Law Officers Struggle to Adjust After War

[unhappycamper]

Law Officers Struggle to Adjust After War
March 11, 2010
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. - Many law enforcement officers called up to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan are finding it difficult to readjust to their jobs once home, bringing back heightened survival instincts that may make them quicker to use force and showing less patience toward the people they serve.

In interviews with The Associated Press and in dozens of anecdotes compiled in a survey by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, officers described feeling compelled to use tactics they employed in war zones after they returned to work in the U.S.

One officer said he felt compelled to fire his gun in the air to disperse an unruly crowd in California. Others said they felt wary about being flanked when working crowd control. And others said after seeing the hardships ordinary Afghans and Iraqis lived with, it's hard to care about complaints over pet droppings.

The report, which was issued late last year, warns that the blurring of the line between combat and confrontations with criminal suspects at home may result in "inappropriate decisions and actions - particularly in the use of ... force. This similarity ... could result in injury or death to an innocent civilian."

In two high-profile cases, officers blamed their overzealous use of force on complications from their military service.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/law-officers-struggle-to-adjust-after-war.html?wh=news

[ThomWV]

1. During the Viet Nam war you could get out early if you would take a job as a DC cop.

You could get out up to 5 months early if you took a job as a DC cop, and had to agree to stay for a while too of course, So figure how that worked out.

[Mari333]

2. Im seeing this happen in my extended family right up close

he cannot keep a police job because he over steps his force. confrontational, testy, anger. a stint in Iraq really fcked him up.