By Police1 Staff
On April 10, Hon. Associate Justice William W. Bedsworth, Fourth District Court of Appeal, was the keynote speaker at the opening of Golden West College’s Criminal Justice Training Center (CJTC). His compelling presentation addressed the many challenges facing police officers in a profession that literally changes by the hour.
“It is no easier to keep up with the changes in law enforcement than it is to keep up with changes in medicine or physics or biology or ballistics or pharmacology,” said Justice Bedsworth. “Do you think that’s an exaggeration? Those of you not in uniform, ask yourself about the changes in the last eight years. How much did you know about methamphetamine in 2010? How much did you know about AR-15s five years ago? How much did you know about sniper scopes and bullet trajectories before the Mandalay Bay massacre? How much did you know about opioids two years ago? How much did you know about bump stocks and high-capacity magazines a year ago?
“The amount of education and reeducation our police must assimilate every day is staggering. It requires literally more daily re-education than a doctor or lawyer ever needs to do his or her job, and when a peace officer applies that reeducation, he or she has to be a psychologist, a pharmacologist, a teacher, a counselor, a lawyer, an EMT and a bad-ass superhero, probably all during one shift.”