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The problems you point out support the rationale for the decentralized nature of US police authority. In the US, federal, state, and local police authorities ar
by gwright 8y ago
The problems you point out support the rationale for the decentralized nature of US police authority. In the US, federal, state, and local police authorities are for the most part independent from each other. I believe this is quite unusual if you were to survey the structure of police authority in other countries. This is one way to mitigate the "blast radius" of corrupt officials.
While I agree that there are some structural problems with policing (militarization, over-reliance on guns, prioritizing officer safety over citizen safety), I don't think "completely tear[ing]" it down is a wise course.
- wallace_f 8y agoDemocratization and decentralization go hand in hand. I dont know how people forget that. If you read about Hitler's rise, at the time one of his problems was the democratization in Germany of policing. They were basically independent throughout the country, and many signalled independence, and even disobedience. He needed control of them through an authoritarian hierarchy so that's what he did, he centralized policing.