Nothing is worse than a mandatory meeting with boring training videos, that’s why it’s a breath of fresh air to hear that someone is out there using Patrick Swayze’s classic turn in Road House as a teaching film for some people on the job. The only problem is that job happens to be with the NYPD. Certainly adds a tinge of sh*t to that breath of air, doesn’t it?
The New York Post is reporting that the NYPD is using the clip above as part of a retraining course for nearly 22,000 police officers, possibly stemming from an earlier report where trainees were falling asleep during lectures. From The NY Post:
The clip had the audience at the Police Academy smirking and stifling laughter.
“It’s just ridiculous, the stuff they’re showing us,” the cop said. “It’s crazy. They’re showing us something from a movie and they want us to act like that in real life. It’s not realistic — it’s Hollywood.”
The use of “Road House” as a training tool was revealed after The Post exclusively reported that the lecture portions of the sessions were so boring that many cops have been falling asleep in their seats.
Cops also told The Post that they were told to “take a step back, close your eyes and take a deep breath” when dealing with angry people, despite the potential danger in that advice.
The Post adds that police officials were officially denying that last bit, but not the Road House portion of the story. And why would you? Road House is the classic of our time. One of those weird tail end of the decade 80s movies that truly teaches with every scene. I just doubt it’s teaching the right things for a police officer. I mean there’s a fight every five minutes in this movie, it’s insane.
Being a cop is damn tough and we’re currently seeing some rough moments involving police. The required scope of the law is in question, so I can understand needing to fix that image, I just don’t think this is the right direction. Next up, they’ll be showing Who’s The Man? for proper donut etiquette:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob7Fin6aVtA
(Via New York Post / Gawker)