You don’t have to hope they quit because they do it every day. Tens of thousands of good police officers leave the job every year.
And since you seem to have a handle what specifically needs to be done I am hoping to be able to read your point-by-point guide of how to solve violent and property crimes that happen hundreds of thousands of times a year in the United States. I can hardly wait as I am sure we can get right on it to magically create the world you envision.
Better education, better healthcare (free at the point of use), sensible drug laws, a serious crackdown on violence and racism in the police force, a living minimum wage. These would all help alleviate crime. Massively. As for solving the crime that you would still have, because you’re dealing with humans, and nothing is ever perfect,a police force that people actually trusted, because they knew that they weren’t going to fit them up, or outright murder them, would help a lot with that. As would better training, more beat officers and less patrol cars. I could go on.
Wow, now that is a point of view only a cloistered and privileged person could have. It has no relation to the real world and paints the victims of decades of systemic abuse as the root cause.
The police are given great discretion in the application and enforcement of the law. When wealthy/white and poor/black commit the same offense, the police will most often give the wealthy/white person a warning and send them on their way and will most often arrest the poor/black person. This has been demonstrated again and again so that discussion should be closed at this point. The only people I see still spewing the brand of crap you’re selling are the apologist and authoritarians.
But go ahead and blame the forest for the fire.
What law did Freddie Gray break? Oh, I remember, he made eye contact with a cop and decided to run. So, no law. Freddie Grey was murdered and committed no crime and broke no law.
What about the protesters? What law are they breaking? Oh, I remember… none. What they are doing is protected from governmental retaliation or action by amendment one of our constitution.
What crime did Tamir Rice commit? Right right right! He was playing in the park with a toy so they did a drive by and murdered him.
Try being a bit less evil. Your life will change for the better.
I agree completely. Unfortunately, police departments will turn you away if your IQ is too high. So, I suppose it’s too much to ask the police to use critical thinking.
edit to add: I just made the connection between the tone of your posts and the low IQ requirement for police service and now I have a question…
Are you a cop?
Oatmeal is cooked. Possibly the use of some critical thinking skills on the part of people capable of…
(also, WELCOME new commenter!)
Like that time that one guy came home and didn’t have his key?
Or the kid with the toy on a playground?
In these cases there were literally no laws being broken. The police have been given a hammer with humvees and flak vests and every phone call looks like a nail.
Speaking of flawed logic. If only 2% of interactions with police can be characterized as the police committing crimes and murdering the innocent then there is a serious problem that needs resolution. The number should be zero.
But, by your logic, if the number of good encounters far exceeds the number of murderous encounters then there is “no problem at all”. All I can conclude from your posts is that you believe there is an acceptable number of murders committed by the police. Those of us who don’t have the benefit of your great intellect and elite education are disadvantaged. After all, we tend to see the murder of even one citizen at the hands of the people who have sworn to protect them as a problem.
Yes. I agree. It would have been more convincing in deed. I guess I will have to delete myself now and start over. Thanks.
That is an incorrect conclusion. But you seem to be prone to those. One is too many. But the number isn’t anywhere near 2%. However, that isn’t my point or reason for posting. The ideas that are flawed here aren’t that something needs to change or that there are underlying systemic problems. There are. The flaw is in trying to cast an entire profession as having a problem when there is no basis for such an assertion. There are cases where there are clear issues with police but there are exponentially many more that support the idea that most police are doing their job in a proper manner. That is the sole issue I take with the rhetoric. Everyone here seems to want to throw the baby out with the bath water.
If the police did their job in the proper manner as you suppose, wouldn’t it follow that we would see the police arresting other police and the DA prosecuting them to the full extent of law in the same manner as the citizenry? Yet, this is not what happens. A cop being arrested by a cop is the exception in cases of police violence rather than the rule. In most cases they are protected by a blue wall of silence, given leave, and placed back on duty in short order.
Another problem with your position is that it requires you posit that the black community is lying when they tell us about decades of systemic violence against them. In other words, you have to be an aberrant person and a bigot to believe that there is something different about black people and that the black community is trying to get away with something.
You may have noticed my arguments are sprinkled with ad hominem. That’s due to my belief in the importance of publicly ridiculing racist bigots such as yourself.
Exactly! That’s a perfect example of the apologism I was describing, thank you for demonstrating it for me. Your implication is that because I cannot account for every possible scenario and technical detail involved in a new way of doing things, therefore the status quo is justified. It’s the bedrock of conservative/reactionary philosophy, and it represents an obvious cognitive bias: You exaggerate possible negative aspects of a new system because they are unfamiliar, while you ignore negative aspects of the current system because you have become so accustomed to them that they don’t even register.
Aside from which, there are plenty of great alternative approaches to maintaining public safety and social peace without involving the police.
Consider for a moment that people who are saying “abolish the police” are not crazy chaos-junkies, but have actually given careful and serious thought to the situation and possible solutions, and that’s what we’ve come up with. Then check those links.
Yet not even one idea. Thank you for making my point.
