CE, I think you might be be confusing me with other Piggs. I seldom ever regurgitate anything from the web unless I am furnishing links to the law or I am trying to answer a question for myself.
I would much rather ask an “expert” on the street and get the straight scoop, as I did on this thread today … with spdrun.
I’ve spent a very large portion of my working life reading police reports, many lengthy, and can honestly say that the vast majority of law enforcement officers were VERY literate. And all of these reports were before they had access to laptops in vehicles. They were handwritten on a clipboard or back at their desks in block printing. Report writing is a major component of a law enforcement officer’s duties and is highly scrutinized by their superior(s). Of course, it is one of the main criteria in judging a recruit’s fitness for duty at a POST Academy.
I’m glad to hear you like your job and have software at work to help you out with your administrative duties. Even if an inability to write coherently stems from dyslexia (I’m not saying you are, but I have known several attorneys to be), this has no bearing on intelligence level or job ability. It is okay. These dyslexic attorneys can read their own notes and address the court just fine (and they have people like me to write their papers).
It’s just that law enforcement personnel are held to a higher standard in this regard, regardless of their other job attributes. Any f-ups they make are often seen by multiple agencies, attorneys, judges, even news media and the list goes on. Many of them are involuntarily subpoenaed to the stand so often, some of them may as well have a permanent seat outside the courtroom with their name on it. Every single thing they do reflects back on their agency and they often find themselves in situations where they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. It isn’t for everybody and most people don’t have the temperament for this kind of work.
I’m not stating here that I think everything law enforcement does is right. I’m saying that there is a WHOLE LOT MORE to the job than just being able to get through the obstacle course at the POST Academy. LOTS of people (like yourself) “think” they could do it and could last in the job long enough to eventually get a decent pension but the reality is that only a small percentage get hired as POST graduates because they fail at the interview levels … including at the medical evaluation and lengthy psych evaluation.
As CAR has posted here several times, the training curve for ONE urban law enforcement officer (or CHP/fire personnel in any locale) in CA is long, arduous and expensive for the employing agency. These agencies aren’t going to make a mistake by hiring the wrong person for a particular job as they always have plenty of candidates to pick from.
I see here that you are taking everything personally but you had it coming to you when you told me to “shove it.”
