As of January 2023, in the state of Illinois ALL police recruits will be required to take a course on avoiding wrongful convictions. This requirement was developed many years ago by the University of Illinois Police Training Institute. This course focuses on the importance of carefully gathering and analyzing evidence and not assuming guilt or innocence. Some of the key topics in this class are tunnel vision, misidentification, official misconduct, forensic science, incentivized testimony, plus talks by people who have been exonerated. The head of the Illinois Training Institute is Mike Schlosser. The New Hampshire Police Academy requires that those interested in attending have no serious criminal or motor vehicle record, good credit history, pass a physical fitness test and medical exam plus a psychological evaluation.

They are required to have a physical fitness and medical exam every three years to be able to ‘fulfill the essential functions of a police or correctional officer.’
Some of these requirements include subduing resisting individuals, including those bigger and stronger, run up and down a flight of stairs. Lift and carry injured individuals, push a stalled vehicle, accurately fire a gun, drive safely at high speed under substandard conditions, remain calm and use good judgement and have adequate computer skills, (this would include knowing how to run recording equipment?)
According to the New Hampshire Police Training Academy their curriculum consists of: “academic studies such as criminal code and constitutional law, practical studies such as human relations and physical skill subjects such as criminal code, constitutional law defensive tactics, emergency driving and firearms. The tests consist of both of written and practical skills, demonstrations such as driving and firearms qualifications.

The minimum passing grade is 70%.” Every subject must be passed.” A passing grade of 70% seems rather low when you are going to give these people loaded guns and turn them loose on the general population.In some states there are 98 different subjects with a passing grade of 85%. Why not raise that to 85% and have better vetting…train the very best. Better trained recruits would certainly result in better policing.

The police academy is currently a 16 week residential course, which is ‘paramilitary “in nature with students being subject to ‘military discipline, marching and saluting’ ( Correctional officer training is 9 weeks, also paramilitary, students commute and the training is ‘more relaxed.’) “Your day begins at 5:30 AM with physical training and ‘lights out’ at 9:30PM, after study time.” Students are allowed to go home on Friday nights and return on Monday mornings. We are assured that the ‘recruits’ spend a ‘substantial amount of time studying at home on the weekends.” I am sure that none of them are hanging out with friends showing off their new skills with firearms or their great ability to march in formation and salute.

The academy lists the essential physical requirements as: being 21 years old with a high school diploma or equivalent, no criminal record or serious motor vehicle charge, “good moral character” , no visible tattoo on face or neck, able to physically subdue resisting individuals, including someone bigger and stronger than you or multiple aggressors, engage in a foot chase of a fleeing suspect, run up and down a flight of stairs, lift and carry injured individuals, push a stalled vehicle, change a vehicle’s tire and install the spare; accurately fire a pistol, revolver, shotgun and rifle; drive an automobile safely at high speeds and under adverse conditions, remain calm and use good judgement under extraordinary fear and stress, give verbal commands, read and interpret laws and complex instructions, hear instructions over and operate a police radio, have adequate keyboarding skills to operate a laptop computer, write legible and well-organized reports, search persons and apply handcuffs, utilize a police baton and defensive spray; develop and maintain friendly and cooperative relationships with fellow officers, supervisors and the public; see and hear well enough to hear orders and instructions despite background noise, detect expired vehicle registration decals and inspection stickers on moving vehicles at a distance, have sufficient color vision to distinguish colors of vehicles, wires on explosive devices, etc.

see well enough to accurately fire a weapon if your glasses or contacts became in a struggle, have sufficient night vision to safely drive at high speed, fire a weapon in dim light conditions, be free from debilitating disease, and assume a professional, paramilitary appearance in uniform.” There is no training on racial or economic bias, how to diffuse a tense situation without resorting to force. Major emphasis at the academy seems to be on firearms, driving and paramilitary demeanor.
No classes on psychology, no emphasis on social work, it seems to me the academy is the perfect place to go if there is an ego problem and you want to be a macho man. 60% of shootings in New Hampshire involve someone with KNOWN mental health conditions. In my opinion if there were more emphasis on social and mental health than being able to fire a gun in DIM light, maybe some of these people would still be alive.

If the police academy ditched their ‘paramilitary’ and the emphasis on firearms possibly Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tyre Nichols, and many, many more would still be alive. There would be less wrongful convictions because there would be less wrongful arrests. There appears to be major emphasis on subduing, pursuing, shooting, speeding, and paramilitary, learning how to march and salute, and extraordinarily little on being a decent human, listening, and creative thinking. Like Illinois, ALL states should pass laws on avoiding wrongful convictions.
Currently there is no oversight, no one held accountable if or when a cop makes a mistake whether inadvertent or with foresight.
It is reported that there are 18,000 separate police training academies in the country, and there is no national standards for graduation. In Mississippi recruit training is 400 hours, while in North Carolina it is 900 hours. (The average police officer will spend about 21 weeks in training, (In Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts it is an additional 5 weeks).

Police misconduct is not just a local issue; but also, a national one. With the recent history of gross police wrongdoings and dishonesty, the focus has turned to what can be done to prevent this. There has been an increased understanding that police officers description of events are not always accurate. People forget that these are people, not some kind of al knowing infallible super heroes. They possess the same foibles, and ego, as everyone else with an innate desire to save their own bacon

In an article from VanGuard News Group by David Greenwald dated March 31, 2025, titled ‘When We Become the Monster’
“Faced with a brutal crime there is enormous pressure on law enforcement and prosecutors to identify, isolate and punish the person responsible. The public wants answers. The family wants closure, politicians want to be seen as tough on crime. In that crucible of pressure systems are often short circuited. Evidence bends to fit the narrative.
Suspects are coerced, dissenting voices are silenced and in many cases the person ultimately convicted is not the one who committed the crime.”
Do we need monsters, villains to prosecute to make us feel safer and to justify what may be the conviction of an innocent person? If someone is labeled evil, a monster then the gates are opened and any action afterward is justified, bullying, solitary confinement, squalid living conditions, even death
” If the prosecution fails to disclose evidence that falls under Brady the defendant may have a legitimate Brady claim of prosecutorial misconduct that may result in a new trial.”

Some of these violations include a prosecutor withholding information that could lead to exoneration. If the evidence conflicts with the prosecutor’s ‘story’ then it can be simply ignored or dismissed as false.
Defendants are constitutionally guaranteed all evidence that is favorable to them; but sometimes you can end up with closed minded judges and prosecutors with frivolous theories that they do not want disturbed.
Law enforcement officers start to crave more power, more money, which only comes with more convictions. So, they ignore facts, distance themselves from the truth that might make them feel uneasy, invent reasons to belittle and minimize the defendant and their family, lash out at rational challenges, they need to believe what they believe is true and to dismiss or challenge anything to the contrary.
If you want to advance your career you need to have the most arrests, the most convictions.
Ineffective assistance of counsel is when a criminal lawyer fails to provide competent or effective representation resulting in a defendant being deprived of their constitutional right to a fair trial as is guaranteed by the 6th amendment of the United States Constitution, To prove this the defendant must show that the attorney’s performance was deficient and caused prejudice to the defense, failure to investigate important evidence, witnesses or failure to object to improper evidence and testimony, failure to adequately communicate with defendant or a conflict of interest that interferes with the lawyer’s ability to provide effective representation.
If a court finds that a defendant received ineffective counsel, they may be granted a new trial or some other relief, such as a reduced sentence. This could also rise to legal malpractice.