Ramblings of an Idiot - Bad Apples - Do they really spoil the bunch

I decided to conduct a review of the data that is presented on the Minnesota Peace Officers Standards and Training Board related to license actions. The POST Board in it's current form historical started in 1977 and was patterned after the MN Nursing Board. Since the boards inception there have been 27982 peace officer licenses issued. During that same period, there have only been 184 peace officer licenses revoked. The most recently issued license went to a law enforcement officer working in Springfield, Minnesota and was issued March 11th, 2023. Looking purely at the numbers presented by the Minnesota POST Board on licenses issued v. revoked. Statistically speaking,

less than .0065% of all police officers in Minnesota have conducted some violation that has caused their license to be revoked. During the same time period of the MN Board of nursing suspended/revoked or accepted voluntary surrender licenses of 1078 nurses. The author attempted to determine the number of licenses issued by the board and estimated it around 30,000. Using the same basic math .0359 nurses received sanctions similar to those of police officers monitored by the MN POST Board. Using the same nursing license data another 3832 nursing licenses were censured.

I conducted a review of Minnesota MD license board. This board regulates a variety of medical licenses. There are a variety of actions taken by the board, much more than the nursing board, and peace officer board. During the same period over 230+ providers licensees meet similar sanctions to that of the police officers censured by the Minnesota POST Board.

I had to hand count the data, so stopped after a certain number so there is the potential for a margin of error. Limitations included on the medical license board has various tracking systems that created duplicate records, and censorship orders for licensee. The purpose of looking at nursing and medical boards is the professions and professional individuals have similar professional relationships with the individuals they serve. At is most conveniently understandable point is there a duty to care, protect and intervene.

There is no directly correlated research that should be considered on point, but doctors, and nurses clearly have the chance, or have killed someone under their charge either through neglect, criminal violation, or even accident. General research suggests that anyone is more likely to die at the hands of a physician or in medical care than at the hands of police officers.

Conducting a records search of New York Police Officer license, I found close to 3000 officers since 2005 who had been de-certified. (while there is some research efficacy problems), the numbers clearly are staggering, demonstrating that Minnesota Peace Officers are highly trained, highly qualified, and come out anecdotally better against other officers in similar states/licensing requirements. I would be remiss to say that there are other law enforcement agencies working within Minnesota that are not POST licensed and not required to report to the POST Board. Specifically, federal law enforcement agency (BIA/FBI/USSS/DEA etc), other law enforcement agencies that include Federal Reserve Police, Red Lake Tribal Police, Union Pacific, BNSF, and CP railroad agencies, which get their charters/authority through various other statutes, rules, and holdings.

But let's take a closer look at other comparable licensing agencies. The Arizona POST Board reviews material on an integrity index that is published regularly and based on public information reviewed for calendar year 2021 received at least 220 cases that were being investigated for licensure revocation. So if you are purely looking at the numbers in Arizona in one calendar year there were more officers investigated then in the entire 46 year history of the Minnesota POST Board. While there are some similarities between licensing boards, there are just as much variations. For example, in Minnesota not all actions go to the POST Board, some are left up to the agency to determine and apply sanctions towards individual officers. While some states the licensing board act as a regulatory board reviewing all complaints collaterally with the agencies, and have different authorities and permissions allowed by law.

Minnesota was and still is the leading edge of basic/recruit level training requiring police officer candidates to become licensed. This is through an academic, and skills-based program. Requiring generally that all applicants become trained in at-least a two year degree, if not higher. Other states have attempted to utilize this model with limited success. Traditionally law enforcement training is much akin to a military style stress academy. This focusing on an old paradigm of a training. These training models focus on individual competencies or learning domains that are imperative to the position. It is hard to argue competency versus acquisitions of the and retention of skills.

The current Minnesota training modality creates a vacuum of candidates. Agency are only allowed to recruit from those candidates who have attended the required training program. Unlike in other states any individual who meets the standards can apply. This means agencies are not always permitted to recruit from culturally diverse communities. As agencies are only permitted to select candidates who have self selected to attend higher education.

No training model is perfect, but is one better than the other, I would believe so, however I this question will not be addressed here. If you purely look at the numbers Minnesota has a small sample of officers who are "spoiling" the bunch. If one looks at Chauvin, and Potter there is of course professional discussion, discourse and dissent amongst professionals as whether it was reasonable, unreasonable, or accidental actions. But if we compare the training a nurse, and or MD receives during their "FTO" process outshines the average law enforcement officer, and these folks still make mistakes, accidents and commit criminal violations which industry is really better.

So as a civilian who is a staunch advocate for law enforcement, I need to remind people that officers are human. They make mistakes, no more or less than any other profession. Stakes are generally viewed higher, and in the public eye. There is much more public scrutiny over law enforcement actions than medical errors. However every time that I have had a minor surgery, I am reminded that there is a chance of death, or coma due to complications related to medical procedure, or sedation. These risks are known, and are calculated in a controlled environment, and I am not actively trying to hurt, harm or kill the doctor performing the procedure. This should stand in stark contrast for officers who engage criminals, doing crimes, who do not want to be caught, and may engage in physical combat, combat for sport, or combat to not be arrested.

What readers need to take away is that officers, doctors, nurses and other helping professionals are out there doing the job to the best of their ability. They never intend on any direct harm to come to anyone. Sometimes harm comes regardless of the situation, when you deal with human interactions.