Assignment:
After the George Floyd murder by a Minneapolis police officer, nation wide anti-racism protesters asked for defunding the police, however the Minneapolis city council announced their aim is to dismantle the police department (Serhan, 2020). A promise as such may have been radical, but after police violence against peaceful protesters questions regarding police forces and how they should be protecting and serving their communities has become a vital emergency.
The Unites States can look at other countries for inspiration regarding revamping and training potential officers (Serhan, 2020). For example, in Germany police recruits are required to spend two and a half to four years in basic training in order to become an officer. They also have the option of obtaining a bachelor's or master's degree in policing. In the United States basic training can be as little as 21 weeks. The less training received means the less time for guided training on crisis intervention and de-escalation training. Paul Hirchsfield an associate sociology and criminal justice professor at Rutgers University stated, "If you only have 21 weeks of class room training, naturally you're going to emphasize survival" (Serhan, 2020, p.1). I agree to some extent with Hirchfield's statement, however as we know minorities have been police targets regarding mistreatment, abuse, and murder for numerous years. I do believe many police officers may be scared at times however they took the oath to protect and to serve their community not to abuse their authority and treat minorities as they have been doing for too long.
A senior research professor of criminology, Joachim, Kersten at the German Police University said that police training includes how to respond to domestic violence cases to how to disarm someone with a lethal weapon (Serhan, 2020). He said that the training emphasized how to deescalate situations without shooting or the use of lethal weapons. This level of restraint is a Europe-wide standard. Some European countries are stricter such as Finland and Norway. You must obtain permission before you can shoot someone. In Spain you must give verbal caution and warning shots before using deadly force. Chokeholds and the move used on George Floyd are prohibited in most of Europe. In the United states chokeholds and some other restraints are now prohibited in Minneapolis, California and New York.
After the tragic murders of black people done by police officers throughout the United States, we are long over due regarding the use of a diverse way of policing in the Unites States. It should not have to come to millions of peaceful protesters out in droves for minorities to receive respect, treated fairly, and their lives not taken by those we should be trusting, police officers. I have seen the way in which foreign police forces have operated and have always said we needed this type of policing. They demand respect and are respected because they have a no-nonsense approach without excessive use of force. When they must use excessive force, I have observed tactical and justifiable force.
I was military police in the army and some of the take down moves we learned were the bear hug. Also, you and your partner would take someone down by one person holding the persons body at the top, (bear hug) and the second person grabbing the hostile persons legs. I have always taken those simple tactics and still keep them in mind today. We did learn other take down moves without the use of a weapon. The reason why those moves are so great is you would not believe how strong someone can be even, small hostile children. I was a school monitor for a couple months and a small little boy was kicking and screaming. The monitor grabbed him and the boy kept kicking and he broke the office glass door. If another monitor grabbed the lower portion of the child's body, there would have been full control of the small boy. It is crucial to receive simple and proper tactical moves when someone is unarmed. You are trained that you cannot use a weapon on someone who is unarmed. This is what police officers in the United States need to comprehend and must be enforced daily here on out.
References
Serhan, Y. (June 10, 2020). What the world could teach America about policing. The Atlantic.