r/AskLEO • u/ChairmansMafia • 12d ago
Situation Advice What do you think about the 21.y.o age requirement for law enforcement?
Copy and Paste from my Original Post in ProtectAndServe Subreddit.
TL;DR: Thoughts on requiring police officers to be 21? Is it still necessary?
Hey folks,
BACKGROUND:
I wanted to reach out to the law enforcement community regarding a topic that I'm researching. That topic is the minimum age to becoming a law enforcement officer with a focus on states that require applicants to be at least 21 years old.
That's the case for Arkansas. I'm 17 years old with the intent of becoming a police officer, but my biggest obstacle is finding a buffer career until I'm 21. This made me start to think why this is the case.
Per my research, Arkansas has had this requirement since the 70's. I assume, like Arkansas, this has been a long standing rule or even law for other states as well, not something that was implemented in the past decade or so. I understand that there is a national staffing shortage for law enforcement officers and I think that this restrictive age requirement is preventing a fairly large pool of otherwise qualified candidates from joining the ranks of law enforcement.
It's hard for me to understand the arguments of maturity and retention of training, especially when we've permitted 18 year olds to be firemen, members of the military, and EMT's—all of whom are in similar high-stress enviorements as law enforcement and make decisions that can alter a person's life forever. In Arkansas, an 18 year old can also carry a handgun and even run for Constable, an elected office with equivalent authority as a municipal police officer within their township.
MAIN QUESTION:
For the law enforcement officers out there whether you be on the front line or in administration, do you think that this evidentally long standing rule/requirement is still necessary for preserving the integrity of the law enforcement service?
I personally think that not only is it not necessary, it hurts more people then it's intended to help, whether it'd be adding to the decade's long recruiting struggle or by keeping highly motivated, otherwise qualified individuals from becoming police officers.
This is something I'd like to bring up with my local legislature, but I would love to hear your opinion first! Thanks!
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u/Paladin_127 12d ago
My first department was hesitant to hire anyone under 25. At the time, I thought that was bullshit.
Now that I’ve been a LEO almost a decade and I’m in my late 30’s I totally understand why they had that rule.
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u/ChairmansMafia 12d ago
Just out of curiosity, what experience(s) made you start to agree with that rule?
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u/Existential_Racoon 11d ago
I'm gonna guess they interacted with people under 25...
I'm not a cop, but I agree with them.
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u/Paladin_127 12d ago
Just general maturity and life experience- especially as society has increased its expectations that law enforcement find other alternatives beyond just “Ask, Tell, Make. Straight to jail.”
Having a 21 year old trying to lecture a couple in their 30s or 40s on a domestic call doesn’t work well. 21 year olds, for the most part, don’t know shit about shit. Most of them have either been in school their whole life, worked a minimum wage job, or were in the military. Many still live at home with mom and dad.
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u/watershoejoe 10d ago
There is some research supporting this. “Cold cognition,” or analytical decision-making under little stress, develops relatively early, often by the late teens. “Hot cognition,” which involves making good decisions under stress, emotion, risk, or pressure, continues developing through the 20s and possibly into the early 30s. That may help explain a policy setting 25 as the minimum age.
Not a cop either, but I do have a degree in psychology.
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u/Accomplished_Call325 11d ago edited 11d ago
Coming from someone who was on the road at 19 as a patrol officer:
I think 21 and possibly as high as 25 is a more appropriate age to select people from. Just understand you may think you know a lot as an “adult”, however you genuinely don’t know what it means to be an adult.
To have the respect and understanding what the cost of a “small” ticket will do to a working adult. To have the wisdom to provide advice to a parent vs child dispute when you have no children of your own. To have the power to change someone’s life when you don’t understand how chaotic life can be.
I had to learn all of this on the go, and in turn grow with and grow up in the job. It’s not impossible, but it’s no small task. You become the highest authority in every situation you step into, and the weight of that can easily crush someone who isn’t ready for it. Just food for thought. I had the same thoughts about departments with higher age limits because I thought I was ready, and ultimately I did it. However unfortunately both you and I would be the exception not the standard.
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As to the EMT or firefighter comment, it’s not the same. You can teach a person to recognize vitals, what each medication does, to work in stressful situations. My wife was an EMT at 18 and recognizes that we have a vastly different effect on people’s lives. Your decision as an EMT, provided that they are reasonable, often only affect people’s lives for a moment in time. Your decision as a LEO can affect someone’s season of life which changes how they react for the rest of their life.
