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Does population size really matter? We are talking about interactions at most of a few people to a few people. Whether it be Auckland with a population of circa
by stuzenz 6y ago
Does population size really matter? We are talking about interactions at most of a few people to a few people. Whether it be Auckland with a population of circa a million or NY with their population - I don't think it matters when you are talking about the interactions of a few people.
I am a kiwi, but have lived in Japan for two decades as well. You could just about swap out my mentions of NZ for Japan as a second example, but I can see some comparison there not being considered fair either
I think it is fair to look for comparisons in other countries - my main point is that racial profiling happens in other countries too - but the acceptable professional standards for police engagement with the community are vastly different to what seems to be the norm in the States.
For where most of my life experience lies, whether it be Japan, Australia or New Zealand, people are not afraid or nervous of interacting with the police.
Some root cause analysis to shine the light on where the issues are would be helpful I think. I think racial issues are a partial-cause - but there are racial issues in NZ, Japan and Australia where you don't have anything like the same aggressive nature of police interaction.
It just feels like the U.S. discourse on the subject is on the side effects versus the root cause. I could be wrong - but would love to see it discussed.
- blastonico 6y agoPoints that I see different are: - there're terrorists, they have attacked the US and might try to attack again. Police is the 1st line of defense. - Both Japan and NZ are island s. Border control is easier to some extent. There criminals crossing borders with drugs and other illegal stuff - and illegal immigrants as well. - Social differences: hundreds of billionaires, billions of poor people. - Race differences: people from every part of the world wants to live there. So there's a considerable number of Latins, Asians, Middle East, Africans, plus the racial issues with afro descents. It's not easy to provide security to all those differences, each has their own culture.
- stuzenz 6y agoI think the article linked by @antoncohen sums up the situation nicely: https://medium.com/s/story/fearing-for-our-lives-82ad7eb7d75f https://medium.com/s/story/fearing-for-our-lives-82ad7eb7d75... I don't think the reasons you have given should give the U.S police license to default act aggressively towards others - due to being in fear of their lives. From my perspective, the U.S. police are not in fear of their lives through fear of immigrants or terrorists. They are trained to be in fear of someone having a gun pointed at them.
- jatone 6y agoalmost none of those issues are handled by local police forces beyond being manpower arm to other federal agencies. and racial issues are a major component to what these protests are about our current policing system doesn't work well w/ diverse populations. arrest related deaths top 1k/year (bjs.gov) in the US that means every 3 years police kill more people than the largest terrorist attack in US history. they are far more dangerous than any terrorist group to american lives. so yeah reforming them is probably a good idea.
- blastonico 6y agoPlease, don't get me wrong, I have all the respect to NZ, that I consider a heaven in the Earth. My initial sentence might have sounded harsh but I didn't mean to.
- stuzenz 6y agoNo, not taking anything the wrong way. I wanted to get some views and you are providing them - thanks for that 'kia mihi'