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In most of the world the police could beat you to death with video evidence and they’d get away with it. Competent, professional more or less upright police are

In most of the world the police could beat you to death with video evidence and they’d get away with it. Competent, professional more or less upright police are not the worldwide or historical norm. In most of the world the police are the biggest gang. Police in the US are the very model of probity, courtesy and professionalism compared to almost every country in the Western Hemisphere, never mind African, Arab or Asian police.

_lessthan0 7y ago
lmao, unless you are not a white hetero male. US police are most likely the worst in the west.
- moate 7y ago
  Eh. Latin America has had plenty of well documented problems with police.
- whenchamenia 7y ago
  Even that doesnt help if you dont look like the right kind of white hetero male. Lets not muddy the water with identity politics please.
chmod775 7y ago
> Police in the US are the very model of probity, courtesy and professionalism compared to almost every country in the Western Hemisphere You specified western Hemisphere, which includes only the eastmost edge of Europe, but still leaves (half) of the UK, France and also Canada and Ireland. US police is hardly going to beat those on many positive metrics. Odd choice of geographic region for such a comparison in any case.
- homonculus1 7y ago
  "Worse than these four" can still be "better than most". There is nothing you said that contradicts GP.
  - chmod775 7y ago
    I was strongly hinting that he probably meant western countries or maybe just developed countries, not western hemisphere. The latter is like competing with your college football team against a selection of mostly primary schoolers and declaring you're doing fine. That's just not an aspirational goal or useful comparison.
wolco 7y ago
The policing can very so much in the US. You have regions where cops will try to seize money / property from innocent travelers as part of county funding instead of raising taxes. The punishments can vary so much. Private prisons create this profit incentive to jail more people. Prisions should be a cost center not a profit center.
- ultrarunner 7y ago
  Private prisons are an awful situation, but last I’d seen they comprised a small percentage of incarcerations. While they’re part of the problem, I think they are more a symptom of the brokenness of the criminal justice system than the cause.
  - ultrarunner 7y ago
    I found a ProPublica article with broken links to government sources that says around 8% of prisoners were housed in private prisons in 2010. A Pew Research article[0] shows that private prisons have housed between 5-8%, but in 2016 out of 2,162,400 total prisoners[1] only 128,063 of them were in private prisons[2], which is about 6%. I wholeheartedly agree that 6% of the prison population (128,063 people!) is a situation worthwhile of positive change. But I remain skeptical that it's those damn private prisons that are ruining everything. Mostly I think it's debacles like the drug war that need real immediate attention and change before things will significantly improve. [0]https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/11/u-s-private-prison-population-has-declined-in-recent-years/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/11/u-s-private... [1]https://www.bjs.gov/content/keystatistics/csv/Total_correctional_population_counts_by_status.csv https://www.bjs.gov/content/keystatistics/csv/Total_correcti... [2]https://www.criminaljusticeprograms.com/articles/private-prisons-vs-public-prisons/ https://www.criminaljusticeprograms.com/articles/private-pri... again citing the BJS.

_lessthan0 7y ago

lmao, unless you are not a white hetero male. US police are most likely the worst in the west.

moate 7y ago
Eh. Latin America has had plenty of well documented problems with police.
whenchamenia 7y ago
Even that doesnt help if you dont look like the right kind of white hetero male. Lets not muddy the water with identity politics please.

chmod775 7y ago

> Police in the US are the very model of probity, courtesy and professionalism compared to almost every country in the Western Hemisphere You specified western Hemisphere, which includes only the eastmost edge of Europe, but still leaves (half) of the UK, France and also Canada and Ireland. US police is hardly going to beat those on many positive metrics. Odd choice of geographic region for such a comparison in any case.

homonculus1 7y ago
"Worse than these four" can still be "better than most". There is nothing you said that contradicts GP.
- chmod775 7y ago
  I was strongly hinting that he probably meant western countries or maybe just developed countries, not western hemisphere. The latter is like competing with your college football team against a selection of mostly primary schoolers and declaring you're doing fine. That's just not an aspirational goal or useful comparison.

wolco 7y ago

The policing can very so much in the US. You have regions where cops will try to seize money / property from innocent travelers as part of county funding instead of raising taxes. The punishments can vary so much. Private prisons create this profit incentive to jail more people. Prisions should be a cost center not a profit center.

ultrarunner 7y ago
Private prisons are an awful situation, but last I’d seen they comprised a small percentage of incarcerations. While they’re part of the problem, I think they are more a symptom of the brokenness of the criminal justice system than the cause.
- ultrarunner 7y ago
  I found a ProPublica article with broken links to government sources that says around 8% of prisoners were housed in private prisons in 2010. A Pew Research article[0] shows that private prisons have housed between 5-8%, but in 2016 out of 2,162,400 total prisoners[1] only 128,063 of them were in private prisons[2], which is about 6%. I wholeheartedly agree that 6% of the prison population (128,063 people!) is a situation worthwhile of positive change. But I remain skeptical that it's those damn private prisons that are ruining everything. Mostly I think it's debacles like the drug war that need real immediate attention and change before things will significantly improve. [0]https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/11/u-s-private-prison-population-has-declined-in-recent-years/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/11/u-s-private... [1]https://www.bjs.gov/content/keystatistics/csv/Total_correctional_population_counts_by_status.csv https://www.bjs.gov/content/keystatistics/csv/Total_correcti... [2]https://www.criminaljusticeprograms.com/articles/private-prisons-vs-public-prisons/ https://www.criminaljusticeprograms.com/articles/private-pri... again citing the BJS.