Seeing these rookies make a fool of themselves on social media is embarrassing. Don’t even get me started on the overall quality of the new hires. I’ve been doing this for over 32 years
and I can’t wait to punch out next year. Why are hiring standards always lowered and never raised? Departments watering down PT standards. Getting rid of entry-level exams. Phasing out oral review panels. It’s unbelievable. Good luck to the good ones that are left.

Let me add this….. wtf is up with now allowing neck, throat, hand, fingers and face tattoos? Back in my day your application wouldn’t have gotten past go. It looks unprofessional as **** and you look like a prison gang not a professional law-enforcement officer. Add to that morbidly obese officers and the whole profession is a laughing stock.

Nothing is ruining any profession. If you think your profession is somehow “ruined”, you need to look internally for the real reasons. Don’t scapegoat some technology. It’s like blaming the gun for someone’s evil deed.

Social Media didn't ruin anything.
People ruined (insert whatever you want here)

Social Media / YouTube / Tic-toc / Facebook just exposed amd amplified it.

If they were an; idiot / narcissist / lying sack-o-shit / shit-starter / genius / comedian / musician / handyman.... before, Social Media did nothing but expose them to the outside world.


On to your "Neck, Throat, Face..." Tattoo comment.
I wholeheartedly agree. But welcome to 2026, and I don't think it's getting much better.
Answer me this important question:
"Who wants to be a Police Officer today?"
The smart ones run the hell away from this profession like it had AIDS. The ones that wouldn't have made the cut years ago are now here and working. Lax hiring standards because no one wants the job, ADMIN (job and city/county) is shifting to a more "Diverse" department. And I can go on and on.

We've got damn near the same amount of time on: Sept '95
Be glad of a few things:
*We're closer to the end than the beginning
*That tatted up knuckle-head is going to be paying into our retirement
*We earned all of those battle scars on our knuckles & face, and we know why our knees and back hurt, and often smile about it
*we're still here. A few of our friends aren't.

What's that prayer for the Alcoholics?
"Things you can change... Things you can't... Wisdom to know the difference."
There's some shit you just ain't gonna change. Accept it, move on. Why waste your time, energy and mental bandwidth on it? Yeah, I know "It's personal!" and hard to accept. Don't let this shit consume you.

Here’s the unpopular take on it: other than traffic enforcement, LEOs are a worthless profession.

Broken windows works - well proven, and I think cops hate it.

American society is wildly better off with 2-4% of the least normalized behind bars.

For most of them, there’s no reason to release them. But it’s not how the law enforcement industry is incentivized.

Law-enforcement can be a lucrative profession. I don’t think most people realize that. Back when I was hired pushing a black and white the starting salary was $14,500 a year. I remember I couldn’t afford a Little Caesars hot and ready pizza so I just had to get the breadsticks. Now it’s common for departments to pay near six figures after a year or so on the job. Plenty departments pay extremely well now. Add to that literally unlimited overtime and off duty jobs and you can make a “fortune”.

I’m not sure the point of the thread and some of the comments are a bit confusing.

Is the OP saying that social media ruined policing because body cam is being released? Or new guy social media accounts?

If it is BWC being released, let’s take a look at a very recent Illinois copper that got into a shooting with a suspect. Fancy pistol compensator? $225. Red dot sight? $600 extended cool guy magazine? $50. Skill? $1.25. And there’s no shortage of these videos being released. Seems like it’s one a week these days. They run through 2 or 3 magazines and finally the suspect goes down from a heart attack. Or dies of old age. Week before that was a Conn. officer responding to a man beating his neighbor with a ball bat.

It’s weekly. And it’s pitiful.

And it shows all the things mentioned. Poor hiring standards, poor agency training, poor state level training and a general malaise of the culture inside of the job. And as much as I want to bag on administration of some of these agencies, politically it’s the hand they have been dealt. The job started to spiral with Obama’s war on cops.

The answer starts in the state house and getting politics out of policing. Until that happens, nothing will change. Real change costs money, and currently damn few agencies want to pay it.

Social media has ruined a whole lot more than just law enforcement.

You guys do realize that this is a form of social media right?

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:

...let’s take a look at a very recent Illinois copper that got into a shooting with a suspect. Fancy pistol compensator? $225. Red dot sight? $600 extended cool guy magazine? $50. Skill? $1.25. And there’s no shortage of these videos being released...

