Policing In America

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Police in the US are trained to protect themselves first, they go into a situation assuming they're going into combat.

Until Police training in the Us prioritises the lives of citizens over those of Police Officers there will be no change.

On the other hand, if that change comes about there will be a lot of dead Police officers. So, you pays your money, you takes your choice.

My wife, years past, was part of a police training academy as staff.

Police are NOT trained to protect themselves first. Their training centers on protecting the general public first, themselves second, and the alleged perpetrator third.
Primary in that training is an absolute priority to NOT get your gun taken away from you.
The police are then trained to respond with the absolute minimum level of force needed to protect the public and make an arrest.
The official training provided officers, PFH, is very much in line with the goals you state. The issues of concern come after that...

Police academies vary, but are typically 13-14 weeks of instruction. This is followed by a period of tutelage OJT under a training officer or several weeks or months.
By contrast the "simplest" job in the military [infantry] requires the same total training time (10 weeks basic, 4 weeks AIT). Thus an army infantry warfighter receives the same level of training provided to a police officer, despite the fact that the job of infantry soldier is conceptually MUCH easier with fewer task types than a police officer and infantry receive much more direct instruction and supervision until they achieve NCO status. @Strike For The South wasn't claiming police to be untrained, but that they are undertrained given the complexity of their task/purpose.

AFTER they exit the academy, they go on the street and learn how to police from other police....and the lessons learned are not always aligned with the standards promulgated in their academy training. The mental shortcuts and "what we really look for" standards may well undercut the official training standards. This is accompanied, of course, by all of the natural efforts by the new officer to fit into their organization (See Jablin on Organizational entry and assimilation by the individual). The official training can easily end up taking a back seat. Thus, police CULTURE is the real source of concern -- and it may well alter, undercut or even obviate all of the official training in some localities.

You could also make a good case that, unless they are assigned as a training officer at the academy, they do not receive enough refresher training in appropriate escalation of violence.

[Montmorency]

My wife, years past, was part of a police training academy as staff.

Police are NOT trained to protect themselves first. Their training centers on protecting the general public first, themselves second, and the alleged perpetrator third.
Primary in that training is an absolute priority to NOT get your gun taken away from you.
The police are then trained to respond with the absolute minimum level of force needed to protect the public and make an arrest.
The official training provided officers, PFH, is very much in line with the goals you state. The issues of concern come after that...

Police academies vary, but are typically 13-14 weeks of instruction. This is followed by a period of tutelage OJT under a training officer or several weeks or months.
By contrast the "simplest" job in the military [infantry] requires the same total training time (10 weeks basic, 4 weeks AIT). Thus an army infantry warfighter receives the same level of training provided to a police officer, despite the fact that the job of infantry soldier is conceptually MUCH easier with fewer task types than a police officer and infantry receive much more direct instruction and supervision until they achieve NCO status. @Strike For The South wasn't claiming police to be untrained, but that they are undertrained given the complexity of their task/purpose.

AFTER they exit the academy, they go on the street and learn how to police from other police....and the lessons learned are not always aligned with the standards promulgated in their academy training. The mental shortcuts and "what we really look for" standards may well undercut the official training standards. This is accompanied, of course, by all of the natural efforts by the new officer to fit into their organization (See Jablin on Organizational entry and assimilation by the individual). The official training can easily end up taking a back seat. Thus, police CULTURE is the real source of concern -- and it may well alter, undercut or even obviate all of the official training in some localities.

You could also make a good case that, unless they are assigned as a training officer at the academy, they do not receive enough refresher training in appropriate escalation of violence.

One thing to note is that infantry are trained in a total environment, whereas police inductees (I believe) get to go home at the end of the day. But that's just to be pedantic.

In the conflict between "Black Lives Matter" and "All Lives Matter/Blue Lives Matter", to my surprise it turns out* comparatively few have thought to deploy "Civilian Lives Matter" as a rejoinder.

*At least by the metric of Google Search results