Police Academy 'Training' Kills Recruits, Nobody Surprised
Apparently, a 'violent police academy drill' is linked to deaths and injuries across the US. The drill, dubbed 'Redman,' involves officers repeatedly hitting recruits, often while wearing padded suits. The Independent highlights the lack of national standards governing police training, which allows these brutal exercises to continue. So, the system that produces officers routinely accused of
excessive force, has *always* been training them with excessive force? Who could have possibly foreseen this? While the report focuses on the immediate physical toll, it conveniently sidesteps the deeper, systemic issue: this isn't a bug; it's a feature. The militarization of police forces, often via federal programs like the 1033 Program—which transfers surplus military equipment to local law
enforcement—creates an 'us vs. them' mentality. When recruits are brutalized in 'training,' it sets a disturbing precedent for how they'll treat the public. (And then we wonder why they respond to petty theft with SWAT teams.)