4 ms·

I honestly don’t know why police don’t first and foremost do social work, helping out their communities (visiting elderly, helping folks with disabilities, help

I honestly don’t know why police don’t first and foremost do social work, helping out their communities (visiting elderly, helping folks with disabilities, helping collect data, repair or fix ailing public facilities, etc) instead of putting them in jail and fining them. Call me crazy, but what a wonderful world that would be... if people saw a cop and thought “fuck yeah, this person is here to help me,” rather than “find or create a situation in which I’ve done something wrong and will be punished.” We are all long-term pretty fucked as long as we have institutions devoted to our worst selves. As another commenter said, we need to incentivize better behavior if we want it...

zik 7y ago
When I was a child I read picture story books which taught me that this was the purpose of police - to help citizens. They showed old ladies being helped across the road by humble bobbies and exhorted me to seek the nearest policeman if I ever became lost. In adulthood it didn't take too many encounters with actual police to realise that they don't see their purpose the same way AT ALL.
- mnm1 7y ago
  Parents should be more responsible and teach their kids about police. One bad encounter can be the end of their child's life. Letting them read things like this without providing a realistic perspective is quite irresponsible, IMO. I grew up in a society where no one was deluded like this about the role of police. We all knew they were evil and out to hurt or kill us. Those lessons paid off after I moved to America. Here the cops are just as bad but many people kid themselves into thinking they are not. That's a delusional society.
  - amfsn 7y ago
    Cops in the US are out there to hurt you or kill you? Talk about delusional.
heimatau 7y ago
This would help with all the PTSD that cops face. The job is hard. This would humanize the trouble by reducing the stress in their work environment. Please keep advocating this idea, since it's novel but probably very effective to help society mend it's issues with law enforcement.
tehjoker 7y ago
Police are internal security. They are there to protect those with property from those that do not. They rarely are able to prevent crime, and only lazily follow up afterwards unless a fellow officer is insulted or injured, in which case they are completely aggressive.* Given the level of investment, this entire system is totally unable to deliver justice or peace, it just batters the less fortunate. We need fewer police, less segregation, and more wealth distributed to more people. When people don't need to struggle to get what they need, they trust their neighbors and productive social relationships are possible. * Just today I learned about an incident where the Philly police literally bombed a residential neighborhood in 1985 "like Vietnam": https://mashable.com/2016/01/10/1985-move-bombing/ https://mashable.com/2016/01/10/1985-move-bombing/
- Mirioron 7y ago
  But if the police also helped the local community, then they'd be perceived in a much more friendly manner. These positive feelings could make policemen seem like pillars of communities again.
  - pm90 7y ago
    While quite possible, it’s important to point out that police are tools of the state. The areas that the State considers respect worthy get better treatment. The police have thus been wielded for pretty inhumane purposes; and we need to view them with a very honest and critical eye.
  - tehjoker 7y ago
    If the hall monitor is nice to you one time, they're still gonna tell teacher unless they're also corrupt.
tathougies 7y ago
In my experience as a brown man, police are perenially helpful and nice.
SllX 7y ago
Right there in the name: Police Officers. First and foremost, their job is to police society on behalf of whoever is in charge here. They don’t answer to just anyone, they answer to the people that sign their paychecks, and while on some level that might be you or I when we pay our taxes, it is actually the local Chief of Police, who in turn is paid by the Mayor or whatever the local executive body is, who in turn has his own ambitions which are balanced against the interests of his constituents. But since he is only human, his ambitions generally win out whenever and however possible. In every city in every century, you’ve had an upper class, a working class and a dissatisfied class. Some members of the upper class might be less than satisfied because they’re not the mofo in charge today. Some members of the working class might be dissatisfied because they just got stiffed by whoever writes their checks and they went home to find another guy in bed with their wife. In either case, the police might be a nice cudgel to have, but it isn’t always the best one for the job at hand. Members of the dissatisfied class are professionally dissatisfied for lack of any other profession. The police are around to deal with them and any dodgy looking outsiders that wander into town. If a rich aristocrat has a well paid job for them or their good buddy from the bakery down the road needs help teaching an adulterous woman and her last night’s partner a lesson, the police are absolutely there to help “you”. Otherwise their business is that of policing society and enforcing some codes of conduct. They might be common things that people do, don’t do and their common expectations as to what happens when they do or don’t do those things; or codified on some stone tablets for all of civilization to see; or simply a canonical list of vices and virtues. Either way, it’s a good stick to beat the dissatisfied with and someone needs to do it. Social work isn’t police work, police work is preventing the complete breakdown of society by the judicious application of the State’s monopoly on violence over a sufficiently large area.

