The few, the proud . . .

PEG offers an interesting partial solution to the problem of cops juking the stats:

Maybe the Zappos approach could be a solution: Zappos offers newly trained employees $1,000 to quit, because they only want people so dedicated that they would rather keep the job than take the cash. How about we do that with cops?

Offer them a bigger amount, say $10K, after they graduate from the Academy? And again after 10 years of service, and again after each 5? Presumably only people who are really dedicated to service would stay on. And police work is one of the most demanding, eroding jobs out there; those who don’t want to do it their whole life should be allowed to cash out.

In fact, I think this would be a good idea for all government jobs. I view public service as a sort of temporary sacerdoce, something the most brilliant should do briefly and with dedication, so that we have a government that is as small as it is well run. Maybe such a system could accomplish that.

I think we, the voters have to shoulder some of the blame--not demanding numbers from them. But it would be a big help to cull the supply side as well.