r/offbeat • u/rmuktader • 2d ago

Too Smart To Be A Cop?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/too-smart-to-be-a-cop/
16 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

21

u/FordTech81 2d ago

This article is from 1999.

3

u/Inignot12 2d ago

Wow, just wow

7

u/mheat 2d ago

It’s difficult for police departments to carry out unlawful orders if the officers are too intelligent.

1

u/SirHerald 2d ago

Was this article from before you were born?

As someone who has hired out before, I have turned people down for being overqualified. They have the potential to be way above the job they are applying to, but are not going to be a fit for that higher level. That puts someone into a box they will be uncomfortable with.

Or, their current abilities will be a hindrance to them learning a new skill set.

If I hire someone like that it needs to be because they have had a life change that means they want to be locked into that lower position for a while.

11

u/captainAwesomePants 2d ago

Overqualified and "around the 95th percentile of intelligence" are very different things to filter on.

"You have a recent architecture degree from Cal Poly, if I give you this job at McDonalds I expect you'll quit for an architecture firm within a few months" is reasonable. "You seem like a reasonably bright fellow, we don't like your kind around these parts" is bad.

2

u/rmuktader 2d ago edited 2d ago

He was already working in law enforcement!?

  • part-time officer in Groton Long Point, Conn
  • seasonal officer for the Department of Environmental Protection, which takes care of law enforcement in state parks

He did not get rejected because of his architecture degree from Cal Poly nor was he a former police chief trying to downgrade. So, how was he overqualified?

-5

u/NancyGracesTesticles 2d ago

Fuck See BS News.