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>The officer said, ‘When I find someone with one of these knives, sometimes I arrest him, sometimes I give him a summons, sometimes I just let him go.’ ” Galluz
by xkcd-sucks 9y ago
>The officer said, ‘When I find someone with one of these knives, sometimes I arrest him, sometimes I give him a summons, sometimes I just let him go.’ ” Galluzzo’s partner, Zachary Johnson, also a former district attorney in Manhattan, adds that such discretion is supposed to be exercised by prosecutors, not cops on the beat. “An officer should be making an arrest every time or none of the time,” Johnson says. “Otherwise it’s just not fair.”
- mattmanser 9y agoI don't understand. Why is it fair if that decision just happens a bit further up the chain? What's the difference?
- rblatz 9y agoPaper trails, and accountability.
- stefco_ 9y agoThere is a paper trail and oversite further up the chain. This might improve if officers all wear body cameras, but for now, it can create a situation where some demographics get an unfair amount of attention from the police while unaffected demographics are completely unaffected. Because records are not systematically kept, it is easier for a systematic asymmetry to remain obscured.
- steanne 9y agonot agreeing with it here, but i CAN see a difference: paperwork and accountability. when a cop lets someone go, it happens before the incident has any records that someone could use to audit the decision.
- curun1r 9y agoBeyond the other answers you've received that mention the paper trail, district attorneys are elected officials and police officers aren't. The citizens of a city choose the district attorney as a proxy to make decisions for them. They don't have that input when it comes to choosing police officers. The competitiveness of local elections and the level to which voters are informed aside, that is an important difference.
- greedo 9y agoThe last thing the world needs is cops that don't have discretion. Imagine when our AI robot overlords are in LE; the number of citations/arrests will go through the rough since most Americans break a law or regulation on a daily basis.
- rtpg 9y agoThe "everyone's always breaking laws" trope is a bit tired. It's like saying "most programs crash on a daily basis because computers are soooo fast and there are soooo many crashing opportunities". You going about your daily business will probably not be breaking laws. If you're running a grocery store, however.....
- greedo 9y agoLaws and regulations... Do you ever speed? Do you know how far ahead you're required to signal before making a turn or changing lanes? Is the setback on your house's lot correct for your fence? Is your pet licensed? Did you keep accurate records of all charitable donations on your last tax return? The list of laws and regulations that are in effect in the US is enormous. Luckily most of them aren't enforced consistently.
- empath75 9y agoIf we have too many laws then the problem is the laws. If cops were arresting white drug users at the rate they arrest minorities, drugs would have been legal years ago.