into law enforcement. And let that learning be weighted toward the humanities!

The way Police Officers conduct themselves is a reflection of the the leadership . From the Mayor, to the city council and the Police chief. We rarel here anything in regards to accountability from them .

Police in my small area are a joke. I took my wife to work once and came back home that night. Later I hear noises outside like someone is in my car. What I discovered was a couple of pictures of a black girl. Later, a local cop told me he thought these pics came from my wife's secret St. Louis lover. Maybe they were pics of his sister or something. I reported the racist bastard. I doubt that he had any training at all. Just a badge.

In Quebec, to become a cop, you need a three-year program in senior high and 15 weeks at the provincial police academy.

A university bachelors degree does not confer common sense. It has been my observation through the years that it often has the opposite effect.

I would like to think that more education is needed, absolutely. Unfortunately around where I live when you give somebody a badge they think it makes them invincible. Anyone who wants to become a police officer is fine but they also need training and compassion & community servitude. I also don’t think that they should be allowed to carry firearms.

Definitely not a bad idea.

I"ve always felt police (or anyone required to carry a firearm for employment purposes) should have a form of malpractice insurance. If we can't afford to give them training, make their accountability financial. Speak to them through their wallet.

I agree.
I think we should follow the example of Baltimore, Minneapolis, Seattle, Chicago, LA, and New York.
That would be a beautiful word; wouldn’t it???

I despise cops. I don't know what they're like everywhere else but here in the US, they're a bunch of Republican rednecks on a power trip because the state gives them a gun and tells them to try not to shoot any white people.

As in all things the better and more appropriate the education the better the work force.
So having a degree that focuses on the main aspects of policing ie negotiation, law, philosophy, social justice, restorative justice, psychology, politics, critical thinking etc
Then they do the physical aspects of hand to hand, weapon training, the skills they should use the least.
The deal is you would have a lot more drop outs as the ones who are not able to retrain their thinking or do not wish to will fail.

They could even make it part of the training so you do the mental and physical evaluations and start your degree while working in a station as an aide ie doing the paperwork, serving on the desk, community liasoning (as you go through the degree more contact with the public) It could even be written into the degree work as in a journal about encounters how they handled it and what they might do differently next time.

In Australia we have police aides they are now being used in schools (not punitive but to have positive relationships with students) they are able to talk to students about the law and what their behaviour may lead to. One came to talk to my special ed students about what the word assault means in our laws and what the consequences are, she printed out the legislation and we talked about it. From then on when they grabbed each other crotches it was referred to as sexual assault and some students even said to them This feels like assault stop it now. (my boys were very physical in the rough and tumble sense as well as the crotch grabbing and would haul people around thinking it was fun)

In the remote communities the aides (who are often first nation's people) will sit down with the children involved in an incident to do the restorative justice session.

I am not sure that policemen need a degree in law enforcement. They do need intelligence, and should be screened on personality and temperament.

You might be thinking of a criminal justice degree. Law requires a Master's degree. And you'd be surprised at how stupid and judgemental criminal justice majors can be.

When police break the law they need to go to prison and then be blacklisted from ever being a cop again.

It would be a really good start.
Training is everything.

One big difference between those countries and ours is the overwhelming presence of guns. Our homicide rate makes theirs look like a walk in the park under warm, sunny, clear skies. Actually, one study I read showed women cops often performed better than men as the men have this macho mentality and are ready to shoot first and don't ask questions. Women often talk the bad guys down and shoot as a last resort. Like everything else there are exceptions.
BTW I lived in Germany 15 years and had numerous interactions with the police (one was hilarious). Never was there a problem and they always acted as helpers rather than punisher's.

The only real police reform really needed is to increase penalties for the ones who abuse their authority and or break the law.

Police officers receive extensive training in the use of deadly physical force, self defense, the use of firearms as well as some first aid applying, plus undergo many hours of physical training similar to the armed forces, as my father once told me, being a retired NYPD Detective as well as a Command Sgt. Major in the US Army. He always said to increase the penalty time, in some cases 10 to 20 years more than a regular civilian for officers who commit serious offenses and need to be held to a very high standard given their job description.

Education is always an improvement, especially a more well-rounded one. Here in the US, requirements vary by jurisdiction.

Better training and different training is so needed here in the US. One big problem is when officers want to hide and cover up a bad cop.

I don't think they like them that smart here in the US.