There’s no police department in the country that requires a master’s degree as a pre-condition of employment, but every public school district does. Teachers should make a lot more than police.
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I agree with the sentiment, but in a converse kinda way. I’d prefer that police be required to have the level of education, training and expectation of cultural competence, social skills and community engagement that teachers have.
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I can’t disagree with wanting more competent policing, however, I find it to be a gross injustice that a profession which requires a master’s degree to practice often doesn’t pay enough for the degree holder to recoup the costs of the education.
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I would prefer we hire smarter and better educated cops (maybe with
history, pre-law, political science, or psych degrees?), but given the
present state of affairs I agree.
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Where are the criminal assault and battery charges? Sure, sue Wal-Mart - deep pockets and such. But without a criminal arrest then it does nothing to make us safer.
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Just ran out of likes, so here’s a replacement: 
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Goodness, what a well-reasoned and enlightening comment! Almost felt like I on MetaFilter just now. Thanks, fuzzyfungus!
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A great many people (ahemRepublicansahem) believe that actions are entirely black or white (pun only slightly intended): a bad action is just that: a bad action, and there is no qualifying of it. I’ve had arguments with people who see no problem whatsoever with shooting someone in the back if that person were running away with their wallet.
This attitude is extremely common in this country, and is in large part to blame for all sorts of attitudes: why do criminals need lawyers? Who cares if a criminal is in solitude confinement for years on end? Martin Gardener shouldn’t have been selling illegal cigarettes. Etc etc etc.
I have no idea how a population could be taught to move past this belief. I think it’s one of those fundamental liberal- vs conservative-brain divides, like the lack of empathy (or kowtowing to authority) that is ingrained at a very young age.
(It also is heavily influenced by the Fundamental Attribution bias: That guy stole a tomato? A thief and probably a gang-banger, lock him up and throw away the key. I stole a tomato? It’s because I forgot my wallet today, and I usually leave extra change in the penny tray, so I’ve basically paid for it. Wait! Why are you beating me?! Obama’s Police State!!!)
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Not just that, but it seems that the same people who can classify an action as entirely black or white also believe that a person who acts “badly” is, by necessity a bad person.
So the person who uses a loophole to get $20,000 from the welfare system and live hand-to-mouth is an evil, lazy person, whereas a person who uses a loophole to avoid paying $500,000 in taxes while living in a mansion is a pillar of the community.
I disagree that it’s a lack of empathy. I’m sure that they have empathy towards people they can relate to. To me, it seems to be a fundamental lack of imagination. If we could teach these people to imagine themselves in such a scenario, to see that some of the things that they find distasteful about the downtrodden are natural consequences of the situation that they’re in, as opposed to defects of character, then maybe they’d start feeling empathy towards them.
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That’s the definition of empathy, to me.
But we’re agreeing with each other, regardless.
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Unless its Dennis Hastert, of course.
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::grudging❤️::
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I reiterate my idea that everyone should be turfed out of home at 18 and have to go live in a squat and do some acid. Make 'em learn some fucking empathy and shake their foundations a bit.
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So… as it turns out, there are police departments that actively screen against high IQ. And that decision has been upheld by the courts.
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What possible loophole could get anybody twenty thousand dollars in welfare?
TANF cash benefits vary greatly from state to state. For a family of three, the maximum TANF benefit paid in 2014 varied from $170 per month in Mississippi to $923 per month in Alaska.
http://singlemotherguide.com/temporary-cash-assistance-for-the-poor
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I haven’t the foggiest. I pulled the number off the top of my head.
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those departments should be ended. New accountable departments created in their place.
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