How is someone that gets out of breath eating a donut going to protect and serve anyone?

  • OceanSoap@lemmy.world
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    1 hour ago

    I think once you pass the physical strength/endurance exam to become a cop, you don’t have to take any to remain one. I definitely think that should change, though. Make them pass once a year to retain their job.

  • kubok@fedia.io
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    1 hour ago

    i have been to the US several times. Have you ever tried to eat healthily?

  • Echo5@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Heard from a local cop that it had something to do with the union. If the department wants to implement a standard the union would require something or other. Something about an incentive? I didn’t get the whole picture obviously. I know police need unions in case somebody sues them but does seem kind of dumb that it’s so difficult to enforce a physical standard.

  • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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    8 hours ago

    Our law enforcement is a huge joke and the meh pay, high turnover rate, and low bar of entry attracts the type of people you wouldn’t want to be associated with to begin with.

    But also, why are small framed 5’3 women allowed to be police?

    Fact is, most cops can’t outrun or overpower a lot of criminals who chose to resist or flee. In actuality that’s a pretty tiny part of the job. The rest is tickets, reports, paperwork, arrests with no resistance, investigations, etc. you don’t have to be an athlete or even very physically fit to do any of that. Id rather deal with a fat cop that isn’t a dick more than a slim one who’s a dumbass.

      • UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world
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        8 hours ago

        I think NPR or PBS can’t lie on the news or over the air public local news. The over the air news usually will have a PSA opinion piece and it’s usually by the owners and mostly sways right. Cable news is free for all and one sided.

    • sramder@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      This is a common misconception in the U.S., it’s not even the car’s job… that crappy sticker has the shittiest union.

      • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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        12 hours ago

        That sticker was exclusive to the LAPD, but it kept turning up in films made in Hollywood set elsewhere, so other regions adopted it eventually too.

        • sramder@lemmy.world
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          11 hours ago

          Man, that kind of figures… I bet it was a PR campaign that they paid for. So in a way we all got value out of that lie… nope. No satisfying conclusion to be found here 😒

  • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
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    9 hours ago

    From what I’ve seen, they don’t even learn about the law and often break the law by illegal detainment, searches and confiscation. Cops who served for over 20 years but don’t know people their rights. They often get minimal training while having to serve alone where everyone carries a gun. That’s asking for problems. And now cops in the US are militarized with heavy combat gear, while the majority is white and racist. So obesity is the least of the problems with US police.

  • BossDj@lemm.ee
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    13 hours ago

    Cities in pretty much the entire country are running with an understaffed police force. They’ll take what they can get. I’m 100% pro Union, but another problem is that police unions help protect unfit (literally and figuratively) police from being forced to try harder by abusing protected status health claims. I’ve seen in both police and military, they are handed paperwork if they are not meeting fitness expectations, but nothing ever comes of it.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        11 hours ago

        All labor unions are good. Police unions are not.

        This is because police unions are not labor unions, since police are not labor but rather the enforcers for the owner class.

        • Lembot_0003@lemmy.zip
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          12 hours ago

          Yes, unions are too democratic, too humane. Police should have only one goal – to protect the government from peons. You can’t risk the police having any resemblance to humans. This might lead to failure in the main goal achievement.

          • floo@retrolemmy.com
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            11 hours ago

            Cops aren’t exploited workers, they are armed agents of the state. They are not your friends, allies, etc. And whether or not they are human is entirely debatable. I’ve never seen any evidence to suggest it.

          • ohulancutash@feddit.uk
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            11 hours ago

            They have representation in other ways. For instance in Britain, where it is illegal for police to unionise, there is instead a government-funded Police Federation, which independently advocates for police working conditions and supplies advice and representation for police in disciplinary affairs. The main difference from a union is that it is free to members and that police are not allowed to go on strike. This removes a lot of the worst abuses of power.

      • kobra@lemmy.zip
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        12 hours ago

        So bad in fact, they’ve often made me wonder if any union is worth it if that’s the risk of what they could become.

        • ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml
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          12 hours ago

          With that mindset, why bother living or leaving the bed? Imagine the worst day you could have, why risk it?

