Can We Keep the Bad Apples Out of the Police?
Letters, Feb. 1, 2023, WSJ
Regarding Gerard Baker’s column “Tyre Nichols’s Death Raises Hard Questions About Race and Policing” (Free Expression, Jan. 31): People generally become police officers for one of three reasons. First, some want a well-paying job with good benefits and job security. Second, some want to serve their community. Third, and I believe this is the minority, some like and want the power associated with the job.
This power is sometimes manifest in violence. Sometimes it is race-related, but sometimes not. If this is combined with poor hiring, poor management of staff and the wrong tone from the top, this kind of thing happens. It’s a leadership issue.
---Ed Parry, Milford, Mass.
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The suggestion in your editorial “The Death of Tyre Nichols” (Jan. 30) that there is “inadequate training” doesn’t wash. Do police officers need to be told not to punch a man they’re arresting in the face? Not to kick the man and hit him with a club while he is being restrained and not offering resistance? How many times?
---David Spaulding, Naples, Fla.
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Mr. Baker is correct that quality of policing needs to be part of the discussion. Sadly, the left’s assault on the profession has driven away the types of officers so desperately needed: thoughtful, measured men and women who can control their emotions and de-escalate volatile situations.
From the defund movement to bail reform to no-pursuit laws, trendy, progressive ideas have made urban policing an undesirable job. Facing critical staffing shortages, many cities are finding that five-figure signing bonuses can’t compensate for the loss of respect and support; any smart, eager recruits must survey their career prospects and think, “no thanks.” This will force departments to scrape the barrel for the types of candidates we don’t need: the hotheads who view physical confrontation as a job perk.
---Matthew Bastian, Seattle
https://www.wsj.com/articles/tyre-nichols-memphis-police-killing-training-recruitment-bad-apples-11675200351