Sure, but they also don't tend to regularly brutalize people they interact with, last I checked
Their funding also tends to be pretty shit. Maybe they'd be better if you swapped the relative pay around and whatnot? Just a thought.
That wont cut it. How will those folks without a gun deal with armed criminals?
I mean, presumably the same way cops tend to. Which is to say they
don't, because they show up after the armed criminals are gone and exist basically for cleanup and little else.
That the police system in the US is flawed is a no-brainer, but it doesn't follow that no police is needed.
I mean, have I suggested that, yet? I've noted they're mostly fucking useless and most of their money would be better off going elsewhere, but I don't recall saying anything about complete abolition, yet. I'm sympathetic that it might
take complete abolition and rebuilding from the ground up to do much about the situations in the states, but that's 'cause they're staggeringly fucked up and probably need to be pulled out root and all. But is there no place for 'em? I'unno. Most of the time it feels like they're already not here, so maybe it doesn't make much of a difference.
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Any case, if you want to see some representative suggestions (from the article linked above),
Instead of wasting time with minor tweaks, I recommend exploring the following ideas:
No more qualified immunity. Police officers should be personally liable for all decisions they make in the line of duty.
No more civil asset forfeiture. Did you know that every year, citizens like you lose more cash and property to unaccountable civil asset forfeiture than to all burglaries combined? The police can steal your stuff without charging you with a crime and it makes some police departments very rich.
Break the power of police unions. Police unions make it nearly impossible to fire bad cops and incentivize protecting them to protect the power of the union. A police union is not a labor union; police officers are powerful state agents, not exploited workers.
Require malpractice insurance. Doctors must pay for insurance in case they botch a surgery, police officers should do the same for botching a police raid or other use of force. If human decency won’t motivate police to respect human life, perhaps hitting their wallet might.
Defund, demilitarize, and disarm cops. Thousands of police departments own assault rifles, armored personnel carriers, and stuff you’d see in a warzone. Police officers have grants and huge budgets to spend on guns, ammo, body armor, and combat training. 99% of calls for service require no armed response, yet when all you have is a gun, every problem feels like target practice. Cities are not safer when unaccountable bullies have a monopoly on state violence and the equipment to execute that monopoly.
They're pretty decent ones.
