….it doesn’t help that the general education level of most US police officers is low (often no GED required), the required police training short (around 18 weeks on average), and the personal history of candidates rarely matters.
Across Canada the average police training is 12 to 24 weeks, depending on the jurisdiction. For the national police force, the RCMP, it is 6 months at their teaching facility in Regina. However, it doesn't appear that lengthier training absolutely reduces any proclivity for nasty behaviour, as the RCMP have had their share of discreditable events.
The most well-known was the taser death of the Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at the Vancouver airport in 2007. Currently the officers involved are being tried for perjury (2 convicted so far) because they colluded on a story which they testified to be the true description of events.
One wonders what the difference is between the four officers involved in that death and the thousands of others who daily carry out their duties honourably.
