4 ms·

The curious thing is that police-forces are paid for by state and local taxes. Why is no one advocating cutting their funding until come into compliance with ce

The curious thing is that police-forces are paid for by state and local taxes. Why is no one advocating cutting their funding until come into compliance with certain higher standards?

gnaritas 11y ago
Because that's "being soft on crime" which will lose you an election here. The propaganda machine makes it very hard to oppose the police.
- rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
  Go after pensions and overtime pay (for bs like court appearances) to compensate for lawsuits and the costs to society (hospital treatment to abused citizens) instead of regular day-to-day funds and you can hardly be called soft on crime. I think the more accurate term is "fiscally conservative."
  - gnaritas 11y ago
    > can hardly be called soft on crime Anything anti-police will be called soft on crime by the police union; politics doesn't care about reality, only about perception.
    - rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
      The opposition can easily spin the union as being soft-er on crime. Cop-on-civilian crime is still crime. If perception is all that counts in politics (and it is), use the opportunity to smear everyone connected to crooked cops, especially politicians. Use language like "state-sponsored murder" to rile up state-skeptical conservatives, who provide most of the police union support. If you have connections to the press, run stories like "Could Your Mayor Kill You (And Get Away With It)?" or if you're buzzfeed, "6 Ways Your Mayor Could Kill You (And Get Away With It)" or even "Your City's Death Squad (And The Lawyers Who Help With Murder)" Make people afraid for their lives and angry of the administration and it will put the administration on the defensive, which weakens the "soft on crime" tactic considerably. Once you've tapped into emotional reaction, it's hard to steer the brain back to logic.
- Lawtonfogle 11y ago
  So what you are telling me is that the people are being represented by who they elect. If the people want hard on crime to the point of violating civil rights and they get what they want, what is the issue? That a minority has to suffer because of the will of the majority... that is an inherent issue with democracy. Isn't there a quote that goes something like: People are ruled by the government they deserve.
  - lkbm 11y ago
    > Isn't there a quote that goes something like: People are ruled by the government they deserve. Minority groups aren't.
  - gnaritas 11y ago
    That might be true if you ignore the distorting effects of propaganda. What the people want, and what they can be made to believe they want through targeted media campaigns selling lies are not the same thing. Small groups with money can have out sized influence that distorts democracy in the short and medium term.
Thriptic 11y ago
People likely fear reprisals
jschwartzi 11y ago
Because if we do that the police become more susceptible to bribery. We can't simply punish whole departments for individual conduct. What we have to do is catch individual cops breaking their cameras and then fire them.

The curious thing is that police-forces are paid for by state and local taxes. Why is no one advocating cutting their funding until come into compliance with certain higher standards?

gnaritas 11y ago

Because that's "being soft on crime" which will lose you an election here. The propaganda machine makes it very hard to oppose the police.

rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
Go after pensions and overtime pay (for bs like court appearances) to compensate for lawsuits and the costs to society (hospital treatment to abused citizens) instead of regular day-to-day funds and you can hardly be called soft on crime. I think the more accurate term is "fiscally conservative."
- gnaritas 11y ago
  > can hardly be called soft on crime Anything anti-police will be called soft on crime by the police union; politics doesn't care about reality, only about perception.
  - rm_-rf_slash 11y ago
    The opposition can easily spin the union as being soft-er on crime. Cop-on-civilian crime is still crime. If perception is all that counts in politics (and it is), use the opportunity to smear everyone connected to crooked cops, especially politicians. Use language like "state-sponsored murder" to rile up state-skeptical conservatives, who provide most of the police union support. If you have connections to the press, run stories like "Could Your Mayor Kill You (And Get Away With It)?" or if you're buzzfeed, "6 Ways Your Mayor Could Kill You (And Get Away With It)" or even "Your City's Death Squad (And The Lawyers Who Help With Murder)" Make people afraid for their lives and angry of the administration and it will put the administration on the defensive, which weakens the "soft on crime" tactic considerably. Once you've tapped into emotional reaction, it's hard to steer the brain back to logic.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
So what you are telling me is that the people are being represented by who they elect. If the people want hard on crime to the point of violating civil rights and they get what they want, what is the issue? That a minority has to suffer because of the will of the majority... that is an inherent issue with democracy. Isn't there a quote that goes something like: People are ruled by the government they deserve.
- lkbm 11y ago
  > Isn't there a quote that goes something like: People are ruled by the government they deserve. Minority groups aren't.
- gnaritas 11y ago
  That might be true if you ignore the distorting effects of propaganda. What the people want, and what they can be made to believe they want through targeted media campaigns selling lies are not the same thing. Small groups with money can have out sized influence that distorts democracy in the short and medium term.

Thriptic 11y ago

People likely fear reprisals

jschwartzi 11y ago

Because if we do that the police become more susceptible to bribery. We can't simply punish whole departments for individual conduct. What we have to do is catch individual cops breaking their cameras and then fire them.