zik 7y ago

When I was a child I read picture story books which taught me that this was the purpose of police - to help citizens. They showed old ladies being helped across the road by humble bobbies and exhorted me to seek the nearest policeman if I ever became lost. In adulthood it didn't take too many encounters with actual police to realise that they don't see their purpose the same way AT ALL.

mnm1 7y ago
Parents should be more responsible and teach their kids about police. One bad encounter can be the end of their child's life. Letting them read things like this without providing a realistic perspective is quite irresponsible, IMO. I grew up in a society where no one was deluded like this about the role of police. We all knew they were evil and out to hurt or kill us. Those lessons paid off after I moved to America. Here the cops are just as bad but many people kid themselves into thinking they are not. That's a delusional society.
- amfsn 7y ago
  Cops in the US are out there to hurt you or kill you? Talk about delusional.

heimatau 7y ago

This would help with all the PTSD that cops face. The job is hard. This would humanize the trouble by reducing the stress in their work environment. Please keep advocating this idea, since it's novel but probably very effective to help society mend it's issues with law enforcement.

tehjoker 7y ago

Police are internal security. They are there to protect those with property from those that do not. They rarely are able to prevent crime, and only lazily follow up afterwards unless a fellow officer is insulted or injured, in which case they are completely aggressive.* Given the level of investment, this entire system is totally unable to deliver justice or peace, it just batters the less fortunate. We need fewer police, less segregation, and more wealth distributed to more people. When people don't need to struggle to get what they need, they trust their neighbors and productive social relationships are possible. * Just today I learned about an incident where the Philly police literally bombed a residential neighborhood in 1985 "like Vietnam": https://mashable.com/2016/01/10/1985-move-bombing/ https://mashable.com/2016/01/10/1985-move-bombing/

Mirioron 7y ago
But if the police also helped the local community, then they'd be perceived in a much more friendly manner. These positive feelings could make policemen seem like pillars of communities again.
- pm90 7y ago
  While quite possible, it’s important to point out that police are tools of the state. The areas that the State considers respect worthy get better treatment. The police have thus been wielded for pretty inhumane purposes; and we need to view them with a very honest and critical eye.
- tehjoker 7y ago
  If the hall monitor is nice to you one time, they're still gonna tell teacher unless they're also corrupt.

tathougies 7y ago

In my experience as a brown man, police are perenially helpful and nice.

SllX 7y ago

Right there in the name: Police Officers. First and foremost, their job is to police society on behalf of whoever is in charge here. They don’t answer to just anyone, they answer to the people that sign their paychecks, and while on some level that might be you or I when we pay our taxes, it is actually the local Chief of Police, who in turn is paid by the Mayor or whatever the local executive body is, who in turn has his own ambitions which are balanced against the interests of his constituents. But since he is only human, his ambitions generally win out whenever and however possible. In every city in every century, you’ve had an upper class, a working class and a dissatisfied class. Some members of the upper class might be less than satisfied because they’re not the mofo in charge today. Some members of the working class might be dissatisfied because they just got stiffed by whoever writes their checks and they went home to find another guy in bed with their wife. In either case, the police might be a nice cudgel to have, but it isn’t always the best one for the job at hand. Members of the dissatisfied class are professionally dissatisfied for lack of any other profession. The police are around to deal with them and any dodgy looking outsiders that wander into town. If a rich aristocrat has a well paid job for them or their good buddy from the bakery down the road needs help teaching an adulterous woman and her last night’s partner a lesson, the police are absolutely there to help “you”. Otherwise their business is that of policing society and enforcing some codes of conduct. They might be common things that people do, don’t do and their common expectations as to what happens when they do or don’t do those things; or codified on some stone tablets for all of civilization to see; or simply a canonical list of vices and virtues. Either way, it’s a good stick to beat the dissatisfied with and someone needs to do it. Social work isn’t police work, police work is preventing the complete breakdown of society by the judicious application of the State’s monopoly on violence over a sufficiently large area.