Bad Police Conduct in the US

February 5, 2023

Anyone who was pulled over or approached by police knows how terrifying it is to face a police investigation. In the context of a traffic stop, a routine encounter can turn into a DUI investigation that can result in the suspension of a driver’s license and jail. Less common for DUI investigations for police to walk into a home without a warrant to talk to a person based on a tip police received or some other evidence of a recent crime, such as a DUI in Los Angeles.

Once police pull over a driver, we often hear that the police presume the driver is guilty of a DUI. Such a presumptuous approach by police can often result in a confrontation between the police and the investigated person. After all, why would not an innocent person be aggressive with a police officer who makes presumes you are guilty? This can lead to a confrontation that can result in violence and lead to tragedies, such as the recent death of Tyre Nichols by Memphis police. Unlike previous police killings (George Floyd in 2020), where it was easy to point the race of the police officers as the reason Mr. Floyd died, in the case of Tyre Nichols, the issue of race cannot be the reason for the confrontation because all the police officers in Tyre Nichols’ killings were the same race as Mr. Nichols, to wit, both, the victim, and the police officers were black.

So what is the reason the police engaged in a violent confrontation with Mr. Nichols if race is not a factor? Could it be that the police officers are not sufficiently trained to interact with the public or is it because we have too many police officers per capita and we are becoming a “police state”? According to Wikipedia, the number of police officers per 100,000 people in the US is lower than in at least 11 other developed countries and yet the police killings in those 11 developed countries are a fraction of the US police killings. In the US, Wikipedia shows the ratio of police to citizens at 242 police officers per 100,000 people, 264 in Australia, 318 in Scotland, 349 in Germany, 422 in France, 446 in Portugal, and 534 in Spain. In any of these counties, police killings are much lower than in the US. So, the number of police officers is not the reason there is increased violence in the US by police officers against civilians.

POLICE TRAINING

The answer appears that insufficient training of police officers could be a factor in the comparatively high number of police interactions in the US turning violent. For example, training for police officers in the US before they are sent into the field is around 600 hours. In Canada, police officers are trained at least 1000 hours, in England, almost 2,500 hours, in Australia 3,500 hours, in Germany 4,000 and in Finland 5,500 prior to being sent into the field.

An attorney, in the US, receives more than 4,000 hours of training before he is eligible to sit down for the bar and represent clients in court. Even hairdressers in the US receive more training than police officers. The amount of police training must be directly related to the ability to act appropriately in a potentially violent situation. Not surprising that lack of proper amount of training is a very important reason the police officers in the US are more likely to resort to violence in their interaction with the public.

This lack of proper training is relevant to the inability of police officers to avoid violence in their interaction with the police but also is important in the knowledge of how to conduct investigations. Since policing, unlike soldering, is as much a “caretaker” function as a “crime-fighter” function, the training must be in psychology, use of a less deadly weapon, sociology, and other fields that will educate the police officers and prevent violence.

If you are faced with a criminal case in Los Angeles or a DUI case in Los Angeles please contact the Los Angeles DUI attorney or Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney directly at 323-464-6424. We can explain how to defend your case, especially if the police officer in your case is poorly trained.

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