this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2025
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No Stupid Questions

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

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[–] kreskin@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

Why are they also so clearly low iq, and hyper violent?
and why are they paid so well?

[–] Bloomcole@lemmy.world 11 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

to protect and serve is not their job.

[–] OceanSoap@lemmy.world 21 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] madcaesar@lemmy.world 9 points 1 hour ago

Fuck the physical part, they should take yearly psychological exams and have continuous education on conflict resolution.

[–] waggz@programming.dev 2 points 2 hours ago

There are definitely agencies that do exactly what you described. The one I'm most familiar with has a sliding scale based on age and they are required to pass annually.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 11 points 4 hours ago
[–] lechekaflan@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

In my part of the world, cops are near on top of the food chain in any town and city, sometimes literally getting a free pass as long as they do something for a politician, a celebrity, or a business personality. So some of them, especially senior officers, do eventually get obese because not only they get to choose what duties they want to carry out, but also either they have three full square meals plus two snacks a day, or maybe a drinking party two to four times a month.

Of course they -- the Philippine National Police -- are a government agency, but also they're a fraternity, the so-called "Brotherhood": "you scratch my back as long as I scratch yours".

[–] kubok@fedia.io 10 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

you have to make your own food it's the only way

[–] Ohmmy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 hours ago

Or be wealthy

[–] Echo5@lemmy.world 10 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Delphia@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago

Now I dont work in the law enforcement industry but I do work in an industry that has supposed fitness requirements although they arent enforced.

For us, the union told them "If they have to maintain a weight of X to remain employed. You have to pay them to hit the gym on company time or pay their gym fees and an allowance." So the company filed that away under "fuck that". Now if you get too fat for the equipment they just move you to a different duty, often one with a shitload of walking around.

[–] richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 19 points 11 hours ago

They are not required to serve and protect. US courts say so.

[–] Bgugi@lemmy.world 202 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Neither protecting or serving are actual job requirements.

[–] LemmyIsReddit2Point0@lemmy.world 47 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

The "no duty to protect" doctrine. Our news doesn't even have to be factual.

[–] UltraMagnus0001@lemmy.world 3 points 11 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 12 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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 10 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 17 points 11 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.

[–] LordWiggle@lemmy.world 13 points 12 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 63 points 16 hours ago (13 children)

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.

[–] verdigris@lemmy.ml 45 points 16 hours ago (7 children)

Police unions are the only bad union.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 24 points 14 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.

[–] floo@retrolemmy.com 13 points 15 hours ago (4 children)

They’re illegal in many other countries

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] derry@midwest.social 17 points 16 hours ago (1 children)
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[–] over_clox@lemmy.world 70 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Cops with guns don't have to run.. 🤷‍♂️

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 6 points 11 hours ago

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks
You better run, better run outrun my gun

[–] PolydoreSmith@lemmy.world 37 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (1 children)

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.”

[–] grue@lemmy.world 21 points 14 hours ago (1 children)
[–] entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 7 hours ago

Considering how dumb the police chief is on that show, I think it was an intentional joke

[–] absolutejank@lemmy.world 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

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 7 points 11 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.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 23 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Never met anyone who was too fat to shoot minorities.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 18 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

Non joke answer: A bunch of reasons. Many precincts are understaffed, so they need all the hands they can get. The police union is huge and makes it extremely difficult to fire even the most homer-simpsonian individuals. Many of the hugely obese cops are assigned to "light duty" meaning the most exertion they face is paperwork, manning the public information desk and or doing things like serving writs (in some cases you're allowed to wear the uniformn even if you're not a bonded officer, which is absurd). Additionally, fitness requirements are actually fairly rare across the whole spectrum of law enforcement - It's surprisingly rare to see them for any positions besides uniformed patrol officer, even detectives or etc. aren't always required to pass them - and even when you do, they're usually pathetically easy to pass.

[–] MTK@lemmy.world 6 points 13 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.
[–] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 12 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

Everyone’s so fucking obese here that most people don’t notice.

[–] abbadon420@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago

Blend in with the crowd

[–] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

Just as well as any other cop

[–] LonstedBrowryBased@lemm.ee 9 points 15 hours ago

They just need to be able to drive a car and pull the trigger on their gun

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