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In the US, the police force is locally raised and what training they receive at the police academy is short and poor. There is no attempt to form them into an a
by HarryHirsch 7y ago
In the US, the police force is locally raised and what training they receive at the police academy is short and poor. There is no attempt to form them into an anonymous "arm of the law", they are just locals enforcing local mores. If the people would approve of the sheriff jailing a black teenager by mistaking the birdshit on his car for cocaine (https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmj9gx/nothings-happening-to-the-officer-who-misidentified-bird-shit-as-cocaine-in-the-arrest-of-a-young-black-man https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/zmj9gx/nothings-happening...), the cops will do just that.
That would explain why even when people distrust the government they approve of the police, simply because they are not the government from far away imposing an alien law, they are the local posse keeping order.
- deogeo 7y agoAs a counterpoint, the Chinese police in Hong Kong are exactly an anonymous arm of the law (masks included), specifically because it would be harder to get locals to be so cruel to their own. It's little surprise people want to keep at least some sovereignty local.
- satya71 7y agoDepends on the who the "own" is. Local police in most cities are quite brutal to people of color.