What a joke: Mayor Suggests Lowering Standards for Police Officers

[Question]

I remember hearing about the Army taking some recruits w/felony convictions - don't many of the firearms laws contain exemptions for carrying on official business (other than Lautenburg)?

State licensing laws for peace officers aside, I think you're right. However, does even Lautenberg apply to the US Army? I think it does within our borders.

[highwayman]

.

However, this is an offensive attempt to fill some sort of racial quota by allowing FELONS to be police officers.

The mayor is hurting crime fighting because he wants to be a social engineer.

If this ever takes place then it will snowball into something bigger.
If Law enforcement hiring standards are compromised the integrity of our system will slowly but surely start looking like swiss cheese.

Not that it's a perfect system but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

[Question]

If this ever takes place then it will snowball into something bigger.
If Law enforcement hiring standards are compromised the integrity of our system will slowly but surely start looking like swiss cheese.

Not that it's a perfect system but the line has to be drawn somewhere.

This may sound like a naive position, but if a former felon is truly reformed and is a qualified candidate to be a peace officer, he can always petition his or her governor for a pardon and then get hired by a police department.

(President Bush got burned by this in 1995 when he pardoned a Texas constable, who three months later got arrested for stealing coke, for a pot conviction. Governor Romney has taken a lot of heat for not pardoning an Iraq war vet who wanted to be a cop for a bb gun assault conviction at 13 years of age. The current governor has said he would probably pardon the vet once he submits a new application.)

[highwayman]

Question wrote:

This may sound like a naive position, but if a former felon is truly reformed and is a qualified candidate to be a peace officer, he can always petition his or her governor for a pardon and then get hired by a police department.

But how can someone find out if an ex-con is "trully" reformed.
In my opinion applying for an LEO position is the last place someone would ever want to find that out.
Integrity, honesty, moral values, good judgement take time to develop.

Don't you think it's a bit risky and ironic to trust a former lunatic with a handgun and let him walk the city streets?
I mean it's not a retail job at Walmart..:rolleyes:

[Question]

Question wrote:



But how can someone find out if an ex-con is "trully" reformed.
In my opinion applying for an LEO position is the last place someone would ever want to find that out.
Integrity, honesty, moral values, good judgement take time to develop.

Don't you think it's a bit risky and ironic to trust a former lunatic with a handgun and let him walk the city streets?
I mean it's not a retail job at Walmart..:rolleyes:

This is why pardon authority is vested in only one person in the entire state, and even there there may be a pardon board that must clear the pardon. Make no mistake, pardons are rare and that's the way it should be.

I think the biggest fallacy many people use, not just with police employment but with other forms of employment too, is that they are entitled to the job and they wonder why society won't give it to them. This line of logic is wrong. Employment is all about being a servant for your employer and if your employer can't use you, then you don't deserve to be employed.

[highwayman]

This is why pardon authority is vested in only one person in the entire state, and even there there may be a pardon board that must clear the pardon. Make no mistake, pardons are rare and that's the way it should be.

I think the biggest fallacy many people use, not just with police employment but with other forms of employment too, is that they are entitled to the job and they wonder why society won't give it to them. This line of logic is wrong. Employment is all about being a servant for your employer and if your employer can't use you, then you don't deserve to be employed.

I would go with pardon, mercy is respected, but then again it boils down to politics.
Is it really an issue of how useful a pardoned felon can be as an LEO or is it an issue of how he is going to be viewed by the public which will definitely challenge him in his new profession.
If you ask me, I lean towards the latter.

Ok, so what I am drawing out of your post is that it's ok to give an ex con (let's say a murderer) a handgun and a badge, put him out on the street with the hope that he doesn't blow it.
If he does, and shoots somebody because he eyeballed him the wrong way, then it's game over.

[Question]

I would go with pardon, mercy is respected, but then again it boils down to politics.
Is it really an issue of how useful a pardoned felon can be as an LEO or is it an issue of how he is going to be viewed by the public which will definitely challenge him in his new profession.
If you ask me, I lean towards the latter.

Ok, so what I am drawing out of your post is that it's ok to give an ex con (let's say a murderer) a handgun and a badge, put him out on the street with the hope that he doesn't blow it.
If he does, and shoots somebody because he eyeballed him the wrong way, then it's game over.

Sorry to confuse highwayman (I tend to do that IRL as well with a lot of people ); I was talking purely academically about something that could happen in theory. I was by no means advocating that we start pardoning felons just so they can get LEO jobs.

I was just saying that theoretically they are free to apply for a pardon and then see if a PD will hire them after their pardon if they believe they are the next Walker, Texas Ranger. Don't worry, it's not going to happen unless you're Chuck Norris.

[tre8]

If I were a minority, I would be highly offended by this!

I am, and I am.........:mad:

[Question]

Has to be a Democrat.

This is correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Funkhouser

[Norm357]

KANSAS CITY, MO. -- The Kansas City Missouri mayor is looking for creative ideas on ways to recruit more minority cops. So, Mayor Mark Funkhouser said lowering the standards to be a cop may be the solution.

Mayor Funkhouser said why not let people with a criminal record be a police officer?

Barely 11 percent of Kansas City's police officers are African American. The police chief and the mayor say that's not enough. At a town hall meeting Wednesday, Mayor Funkhouser suggested lowering standards to recruit more minority police.

"At some point we've got to, I believe, allow people who have a felony on their record to go ahead and be a police officer when they pass various hurdles," said Funkhouser.:rolleyes:

The Mayor said this is just an idea... a way to provoke debate to come up with creative ideas to hire more minority cops. But is it realistic?

Ken Christopher is a criminal justice professor with Park University. He said, "The more you can attract candidates you can reliably trust the better off you are."

Christopher said there are other ways to recruit minorities without compromising standards.

"To say you're willing to take on people who've committed felony violations is pretty much outside the mainstream about what police hiring practices are about," said Christopher.

Rich Lockhart with the KCMO Police Department said, "I think everybody shares the same concern we do and certainly we appreciate everyone helping us come up to solutions to the problem."

Right now, to be a police officer you have to meet state standards. A spokesperson with the Missouri Department of Public Safety said regardless of decisions made at the local level, you still have to be licensed by the state.

To change those requirements, means changing state law which now says you can't have a criminal history.

Another requirement is passing a written exam, something a number of candidates struggle with. That's why the police department holds tutoring sessions to help more candidates become police officers.


http://www.myfoxkc.com/myfox/pages/N...Y&pageId=3.2.1

Am I reading this correctly? Is the Mayor claiming that the majority of African Americans in this town are felons?

[Creeker]

Isn't this SOP in Mexico? :mad:

[highwayman]

I was just saying that theoretically they are free to apply for a pardon and then see if a PD will hire them after their pardon if they believe they are the next Walker, Texas Ranger. Don't worry, it's not going to happen unless you're Chuck Norris.

Ah, that makes more sense, you had me going there for a while. :cool:

[Nole795]

That is sad that they think that lowering standards are going to attract more minorities......it suggests that minorities aren't qualified to be police officers without extra help.


And here those of us who are minority police officers have a hard enough time making it on the job.........this mayor is a jackass:mad:

Absolutely agree...