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By giving police the power to judiciate through selective enforcement of the rules, you are guaranteeing that there will be rampant abuse.

• Someone1234 11y ago
  Look at the UK. Police there have far more judicial discretion than is common in the US, but abuse/bribery/etc is incredibly low. Although it should be noted that UK police have no incentive to fine people, the department doesn't profit from it, whereas in the US a lot of departments are primarily financed through fines.
  • clock_tower 11y ago
    I think that that's the root of the problem, or at least a much bigger part of it than either political side is interested in letting on. Not everything is shaped by money, but when there's money involved, it's worthwhile to know what incentives it sets up...
• vkou 11y ago
  Except we already give them that power - see the all-too-common offenses of driving while black, contempt of cop, and the tried-and-true 'I'm pretty sure I smelled weed in the car'. On top of that, we also give prosecutors the power to judiciate selective enforcement.
• fnordfnordfnord 11y ago
  Replace the police with robots? No thanks.
• ectoplasm 11y ago
  But even just assigning someone to jaywalking duty is already selective enforcement. Even if the entire police force was on jaywalking duty, you couldn't catch all the jaywalkers in the city.