          • kobra@lemmy.zip
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            12 hours ago

            Sure, take it 100% literally. Don’t relate to the thought process at all.

            You all can’t be serious in that you haven’t thought the same thing. I didn’t say it 100% makes all unions bad I just shared a thought I occasionally have because of how bad the police union is in America.

            But yeah let’s fight with each other about it instead of eating the rich, good plan.

            🙄

            • ThirdConsul@lemmy.ml
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              11 hours ago

              Your though process is wrong. You need to backpedal it. One bad apple doesn’t mean we should burn the orchard. And you can perverse anything good into an abomination.

              eat the rich

              How you want to do that without unions? Dude, saying out loud

              [I wonder] if any union is worth it if that’s the risk of what they could become.

              Is not helping anyone.

              Take an L and do better.

              • kobra@lemmy.zip
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                10 hours ago

                Again, you’re either not understanding what I’m actually saying or taking it literally on purpose to troll me. Either way, I’m not gonna waste my time 😘 👋

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      11 hours ago

      Cities in pretty much the entire country are running with an understaffed police force.

      Counterpoint: Americans are already overpoliced and the “understaffing” is only relative to the authoritarians’ desire to make us even more so.

      • BossDj@lemm.ee
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        8 hours ago

        Makes sense. Maybe they wouldn’t be understaffed if they were utilized in places that actually mattered to people

    • octobob@lemmy.ml
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      11 hours ago

      I live in Pittsburgh and there are literally no cops on duty from like 3-5 AM or something. We haven’t had a police chief in years, and I never see cops unless there’s a violent crime or a car accident or overdose. You can kinda do whatever you want in terms of traffic laws. I’ve never even heard of someone getting a traffic ticket in the city, and most times if you’re actually goin the speed limit you’re a hazard that isn’t following the flow of traffic. Completely different story in the suburbs outside the city.

      It kinda rules not gonna lie.

    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      12 hours ago

      Additionally, cities that want physically fit officers have unions that demand that they are paid to work out. Cities don’t want to pay for that.

      So, usually the fitness requirements are only used when applying but aren’t used when you are in the force.

      • Damage@feddit.it
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        11 hours ago

        cities that want physically fit officers have unions that demand that they are paid to work out

        Seems fairly reasonable to me

    • Zenith@lemm.ee
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      11 hours ago

      France doesn’t let the police unionize, it’s the only group in the country explicitly and expressly forbade from unionizing. Police should never be allowed to unionize

      • kaki@sh.itjust.works
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        10 hours ago

        The only group that can’t unionize is the military, there’s plenty of police unions in France.

  • PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Reminds me of my favorite Simpson’s quote.

    Marge (to Bart): “Your father wanted to be a police officer but they said he was too heavy.”

    Homer: “No the army said I was too heavy, the police said I was too dumb.”

  • absolutejank@lemmy.world
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    8 hours ago

    to give an answer to a rhetorical question: because firing people based on weight is a can of worms being opened. while it’s still technically not illegal to fire someone because their weight makes them “unfit,” the ada can be invoked if said obesity is caused by a disorder (e.g., type 1 diabetes). this ignores the fact that it’s hard to prove that someone would be unfit just for their weight; it just opens up employers to lawsuits. a simpler way to think about it would be to ask yourself if the guy handing out speeding tickets is “unfit for duty” solely because he’s obese.

    • moody@lemmings.world
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      8 hours ago

      The easy way around this is to require passing regular fitness tests. If your obesity isn’t an impediment to the fitness test, then it shouldn’t be an impediment to your job.

  • MTK@lemmy.world
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    10 hours ago

    Kind of an over amplification. Yeah, cops should ideally be fit-ish but even an obese person with a gun or a tazer can protect people, maybe not as well but still, and that doesn’t take into account the fact that a lot of cops are not actually on the streets but rather in an office doing paperwork etc. The problems are:

    • There are maybe not enough cops that are fit for actual fights?
    • Cops are ridiculously undertrained and unfiltered, giving us all if these assholes that really just like power.