At some level the occupation is a function of will, as you yourself said, and while you keep mentioning skill I don’t see an abundance of will. Skill without will is equally as problematic as will without skill; I’d argue more so.
I attend ~ 4 training courses a year for a total of 36 now. I’ve had instructors that were former law enforcement, former special operations from different U.S. military branches. In those courses I see private citizens and former and active law enforcement. I’m all for training and have no problem paying for it in terms of tax dollars. I can tell you that in all the instructors I’ve had most will tell you that instructing law enforcement is like herding cats. Many of the officers that are there are there as a function of a department choice and not their own desire. In those cases from what I’ve been told a major concern of those officers is when is lunch and how long is it. As a counter to this, the officers with which I’ve attended courses who paid out of their own pockets (they do get notably reduced tuition costs) were as invested in the material as most of the private citizens, some much more so. I’m not sure how you overcome a lack of interest or will. I can make someone sit through a course and that person might get nothing out.
I also don’t know how to quantify what is “enough” training, for lack of a better world. I have done a number of courses at this point. I would still describe myself as “Intermediate” and when I take courses now I generally still get something out of each course. In addition to this, techniques change over time. I’ve seen it in just my years of training with regards to use of lights and I have talked to officers of varying ages and they have seen tactics and techniques change as well. Defining a set number of courses that means a person is ready to risk their life in defense of others seems nearly impossible, and to a point self defeating. Training is something you want to keep doing.
In an ideal world all officers would be excellently trained, in good physical fitness, know the layout of the building, the list goes on. We don’t live in an ideal world. At Uvalde children were being executed. Standing by while that happened is unforgivable, imo, training or no, and being willing to do that for the length of time at question here is to me emblematic of a problem that goes a lot deeper than lack of training.
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