This is HUFFPOST article which prompted me to write this diary:
It is just the most recent story about police and first responders who want to refuse local or state mandates that they be vaccinated. Last week a Judge turned down Oregon State Police troopers' request to stop governor's vaccine mandate. Other examples:
Having a slightly above average IQ of 104 (Reference), or lacking a high level of critical thinking ability which may lead to believing misinformation about the Covid vaccine isn’t the only reason some police officers and their unions refuse to comply with Covid vaccination mandates. When it comes to police it makes sense that some of them are resisting what they consider an infringement of their personal freedom and being told what to do by civilians. In “People Who Become Cops Tend to Have Authoritarian Personality Characteristics” Chauncey DeVega wrote that...
… criminologists, psychologists and other social scientists have compiled a large amount of data on the relationship between police behavior and authoritarianism. This information is readily available and highly accessible to the general public. However, it is not discussed by the corporate news media because the facts cannot be readily reconciled with the mythologies that surround (and protect) America’s police.
….
…the dimensions of authoritarianism seem to describe many police officers very well. In fact, the typical policeman, as he is portrayed in the literature, is almost a classic example of the authoritarian personality.
Here’s a simple definition of the authoritarian personalty:
The authoritarian personality is a hypothetical personality type characterized by extreme obedience and unquestioning respect for and submission to the authority of a person external to the self, which is supposedly realized through the oppression of subordinate people.[1] Conceptually, the term authoritarian personality originated from the writings of Erich Fromm, and usually is applied to men and women who exhibit a strict and oppressive personality towards their subordinates.[2] (Wikipedia)
There are numerous reasons besides not having the cognitive ability to understand science for people to resist vaccination.
In “'Anti-Vaxxers' May Think Differently Than Other People” published in PsychCentral the author notes:
While the researchers didn’t find an association between a person’s education level and their vaccine skepticism, LaCour and Davis believe there is a difference in the information being consumed and used by people higher in vaccine skepticism.
“It may be the case that they are specifically seeking out biased information, for example, to confirm their skeptical beliefs,” Davis said. “It could be that they have more of an attentional bias to negative, mortality-related events, which makes them remember this information better.
“Strategies to get the right information to people through public service announcements or formal education may work, but it doesn’t seem to be an issue that people with higher vaccine skepticism are less educated in any fundamental way in terms of basic science or math education. Thus, simple increases in these alone — without targeted informational interventions — would seem unlikely to help.”
According to various reports the median IQ for police officers is 104, just slightly above average.
Consider the following from “How smart should cops have to be, what kind of smart, and how do we measure and promote it?”
Twenty years ago the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the New London (Connecticut) Police Department could refuse to hire applicants who scored too high on an intelligence test. Robert Jordan scored a 33 – the equivalent of an IQ of 125 – on the Wonderlic Personnel Test, which purported to measure cognitive ability. The department only interviewed candidates who scored 20 to 27. They reasoned that those who scored higher were more likely to get bored with police work and leave soon after costly training.
According to Wonderlic, a score of 20 to 27 is the particular range that best fits with the successful performance of police work. The national median score for police officers is 21, the equivalent of a 104 IQ, or just slightly above average.
Jordan claimed he’d been illegally discriminated against. The court disagreed, ruling that the department’s policy, however unwise, had “a rational basis” – reducing job turnover.
For more detail about the association between IQ and critical thinking read “Is critical thinking associated with IQ?”
I learned what the typical uniformed police officer does during the 20 some years I was a reserve police officer riding along with a regular officer one night a week. (SEE PHOTOS). When it comes to fighting crime uniformed police don’t generally solve cases after the crime is committed the way detectives do. They deal with crimes in progress like drunk driving, speeding, and sometimes during or afterwards assaults and robberies. In the majority of instances they don’t “solve” a crime, i.e. determine “whodunit” and arrest the likely suspect when they aren’t caught in the act and then with the prosecution help make a case that will lead to conviction.
Generally in order to become a police detective one has to spend a period of time as a uniformed officer. Through (hopefully) demonstrated competence, possibly obtaining a law enforcement degree or special training, and usually passing a test, they can then become detectives.
Here’s what skills are needed to be a good detective (reference):
Through education and experience, detectives may hone the skills to become truly successful investigators. Some of the fundamental skills for detectives include:
- Critical thinking: Detectives must be prepared to review evidence, analyze it carefully and reach reasonable conclusions and inferences. They need to think “outside the box.”
- Problem solving: As detectives encounter dead ends or “cold” trails, it’s important they apply creative problem-solving abilities.
- Attention to detail: Detectives never know which pieces of evidence will be meaningful, so they must pay attention to everything.
- Communication: Detectives need to be adept at communicating with witnesses and suspects. They must also be able to clearly relay their findings to prosecutors and in some cases to judges and juries.
- Computer skills: The ability to find and evaluate online evidence is a must, especially for cybercrime detectives.
- Writing skills: It is important for detectives to possess excellent writing skills due to the large number of reports that are written.
- Emotional stability: Detectives routinely experience unpleasant and sometimes disturbing events at crime scenes. They must be emotionally able to handle these circumstances.
Fortunately if FBI agents who are often tasked with solving complex crimes have set their bar high for aspiring agents.
To answer the question in the title of this diary, I am loathe to say that if Anti-Vaxxer, science ignorant, and authoritarian police had to solve major crimes lots smart criminals would remain free while our prisons would be filled with the least intelligent ones whose average IQ is 14 points lower than that of the average police officer. Thus they make mistakes, and therefore are easier to apprehend and convict. See the following from “IQ and Crime” for example:
Since the earliest days of intelligence testing, it’s been known that criminals average IQ’s around 90 (about 10 points below the North American average of 100). What’s interesting is that criminals also score 10 points below their non-delinquent siblings who grow up in the same home. Comparing criminals to their siblings is useful because it controls for so many of the socio-economic factors that are so often assumed to confound research on both crime and IQ.
Given that intelligence and morality are two different concepts, some may be surprised by the fact that criminals tend to have lower IQ’s. Indeed criminal geniuses such as the fictional Hannibal Lecter are a pop culture fixture.
I do not mean to disparage police with a broad brush. The best police officers may not be like those you see on TV or read about in crime and mystery novels but there are those excel at critical thinking and do solve crimes. I want to believe they are not Anti-Vaxxers.
The Poll:
Here’s a quick FBI special agent test of critical thinking. See if you can pass it. I am embarrassed to say I only got two of five right. Once I saw the explanations it was obvious I missed clues which a good detective would have picked up. Take the poll and see how you do.