Find a police officer out in public and ask them what the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution is. After that, ask them about the 6th. Just for kicks, ask them how many rights the 1st Amendment restricts the government from infringing on.
I guarantee you that ninety percent (plus) of the police officers you ask wont know the answers. Why? Well, the police academy does not teach the entirety of the US Constitution or the NH Constitution. Doesn’t this seem like an important thing to teach the people who are the “boots on the ground” portion of the government?
I’ve attended both the New Hampshire full-time and part-time police academies and neither taught anything more about the US or NH constitutions other than the basics about searching and seizing. Were I able to re-attend the police academy I’d love to ask the instructors from the Attorney General’s office what my responsibility is to Part I, Article 10 of the New Hampshire Constitution. Clearly, these words on paper combined with my required oath to defend them mean something, don’t they?
Question:Â How can someone take an oath to uphold and defend something that they know almost nothing about?
(the oath to uphold it is almost as much of a joke as the law enforcement officer’s code of ethics is …Â nothing more than a PR trick.)
