Late to the discussion, and maybe my thoughts will seem outrageous.....
We give police departments and officers the powers to change lives, use deadly force, take lives, make life-and-death decisions, deal with injured and dying people, and so on. In rough summation, our very lives and futures are within the control of a police officer. That level of responsibility and accountability is on par with a medical doctor, a registered nurse, pharmacists and other professionals. These doctors, nurses and others are only allowed to be employed in their field after years of education (not months) and in every single state they must hold a recognized license to perform their work.
In addition to the above requirements, every one of these professional occupations is controlled by a state board which oversees the practice standards, licensure requirements, compliance and disciplinary actions of a given profession. These state boards exist to to protect the public, and they do so by holding their professionals to a very high standard. Even with that, there are always rogues, derelicts and outright criminals in any profession. The state acts to limit or remove their ability to continue working if they are deemed unfit or a threat to the public. Almost all states have a reciprocity agreement whereby an individual (say a pharmacist) who loses his license in any state is automatically unable to obtain licensure in another.
With all the inherent power and responsibility we give to a police officer (say a guy in a town of 10,000 people) why haven't we moved to the level of requiring at least 2 full years of college education (includes field hours with actual police work), a recognized degree, a standardized licensure process, and annual continuing education requirements? Why doesn't every state have a board which oversees all aspects of LE officer registration, compliance and discipline?
My doctor has to have 4-6 years of education and carry a license to practice medicine before he can prescribe a drug. If he screws it up he can lose his ability to work. A police officer has at least the equivalent power to affect lives, and it seems to me we should hold them to an equally high standard of conduct and practice. In so many ways it makes sense to reward our officers by having them be truly college educated professionals with licenses. I believe every state should have a professional board of review which has the ability to sanction or remove (from police work) an officer who has a pattern of repeated problems.
Don't de-fund. Re-think.
Kevin
I think some of your ideas are on par but need to be mandated at the Federal level. Here is why, California already has many of the things you listed, and I suspect most states if not all have some sort of POST (Peace Officer Standards & Training). Wanting people to be college educated does not necessarily create good police officers. The agency I retired from had three ways to get hired: A college BA/BS degree, Military experience, or a lateral officer (coming with experience from another agency). Many of those with a degree had difficulty learning and doing the job on the street as they lacked life experience and social skills, but had no issues with computers or report writing. The military hires did great on the street as they had been around people from different backgrounds, served overseas, and lived in difficult conditions, but had to learn the reports and paperwork side of things.
Big agencies (think LAPD/SFPD) cannot have a degree requirement as they cannot even keep up with hiring due to attrition and retirements. In California 75% of academy hires do not make it to retirement predominately due to injuries, but also do to officers quitting, being fired, etc. Small agencies with money can hire officers with Master’s degrees, but in reality due to being in affluent towns have very little crime, and on the other hand small rural agencies have no money and get the last of the litter so to speak. California has a difficult time in hiring right now even with only requiring a HS diploma or GED, even though you start at over 100K a year, and some agencies will give signing bonuses, pay for house down payments, cover moving costs, etc. Not many want the job. It is not worth the scrutiny, liability, or physical risk. If it were not for the military hires, most CA departments would be horribly understaffed.
Regardless, the State requires the same amount of yearly training with every agency in range, driving, defensive tactics, and the latest topics like mental illness, de-escalation, cultural awareness, and the one I just missed when i retired “unconscious bias”. Each officer has an ID number for CA POST which keeps track and makes sure you are in compliance. Additionally, officers go to outside training based on assignment (example: I went to homicide school in Detectives, and Firearms school when I worked on the range).
I was fortunate in my career that most of the officers I worked with were good people. There were a few over the years who got fired for being crooks, or heavy handed, and one even for being lazy, but in general most of the officers, deputies, or Chippies I worked with did a good job under often difficult circumstances. But I suspect we will always have to deal with bad apples as long as we hire from the human race. Just look at the military, most do an admirable job, but if they were all perfect they would not need a JAG. We can always use improvement.
The problem is, every state has their own standards. Unless the Feds make all 50 states have the same requirements, you will still have 50 different sets of policing. Think Wyoming hunting and their guide/wilderness rules, their state, their rules....police work is no different.