In your response to two of your peers, identify any issues with their
stance and suggest ways that these issues may be addressed. Respond to
one peer who has the same stance as you and one peer who has the
opposite stance. Remember to always be respectful when replying to
peers, even if you do not agree with their stance and/or rationale.
Reference: Loewentheil, N. (2017). High Standards? Reassessing the use of marijuana standards to screen police recruits in maryland. The Abell Report, 30(7), 1–16. Retrieved from https://www.abell.org/publications/high-standards.
Police
departments should consider lowering their marijuana standards in order
to address recruitment challenges and realign their policies with
evolving societal norms. A stringent marijuana standard may disqualify
many otherwise qualified candidates, thereby exacerbating the already
existing reasons for this stance.
- Societal
Norms and Legal Landscape: Marijuana legalization is gaining traction
across the United States, reflecting a significant shift in public
attitude. Penalizing candidates for past marijuana in states where it is
legal creates a dissonance between law enforcement recruitment policies
and societal norms. consequently, aligning recruitment standards with
the current legal landscape is both pragmatic and respectful of evolving
public perspectives. - Focus
on More Relevant Job Competencies; Successful policing relies on
critical skills such as judgment, integrity, and professionalism. Past
marijuana use, especially in a context where it is legally permissible,
does not necessarily imped an individual’s capability to perform police
duties effectively. Lowering the marijuana standards allows agencies to
assess candidates on competencies reflective of their potential job
performance. - Enhancing
Diversity and Representation: A strict marijuana standard
disproportionately affects community members from demographics more
likely to have engaged in marijuana use, particularly young adults. By
adjusting this standard, police departments can attract a more divers
pool of candidates, helping ensure that the police force better
represents the communities they save, thus fostering trust and
cooperation. - Optimization
of Recruitment Resources: Enforcing a strict marijuana standard can
exclude many promises candidates, straining the recruitment process and
depleting valuable resources lowering the standard broadens the
candidate pool, making recruitment more efficient and enabling
departments to fill positions more rapidly without sacrificing the
quality of new recruits. - Precedents
and Success Stories: Some police departments have already adjusted
their marijuana policies and report positive outcomes in recruitment
without a decline in officer performance or public trust. These cases
can offer blueprints for other departments struggling with similar
recruitment challenges.
In
conclusion, lowering the marijuana standard is a reasonable, effective
strategy for modernizing police recruitment. The approach acknowledges
societal changes, prioritizes essential job skills, enhances diversity,
improves recruitment efficiency, and is supported by successful
precedents. Adjusting these standards would allow police departments to
be better meeting their staffing needs whole maintain high professional
standards and improving community relations.
Mandy Turner:
Police Departments have to uphold standards as lowering them only
makes for more problems later such as misconduct, poor public perception
and most likely poor performance across the board. Legalizing marijuana
has not been the greatest development as Colorado discovered (Cato,
2021) when there were surges in crime and car accidents to name a few
issues. I can’t imagine police officers 1) being high while working or
responding to incidents 2) being addicted to marijuana and trying to
maintain a career 3) being effective in the field. This drug causes mood
swings, impairs the memory along with altering the sense of time. These
are all major factors affecting police work. How is an officer supposed
to be effective if he’s unfocused, moody and not really paying
attention to his/her surroundings. This seems like a recipe for disaster
for any city it is implemented. There have to be other options to boost
recruitment than lowering standards.
Reference:
Dills, A.,Goffard, S. (February 21, 2021) The Effect of State
Marijuana Legalizations: 2021 Update. Cato Institute.
https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/effect-state-marijuana-legalizations-2021-update