Oh come on!
You're telling me that I can't police effectively because I have NO SKILL?!?!
But, but, but... I RUN a Staccato, Aimpoint Acro and paid $400 for a WML, I also RUN a LWRC with a ATPIAL-C Class 1/3R IR Laser and NODS! I also RUN it in a drop holster with a tight-ass leg strap that makes my balls look HUGE! The same set-up that the Delta-Rangers on the SEAL Recon teams use! I know this because I was jerking off, watching podcasts when I should have been in the 4th Amendment class.
Fuck that 4th Amendment, My 4th Amendment is my boot when I kick in the door. I can say whatever the fuck I want on my instagram and tictock because I know the 1st Amendment! The Department can't do shit to me! "Freedom of Speech, motherfuckers!!!!!"


I actually cringed a little when I typed that. There's two idiots on the watch that basically TOLD ME that they are coming on MY team! They are pretty much the eppitemy of what I typed above... minus the Staccato, but "tricked-out" S&W MP. About 4 years on the job, and think they know absolutely everything. All tattoos and "combat" crap, zero brains. All bark, no bite.
"Pretend for a second that you two are a police officers with less than 5 years on the job, and I'm a Sgt that's been doing this shit before you were in your daddy's nutsack. This aint a circus, and I don't need any clowns."
I think I snubbed out their hopes and dreams like a cigarette in a urinal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YnHkes_fvY

This Andy Griffith episode comes to mind as the current situations in law enforcement unfold, as recounted in this thread.

The principle here, is that the men with real knowledge and experience outperform those who are shall we say organizationally defined.

quote:

Originally posted by CPD SIG:
...
There's some shit you just ain't gonna change. Accept it, move on. Why waste your time, energy and mental bandwidth on it? Yeah, I know "It's personal!" and hard to accept. Don't let this shit consume you.

Well said!

I wish these were the problems that I have to deal with.

We just promote the absolute worst option that everyone can see (post turtles), and then people in charge look at each other in surprise that everything is toxic and falling apart.

I could write down the top 5 most terrible and unethical managers from Capt and Major with unilateral agreement through the agency, and I can absolutely guarantee they will get promoted to Major and Deputy Chief. Some with several years left to retirement. And it’s nothing new.


It really is mind boggling. Sure we have dummies, but they are largely self-correcting with a suspension. We also have the tattoos and other silliness, no PT requirements, etc. but the one that will come back to bite us in the ass is the overall lowering of standards and hiring people that do criminal acts in the next few years.

At my agencies almost all positions are investigator positions and just because you did patrol for however long and might have been a great patrol officer, it does not automatically make you a good investigator. When I was in upper command at my last agency, I did not count any law enforcement experience towards the investigative experience requirement unless you could articulate that you also handled actual investigations. At this agency, they do not spell out needing actual investigative experience, which is a problem to me.

Our chief is very strict with grooming standards, annual physical fitness testing, tattoos can’t be visible at all, piercings, zero equipment modifications of any kind besides what is issued or approved in a certain situation. He will also fire people in a heartbeat for being unprofessional in any manner at work or off work. However, far too many just get hired due to experience as a police officer and end up being horrible investigators. Even prior investigators end up being horrible because they retired or just came with bad old habits and refuse to change. For whatever reason, nothing happens to these people as long as they don’t break one of the chief’s main pet peeves.

I can’t complain too much I guess because I refuse to promote to have a chance to make changes despite being prompted to by high command staff each time. I just wanted to stay as an investigator, finish out my 9 years, and retire. I also see the upper command staff do things the way they want no matter what and don’t really understand things down at the investigator level.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: StorminNormin,

quote:

Originally posted by ryan81986:
You guys do realize that this is a form of social media right?

Probably not.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/too-smart-to-be-a-cop/


Support your local fire department, folks!

quote:

Originally posted by FenderBender:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/too-smart-to-be-a-cop/

haha, the last chief had me do some type of personality test like this and the company wrote back asking why was I in law enforcement and not some type of engineering field. they did not use my test as the baseline for new hires.

but anyways, i have 1708 days left to go. My grandkids can write better than some of these new hires.

