[robcohen]

I hear you, but do you want the job? I always hear that “society should select this and that” for police and military jobs, but the people saying these things that society should do would almost never volunteer. So it feels like a hollow solution.

That said, the training could be much better than it is. But people like low taxes.

[heavyset_go]

Cops are often the highest paid employees on a government's payroll. Hell, I've lived in states where the cops' median salary of $105,000 a year[1] was higher than the median salary for software engineers, which was about $90,000 a year. That's before overtime, too. Not only that, but they get great benefits and the ability to retire with a full pension after only 20 years of working.

People line up for these types of jobs. It's just that a certain type of person is hired to fill them.

[1] https://www.nj.com/news/2017/05/how_much_is_the_median_cop_s...

[whynotkeithberg]

Many people that are protectors do join the force. But they're bullied off and intimidated by the bullies on the force who have far more seniority and the backing of the police union. Trying to speak out about the wrong doings of other police officers on the force has cost many good officers their career while the police who commit murder get a paid vacation and their job back. At worst they have to find a job at a new department which is never difficult for them. So yes, there are tons of people who would love to have such a job if proper oversight became a thing as well as the removal of many problematic officers.

[edgyquant]

Two things

1. Asking engineers if they want the job doesn’t seem like a gotcha. Of course not they’re engineers

2. I wouldn’t mind the job, really, but I don’t want to work with the type of people who currently are on most police forces.

[bavila]

I'm sure there are many very intelligent people who want to become police officers. But there are police departments that have no interest in hiring officers who are "too" intelligent and will systematically exclude applicants with high IQs:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/st...

[dantheman]

You need to filter out the warriors and hold them accountable for their actions...