Colorado New Rule Requires All Police Officers to Undergo Psychological Evaluations… No Drug Testing???

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Colorado ruled Monday that police officers in the state be required
to undergo full psychological evaluations. The checks would occur before
an officer is hired, and every time an officer changes jobs or
jurisdictions in the state thereafter, the Denver Post reported. ~ Jon Levine

According to the Post, state law already requires
psychological evaluations but such checks are rarely carried out in
practice. The new rules were affirmed during a meeting of the Colorado Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.

The loose protocols have largely benefited problem officers who can
shuffle between departments when they have committed violations. In many
cases, they end up in more impoverished rural areas which typically
have difficulty finding qualified candidates.

“What the public is concerned about is that police departments don’t
pass off someone that is a problem in one department to another
department,” Grand Junction, Colorado police chief and POST vice
chairman, John S. Camper, told Mic.

Camper disputed the Post’s
claim that the primary screenings were not being enforced. “I haven’t
heard of that,” he said. “I can tell you in the departments I’ve been in
… we do psych tests on everyone.”

The
problem of under-qualified officers being given the power of deadly
force has had consequences far beyond the state of Colorado.

Earlier
this year, Robert Bates,
a septuagenarian and an Oklahoma Sheriff’s deputy, shot and killed a
fleeing suspect. Bates, who was not a career officer, reportedly fired
his weapon by mistake when he intended to reach for his Taser.

It is unclear
whether Bates submitted to a psychological exam before being given a
weapon. The Oklahoma Sheriff’s deputy program, however, came under
considerable scrutiny for lax security protocols after the incident.

The call for stricter mental health inspection comes as instances of
police brutality have been documented with increasing regularity across
the country.

Videos like those of the shooting of Chicago teenager Laquan McDonald and the 50-year-old Walter Scott in South Carolina show officers gunning down suspects as they moved away from them.

While the new Colorado regulation won’t be codified in state law,
failure to adhere to the tightened policy could come with severe
consequences. Said Camper, “If a person doesn’t comply with this, then
they’ve got the potential to not be allowed to be certified as a police
officer.”

Source

 

December 19, 2015 – KnowTheLies

 

Source Article from http://www.knowthelies.com/node/11028

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