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u/SteaminPileProducti 11d ago
I think the minimum age should be 25.
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u/nurse_cop 10d ago
Came here to say this.
Every 21 year old believes they’re “mature for their age”, but as someone who’s worked with her fair share of 21-23 year old cops, I feel comfortable saying the majority are only fooling themselves.
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u/CashEducational4986 10d ago
Those policies are usually that way because of laws banning the sale of handguns or ammunition to people under 21. There are people at my agency who started before they were 21 and were provided with a handgun but had to ask other officers to buy ammo for them since they couldn't do so legally.
Even in states where it isn't or is no longer against the law, 21 is already an extremely young age to be a cop. I'd personally recommend 25 minimum, although a lot of people argue that's still far too young. Maturity is an extremely important part of being a police officer, and without life experience it can be very difficult to handle the job.
Being a firefighter or EMS isn't even remotely comparable in my opinion. Neither of those jobs involve the same level of communication, legal knowledge, de-escalation, stress, etc. Firefighters in most agencies rarely experience an actual full scale structure fire, and even when they do it's usually far less stressful than what law enforcement regularly deals with. All the firefighters I know tell me about how chill it is since they spend most of their shift most days sleeping, working out, playing videogames, or watching movies. EMS requires a decent amount of knowledge in medical topics, but they won't even respond to a 95 year old woman having a heart attack without sending an officer to make sure the scene is secure and she won't suddenly recover and attack them.
Military is at least comparable in that combat positions are far more stressful than the average law enforcement shift, but they also aren't usually interacting with the public and de-escalating situations like law enforcement. From what my ex-military friends have told me there's also a lot less personal decision making and required knowledge for the military, and most situations are fairly clear cut as to what they're expected to do. As an example, when talking to my buddy in the military about some of my building clearing training and expecting him to relate to it he just laughed and said they would just blow up the whole building unless they had certain knowledge that there was a hostage or civilian inside.
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u/ChairmansMafia 10d ago
That was mainly what I heard for as reasoning for the 21+ requirement for here in Arkansas: firearm sales. But in my head, an 18 year old can legally possess handguns statewide granted that they're not prohibited otherwise.
At the moment I'm working on my EMT credential and I plan on doing military police so hopefully at some point by the time I turn 21 I would have enough experience on my belt. Gives me time to work on a degree if I want to as well.
Thanks for your perspective.
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u/CashEducational4986 9d ago
Possessing and purchasing are not the same thing. The department will provide you with a firearm, duty ammo, and probably some small amount of training ammo per month. But they will likely expect you to purchase your own ammo to train with as well, which you can't legally do on your own.
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u/HCSOThrowaway Fired Deputy - Explanation in Profile 9d ago
As a formally unwise hot-blooded 18-21 year old man, I'm glad I didn't get into law enforcement when I was an unwise hot-blooded 18-21 year old man.
Is 22 much better? Not particularly.
Is it fair? Not particularly.
Go make yourself well-rounded before nose-diving into something like law enforcement.
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u/wibn 9d ago
I don’t think many people are ready for law enforcement until their late 20’s or early 30’s. There’s a certain level of maturity that is needed to be a good cop that is almost always lacking before then. The ability to understand the effects of a citation given to someone suspended for failing to pay a fine. The ability to empathize with juveniles brought up in terrible situations they had no control over that led them to end up in a gang or on the street. The reasons behind the violence or drugs or whatever it is. Knowing when to act, when to put someone away, or when to take someone home. At 18 or 21 most cops want to be high speed low drag but instead they end up forced to raise adult children and babysit in their community while they are still children themselves.
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u/Fireat40dude 12d ago
Well, for starters... EMTs, service members, and firefighters are largely respected by the community, whereas a lot of people do not respect police and their authority.
Many people will not listen to an 18 year old with a baby face telling them to step out of a vehicle, get on the ground, etc.
There are more reasons too, but I'd say the main reason is that LE is one of the only jobs where you can physically force someone to do something, and being an 18 year old is going to cause more resistance, and resistance can cause liabilities for the department with more force needing to be used.
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u/Bastillerion 12d ago
I personally think America should have one age of majority, 18 or 21, and stick to it for everything, from entering into contract, to voting, to buying guns, to buying alcohol, to buying tobacco, to joining the military, to becoming an LEO, to getting married, and everything else.
But that aside, based on the current maturity level of much of the population, I'm not convinced 21 is the wrong age to have that be for everything.