4 ms·

This is fucked. You should never have to wait for a 911 call to be answered. Our society needs to do better. Can you share any insight into how things got so b

by nxc18 8y ago

This is fucked. You should never have to wait for a 911 call to be answered. Our society needs to do better. Can you share any insight into how things got so bad? What failure of politics or market forces led to this situation? What needs to change before everyone who needs help can get it when they need it?

briandear 8y ago
It’s a question of priorities. 911 doesn’t excite voters as much as a bike line or zoning. Government gets many fundamentals wrong: pothole repair and 911 are good examples. Instead the Oakland mayor (and mayors everywhere) prefer to grandstand on hot button issues rather than doing the actual hard work of running a city. This is why I am suspicious when people call for more government regulation; it isn’t because I disagree with the idea, but I am not confident when it comes to actual execution. It isn’t even about money — it’s about how that money is managed and allocated.
beenBoutIT 8y ago
Improving the 911 EMS system won't improve police response time in Oakland because Oakland, like most of the US, has an ongoing shortage of police officers. There isn't any easy way to make the job of a police officer more attractive.
- gascan 8y ago
  The hatred directed at police officers certainly doesn't help. The recent fury directed at the handful of police officers who did not enter this or that school with an active shooter comes to mind. People have the expectation that police officers are required to die for us. Imagine being told by someone who already hates you, that you are supposed to die for them. It feels like we are awfully entitled when it comes to the police. We expect them to serve us with the highest integrity, kindness, & selflessness, while offering them mediocre pay, disgust, & hatred in exchange.
  - philjohn 8y ago
    With all due respect, a lot of that hatred stems from the high profile cases where police have overstepped the bounds with little or no recourse. The body cam of that man in the hotel corridor being just one of the latest.
  - nrb 8y ago
    Perhaps it could also be at least partly related to the systemic and indiscriminate killing of people of color by police forces across the entire country. I can't say I blame would-be "good cop" cadets deciding not to join the force to be associated with these acts; the willingness to protect bad cops by leadership seems, from the outside, to mean the entire system is rotten and impossible to change from within.
    - AmericanChopper 8y ago
      Well that's certainly the narrative that drives it. However for something to be systemic, it has to be happening regularly everywhere. The people who promote this narrative can only really point to a couple of unjustified office involved shootings (which are of course a tragedies, but are in no way 'systemic'), and in reality spend most of their time complaining about perfectly justified shootings as a scapegoat for all of the genuine problems in their communities.
      - chipotle_coyote 8y ago
        In 2017, police killed 1,129 people. Were the vast majority of those "perfectly justified?" How about the vast majority of the 718 that were suspects in nonviolent offenses? Or the 147 that were unarmed? Are you sure? I'm not. The reason "the narrative" exists, I think, is that there's a widespread perception that regardless of the circumstances of the shooting -- even if the evidence clearly shows the police shot an unarmed victim in the back multiple times, for instance -- the police tend to get off on the grounds that they "felt threatened." This contributes to a feeling that the police are held to a lesser standard than non-police suspects, rather than the same standard.
- koverda 8y ago
  Increased pay.
  - sumedh 8y ago
    What if the city does not have the money?
    - namibj 8y ago
      Take the privilege to their own police away from them. Take the city through bankruptcy. Etc... It's not some poor human who has to suffer due to that, it's lenders who the city defaults on, and who should have thought better.

by nxc18 8y ago

briandear 8y ago

It’s a question of priorities. 911 doesn’t excite voters as much as a bike line or zoning. Government gets many fundamentals wrong: pothole repair and 911 are good examples. Instead the Oakland mayor (and mayors everywhere) prefer to grandstand on hot button issues rather than doing the actual hard work of running a city. This is why I am suspicious when people call for more government regulation; it isn’t because I disagree with the idea, but I am not confident when it comes to actual execution. It isn’t even about money — it’s about how that money is managed and allocated.

beenBoutIT 8y ago

Improving the 911 EMS system won't improve police response time in Oakland because Oakland, like most of the US, has an ongoing shortage of police officers. There isn't any easy way to make the job of a police officer more attractive.

gascan 8y ago
The hatred directed at police officers certainly doesn't help. The recent fury directed at the handful of police officers who did not enter this or that school with an active shooter comes to mind. People have the expectation that police officers are required to die for us. Imagine being told by someone who already hates you, that you are supposed to die for them. It feels like we are awfully entitled when it comes to the police. We expect them to serve us with the highest integrity, kindness, & selflessness, while offering them mediocre pay, disgust, & hatred in exchange.
- philjohn 8y ago
  With all due respect, a lot of that hatred stems from the high profile cases where police have overstepped the bounds with little or no recourse. The body cam of that man in the hotel corridor being just one of the latest.
- nrb 8y ago
  Perhaps it could also be at least partly related to the systemic and indiscriminate killing of people of color by police forces across the entire country. I can't say I blame would-be "good cop" cadets deciding not to join the force to be associated with these acts; the willingness to protect bad cops by leadership seems, from the outside, to mean the entire system is rotten and impossible to change from within.
  - AmericanChopper 8y ago
    Well that's certainly the narrative that drives it. However for something to be systemic, it has to be happening regularly everywhere. The people who promote this narrative can only really point to a couple of unjustified office involved shootings (which are of course a tragedies, but are in no way 'systemic'), and in reality spend most of their time complaining about perfectly justified shootings as a scapegoat for all of the genuine problems in their communities.
    - chipotle_coyote 8y ago
      In 2017, police killed 1,129 people. Were the vast majority of those "perfectly justified?" How about the vast majority of the 718 that were suspects in nonviolent offenses? Or the 147 that were unarmed? Are you sure? I'm not. The reason "the narrative" exists, I think, is that there's a widespread perception that regardless of the circumstances of the shooting -- even if the evidence clearly shows the police shot an unarmed victim in the back multiple times, for instance -- the police tend to get off on the grounds that they "felt threatened." This contributes to a feeling that the police are held to a lesser standard than non-police suspects, rather than the same standard.
koverda 8y ago
Increased pay.
- sumedh 8y ago
  What if the city does not have the money?
  - namibj 8y ago
    Take the privilege to their own police away from them. Take the city through bankruptcy. Etc... It's not some poor human who has to suffer due to that, it's lenders who the city defaults on, and who should have thought better.