Why the US military usually punishes misconduct but police often close ranks

Not a fan of this particular website, but that was a fascinating read...

I’m not entirely sure where the difference lies...maybe it’s in the power structure itself? As a young private you know you are the lowest rung on the ladder and will be for several years. A young police officer, while paid less and with less experience than his or her long service peers, walks in on day one with the full authority and responsibility of their position. Maybe those “b*tch work” years are critical to the development of soldiers as generally moral beings.

I dunno. I think about this a lot. So much of it puzzles me, especially in light of how many of our police officers - and just to be clear I think the vast majority are good people trying to do a hard job for the right reasons - have a military background.

We need to fix it, wherever the problem originates and however we need to fix it. Our police officers are vital to our society and our way of life. They hold a position of special trust and great responsibility, and we have to demand they be worthy of the job.

The police need something similar to UCMJ - that's why. The Uniform Code of Police Justice. It always boggles my mind how they aren't held to a higher standard than they are. High rate of domestic violence for starters - never gets dealt with.

We know the military covers crap up too though. Some at certain ranks seem immune to UCMJ but at least it's there.

Personally, I think there's about 50% of the process in either entity that gets it dreadfully "wrong". I'm probably going to sound "idealistic" here, but I do think there needs to be "wiggle room". Consistency is essential, but there are often mitigating circumstances. I've seen otherwise great personnel lost to very minor offenses... and seen complete losers make it all the way simply because they kept the nose "clean". Of the many LE officers I've known, most were dedicated, hard-working people who get paid far too little for the risks they take, or the crap they're asked to endure. Then again, there's some who "mystically" get away with stuff that boggles the mind. In my opinion, we need more authority at all levels to deal with things according to the severity of the infraction.