Police have been quitting in droves in the last year • Hacker News Board

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#71

Post by gpm » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:01 PM UTC

JoshTko wrote: post #26

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

Police work is far less dangerous than common perception. Similar danger as an average construction worker.

Right, but it seems like many of the cops have the same perception.

Could be a case where better awareness of the statistics would actually improve the problem.

Also though, danger resulting from your own stupidity, from other peoples stupidity, and from other peoples malicious activities, hit different psychologically IME. I'm willing to bet consturction workers get a lot less of the third and a lot more of the first.

Maybe something that better training could help with a bit, but probably not fix. Also selecting people who are well suited for that sort of environment.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#72

Post by merpnderp » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #5

> Finally, officers said they were asked to handle too much; they were constantly thrown at tangled societal problems like mental health breakdowns or drug overdoses, they said, for which they were ill-equipped — then blamed when things went wrong. Sounds like they've got some common ground with the "defund the police" folks, if they'd listen a bit.

What makes you think they aren't listening? The problem is they're just further down into the nuts and bolts of the problem than the "defund the police" folks ever get, so it only looks like they aren't listening when they ignore infeasible or impractical ideas.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#73

Post by bitexploder » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #19

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

Law enforcement can be dangerous but it's only #22 in occupational death rates. Lumberjacks and roofers are far more likely to get killed. https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-top-25-most-dangerous-j...

For people replying to this comment, the point is, policing isn’t as dangerous as you might think. Certainly it isn’t risk free, but people perform many more dangerous jobs. Police deaths are often tragic and a result of human on human violence though, so it tends to spark a stronger reaction than “well, a giant tree fell on Jimmy and he died”. Still tragic but there are no “bad guys” in that scenario for a lumberjack, for example. Police also are supposedly serving their communities and there is a perceived nobility to the profession that makes deaths while in service to the community much more visible. It can even trend towards a bit of hero worship. Not judging the profession itself, there are a lot of human factors in the job and certainly, anyone who has dealt with conflict can attest that dealing with other people all day is a lot more stressful than many other professions in that list.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#74

Post by blacktriangle » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

plank_time wrote: post #59

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

The paranoid mentality that any call could kill you is the exact reason why so many unarmed black people are shot. If you can’t carry out a day’s work without the unreasonable fear that you will be shot, and any action makes you “fear for your life” so that why you emptied your clip into a car, then you shouldn’t be a cop. Cops needs to have cooler heads and this should be measured and verified before allowing them t…

Except "so many unarmed black people are shot" is a lie. A larger per-capita percentages of unarmed whites are shot than blacks.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#75

Post by Mediterraneo10 » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

plank_time wrote: post #59

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

The paranoid mentality that any call could kill you is the exact reason why so many unarmed black people are shot. If you can’t carry out a day’s work without the unreasonable fear that you will be shot, and any action makes you “fear for your life” so that why you emptied your clip into a car, then you shouldn’t be a cop. Cops needs to have cooler heads and this should be measured and verified before allowing them t…

Maybe ex-combat military, but the vast majority of military never see combat.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#76

Post by pirate787 » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #19

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

Law enforcement can be dangerous but it's only #22 in occupational death rates. Lumberjacks and roofers are far more likely to get killed. https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-top-25-most-dangerous-j...

I suspect this doesn't account for the subset of cops out on the beat versus law enforcement clerical workers.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#77

Post by jlack » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

JoshTko wrote: post #26

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

Police work is far less dangerous than common perception. Similar danger as an average construction worker.

I would think it varies depending on where you are policing.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#78

Post by TheFreim » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

nradov wrote: post #19

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

Law enforcement can be dangerous but it's only #22 in occupational death rates. Lumberjacks and roofers are far more likely to get killed. https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-top-25-most-dangerous-j...

That's to be expected. It seems to make sense that a lumberjack and a roofer have an easier time becoming too relaxed compared to the police.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#79

Post by RankingMember » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

yakshaving_jgt wrote: post #20

_fat_santa wrote: post #3

Policing has to be one of the hardest jobs in our modern society, I honestly couldn't event imagine the stress. Imagine picking up a JIRA ticket at work and not knowing if that ticket is going to a run of the mill bug fix or something that can kill you. That's just out of the realm of possibility for an SWE but for a cop it can be any one of the calls they take on a daily basis. I've always had respect for cops becau…

Imagine just doing your best to help your local community by building some online community notice board, only for a rabid horde to start picketing your house, shouting ALL PROGRAMMERS ARE BASTARDS!!!

I mean, sure, if that online community board somehow shoots unarmed people I'd want to picket your house too.

Re: Police have been quitting in droves in the last year

#80

Post by JackPoach » Thu, Jun 24, 2021, 2:02 PM UTC

bmmayer1 wrote: post #44

Am I the only one who thinks that police officers should be paid more, not less? These should be highly specialized and trained jobs that are hard to get and easy to lose if you're bad at them / criminal -- seems like the reality right now is that they're easy to get and hard to lose.

Probably, but so should teachers, nurses, etc. Can you name one occupation outside politics/lawyers where you think people should be paid less?