I've noticed many of today's cops don't even polish their shoes/boots.
I wanted to apply to Michigan State Police back in the 1970s but because I had gotten a Minors in Possession (beer) when I was 17 they would not even give me an application. County sheriff wouldn't hire me because I wore glasses.
I was 6'3" 270# and in good physical shape.
So yes, standards have really dropped. I see a lot of cops that look like a bowling ball. I'll bet they don't do many foot chases.

As a 15 year cop, I completely agree with the OP. I'm not sure I'd place the blame squarely on "social media."

Smart people who would have been cops look at the job and decide to do something else. We get the dummies. We get the fatties. And sorry to say it, but we get the females. I know a few good female officers, but the majority of them are nightmares. Tattooed from the fingertips to the face. We actually hired some bimbo with "Thug Life" tattooed on her arm. We have face tats, neck tats, full sleeves, and every other ridiculous body art you could imagine. We like to hire the hipsters who couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. You should see these people try to shoot a shotgun..... We hire people who wreck multiple patrol cars a year!

The job has become a joke. I still do my best and work hard, but man is it becoming hard.


Plus, when you work in a Democrat run city, the citizens are un-ploicable. Everything is excessive, everything is racist, the cops are ALWAYS wrong. Everything is an argument. Everyone has something to say. No accountability, no shame, no respect. It gets old.

The problem is that the worst police officers climbed the ladder and are now running the show. What else would we expect?

All you can do is be the best cop you can be and keep pushing through. 10 more years.

Social media is party to blame but so are the cops.

Social media is full of horror stories mostly one sided.

If social media spent a fraction of the time promoting law enforcement it might be a different story.

But few people read feel good stories. The plan is to foster hatred and divisiveness.

Right now they are highly successful.

“Hiring Standards”? What are the things of which you speak?

I mean, we’ve gotten lucky, crazy lucky with a couple of our recent younger hires, but by and large, it’s not a matter of “getting the best candidate”, it’s more like “is there even a remote chance the next one will come close enough to passing the background investigation”?

Sitting on Oral Boards has been downright depressing. Guys coming in wearing jeans and a tee shirt. And a friggin baseball hat. That they don’t even take off when they sit down. I mean I could at least give them some kind of partial credit for taking off the stupid trucker hat.

If it’s not that, it’s the no chin chucklefuck who actually introduced himself by saying “ I’m pretty much used to being the smartest guy in any room”… I can only imagine trying to FTO that guy.

I’m in one of those states where we get paid very very well. Even my smaller agency now tops out at like 120K at the five year step. And…. We get nothing, zip, zero, nada in the way of good, or heck, even adequate applicants. Entry level. Forget about Laterals. Anyone thinking of leaving their department in WA state is determined to move to America, not stay here.

But hey, at least I got five hours of online training today in how not to be a implicitly biased, racist, authoritarian tool who doesn’t adequately understand the needs of the misunderstood and marginalized LbZQLTVpp+2 “community”.

Seriously, love what I do, and so grateful for the opportunity I have to contribute to our (actual) community. But, man…

I am in charge of a lot of our training and have been fortunate to have some serious support to create good reality based scenario training, along with a lot of hands on in person stuff that I know will someday pay off big for our guys.

But at the same time, I see the twenty five year old guy busting his ass trying to stay caught up with all the BS and I feel like I should be slipping him a bag with some dried food and a hand drawn map to the Idaho border, tell ‘em I’ll cover them while they run for it!

Well. Guess if I wasn’t a fully developed cynic with a real talent for sardonic expression, I would be unqualified…

Bill R

quote:

Originally posted by Cous2492:
The problem is that the worst police officers climbed the ladder and are now running the show. What else would we expect?

Exactly. At my previous agency I was at a very high level. High enough to on my own enact sweeping agency wide changes. I reversed so many things that were wrong and made changes to correct things. That only lasted so long until more liberal people made life so hard for me that I left. I left to now work for the agency I do now and just want to be and am an investigator. I have been here for 10 years now. I am considered the best in the agency and leaned on for everything, but I refuse to promote. I now watch people who have never supervised a person in their life flying up the chain of command making horrible decisions and not standing up for what is right or the people they “lead”. I was a leader for 17 years prior to coming to my agency now. These people promoted today are basically “Yes Men, or Woman” and do whatever they are told. I stood up for what was right and it caused me problems. I now just keep my head down watching the retirement clock, which is sad but it is what it is.