It is pretty hard not to comment on what just happened with the George Floyd case. Amazing! A police officer was held responsible for something.

I feel pretty divided by all of the thoughts that come flooding into my mind about this. Obviously, we want (and need) police to help protect our safety. It is also obvious that to do that they need sufficient “tools” to do so. Once that point has been agreed upon, then a whole lot of difficult issues pop to the surface concerning the nature of those “tools” and their appropriate use. Most of us want benevolent, but strong, police that we can trust and respect. There are a many officers that want the same, and believe that describes them – they truly feel that they are providing “public safety.” As a safety engineer, I certainly align with this point of view. Unfortunately, it appears that the profession also attracts individuals that are more aligned with “public control.”

It appears to me that the selection criteria for police officers might be defective by failing to filter out those that like the aggression/control aspects of the job more than the trust and safety parts. Many (perhaps most) of us have all experienced officers that can best be described as aggressive “bullies.” We have also encountered officers that are truly helpful, friendly, while being “professional.” I don’t think you can train the bully out of bullies. I also don’ think you can scare them out of bullying by showing that they might be held guilty – they are much “stronger” than that. We need to prevent them from entering the system. Waiting for them to do something so egregious as to be convicted of a serious crime before they are “weeded out” clearly doesn’t work because it allows many lessor events to continue unabated. Unfortunately, expecting the local police chiefs to do the sorting is very problematical because they (the chiefs) are prone to being bullies themselves – thus not only allowing, but encouraging, overly aggressive behavior and tactics.

I don’t have a great solution to this problem. However, perhaps identifying the problem is a necessary first step. Perhaps it is not “adequate training”, perhaps it is not “appropriate protocols”, perhaps it is not public oversight or accountability – perhaps it is something amiss in the selection criteria for those willing to take on a very difficult, challenging, and potentially dangerous job. The conflicting requirements of “strong and brave” and “compassionate and helpful” might be pretty rare – but necessary. I wonder how, or if, we can change the makeup of the police departments in ways that better support the needs of the community without the nasty parts that so often boil to the surface. My personal encounters with police officers has been overall good (with only an occasional excessive pushiness that seemed uncalled for at the time) – but then I am a middle class, white, large, passive male. It appears that not everyone has similar generally positive experiences as I have had. I suspect there are “bubbles” of situations that enhance the “bully” attitude.