The politics of lowered expectation, tacit bigotry and empty promises



There's some dork in Kansas City who is talking a lot of smack about lowering the standards for police officers.

Of course this kind of talk is good for placating people and earning a few applause but not a lot of folks seem to want to step back and look at what this move really implies.

The tacit bigotry of the person who put forth this notion probably doesn't have a lot of support in the community where this statement was spoken.

It says simply: "You can't meet these standards so we'll change the rules of the game to let a few of you slip by . . . It's still tokenism but at my behest."

It's just wrong on so many levels.

There are plenty of minorities, po'folk and people of all races and each gender who can easily qualify to become cops . . . The problem is they don't want to because there's not enough money in it AND there's not enough chance for promotion once the career path has been taken.

These are real issue that minority police officers face everyday and putting more felons in their ranks isn't going to help their standing. In fact, this move only furthers the notion that minorities aren't qualified to serve as cops . . . Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is a college educated minority (other than TKC of course) could get any number of higher paying jobs with opportunities for promotion that far outpace what the KCPD is offering.

It would be more productive and forward thinking to concentrate on these systemic issues that exist in all police departments around the country rather than simply drop requirements in order to save face in front of a community that is grossly under-serviced.

Anything less is nothing but short-sighted politics and does little for the best interests of the police department or the community at large.

Comments

  1. If you had to work with the police on a regular basis you would be shocked by the suggestion. While there are a good number of great cops some are absolutely nuts and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a gun or badge. Let's cut down on that bunch.

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  2. Tony, I disagree with you many times, but on this you are dead on.

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  3. Without sounding like to much of an idiot, what would they do. Unless I'm just misinformed, I thought that felons weren't allowed to own or carry guns, so are we to arm them with sticks and stones or would it all be administrative positions that wouldn't require being armed?

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  4. KCPD are not that poorly paid. Not many people w/o college degrees can start at $38,000 and make up to $59,000. This goes up with rank. Add on the $30/hr for off-duty.

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  5. Funk, just do not talk about race because you are really bad at it.

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  6. Some people are just slow, The nice people like to give the Slow people the same chance as everyone else. You never know but they might exceed in our expectations.

    You have.

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  7. Tony - Bravo Zulu, brother. This one is dead on the money.

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  8. You want more minorities? Get rid of the residency requirement like everybody else is missouri has. No residency would open up the door to 1000s of minorities living in other suburbs who don't want to move. Nope to easy of a solution though.

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