The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported that a third of Atlanta PD's current recruit class have been arrested or cited for crimes ranging from assault to shoplifting, and half admit to smoking marijuana. These aren't offenses that occurred many years ago. Most of them took place within the last five years or less.
Atlanta is clearly feeling the same pinch that nearly every other law enforcement agency in the country is experiencing. Qualified recruits are had to come by. The hero lure of a law enforcement career has faded since its last revival by the 9/11 attacks, and the traditional cohort of applicants isn't living as cleanly as they used to. The typical police aspirant is 21-28 years old, and a history of criminal conduct, illegal drug use, bad driving, or a low credit rating usually means the hiring process will be cut short. Many agencies have to go through over 100 applicants to get one to send to a training academy. Even then, there is no guarantee the recruit will survive the academy, field training, or a probation period. Sometimes being a cop just isn't in the cards for them; sometimes it's just not their time, that they need to ripen a bit.
The reasons police agencies cull out applicants with the characteristics listed above are evident if you understand the dynamics of being a police officer. Cops have extraordinary opportunities to exploit people. They are entrusted with property, which they can steal. They can use force to effect arrests, and can exceed the amount necessary out of anger or personal satisfaction. Members of the opposite sex will tempt them with sexual favors in exchange for favorable treatment. They can drive recklessly under the color of an emergency response. They confiscate illegal drugs and can see that not all of them make it to the evidence locker. A cop with money problems, even one who is well-intentioned, can be compromised by someone with enough cash to resolve his financial issues. The job entails taking on considerable trust, and demands that its sworn officers are worthy and able to handle it.
The best indicator of future performance is past performance. It's easy to say, "I've changed. I've learned my lesson. I'll never do that again." Many people actually mean that when they say it, but fall back into their old habits shortly thereafter. That's why even the police agencies that will allow someone with a checkered past into the ranks want to see a substantial period of good conduct after the bad.
Most of today's senior police administrators started their careers around the early 80s, so they may have forgotten a hard lesson from the 1970s. A large Florida police agency had a substantial Cuban population among their constituency, and desired to bring more Cuban representation into the force to better reflect the composition of the community. Many of the police applicants from this group were "boat people" who had escaped the Cuban regime and arrived in Florida as refugees. This made it difficult to thoroughly investigate the backgrounds of the newly immigrated applicants, and besides, the department's management wanted the Cuban bodies. It turned out that Castro wasn't all that interested in hanging on to many of these people, as they were criminals who preyed on their fellow citizens. Castro reserved a lot of prison space for people he just didn't like, or who didn't like him. For everyone else, it was space available.
Once these people became police officers, the city was their playground. Cocaine trafficking was the major cash industry at the time, with drug merchants handling so much cash that the sheer bulk of it made it difficult to conceal. The rogue cops were foxes in the henhouse. Before this nightmare was over, one in seven of the agency's officers was under state or federal indictment.
My admittedly unscientific research has yet to identify a police agency that has come away from a lowering of applicant standards with an attitude of "Boy, we're glad we did that." Relaxation of less critical measures, like dialing back the requirement of a four-year degree to two years of college credit, might not cause irreparable harm. It's not going to make the situation rosy, but you might make it work. The other bars to employment are well-reasoned and should be left alone.
Over a hundred years ago, philosopher George Santayana said, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." I hope the Atlanta PD, and the citizens of Atlanta are capable of learning.
