4 ms·

To paraphrase someone I know, "once they run out of criminals, they'll just start catching people they don't like". Once they have this ability, it will be muc

by bserge 6y ago

To paraphrase someone I know, "once they run out of criminals, they'll just start catching people they don't like". Once they have this ability, it will be much harder to make them give it up.

dane-pgp 6y ago
> "once they run out of criminals, they'll just start catching people they don't like". Or, just as likely, "once they can catch the people they don't like, they won't need to bother catching the people that you think are criminals".
nobody9999 6y ago
>To paraphrase someone I know, "once they run out of criminals, they'll just start catching people they don't like". >Once they have this ability, it will be much harder to make them give it up. There's an argument to be made that this is already happening and, in fact, has been happening for decades. I'm of course referring to the "War on Drugs." There's quite a bit of analysis in the literature to show that restrictions on mind-altering substances was explicitly introduced to disadvantage particular populations. What's more, despite popular perception[0], the "crime" rate is at its lowest levels in more than 50 years[1], yet we continue to fund[2] law "enforcement" at levels even higher than when we were at the peak of the "crime" rate during that time. So. Since crime rates have plummeted, yet we're spending more than ever, it's likely your paraphrase is already the case right now. More's the pity. [0] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/americas-faulty-perception-crime-rates https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/amer... [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about... [2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-04/america-s-policing-budget-has-nearly-tripled-to-115-billion https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-04/america-s...
- dvtrn 6y ago
  >Once they have this ability, it will be much harder to make them give it up. There's an argument to be made that this is already happening and, in fact, has been happening for decades. Notable examples are RICO Laws, FISA courts and the PATRIOT act. So. Yes.
- WorldMaker 6y ago
  Having watched the newspaper coverage of the debacle involving Breonna Taylor with neighborhood interest, it's very clear how much the War on Drugs has caused so much pain for so little gain. There are so many facts involved that make it harder and harder to not cynically and conspiratorially believe there was some sort of personal vendetta involved and the media circus a cover up (the latest word is the city's Drug Enforcement SWAT team throwing the cops involved under the bus for not complying with Drug Enforcement accountability procedures in a warrant search involving a person's residence and throwing the entire department under the bus for trying to execute too many warrants at the same time spreading itself too thin and not following procedures). Occam's Razor still suggests outrageous ineptitude was involved, and the feeling of a conspiracy is just cops doing what they always do and protecting their own as long as they can before only breaking ranks just when public scrutiny gets too tough. (But the detective that put together the residential warrant "bundled" it with a bunch of non-residential warrants, nearly burying/hiding it, when it took it to the Judge to be signed, and then again the SWAT team now says that the residential warrant execution plan was buried in the same swamp of non-residential warrant executions, and it's really hard to keep from wondering if that was malice or incompetence as all these details come out. Was it personal? Or was it dumb luck? I can't even tell which is worse at this point, because either seems to show a lack of responsibility, and both are worsened by likely what will continue to be a lack of consequences or atonement.)

by bserge 6y ago

To paraphrase someone I know, "once they run out of criminals, they'll just start catching people they don't like". Once they have this ability, it will be much harder to make them give it up.

dane-pgp 6y ago

> "once they run out of criminals, they'll just start catching people they don't like". Or, just as likely, "once they can catch the people they don't like, they won't need to bother catching the people that you think are criminals".

nobody9999 6y ago

>To paraphrase someone I know, "once they run out of criminals, they'll just start catching people they don't like". >Once they have this ability, it will be much harder to make them give it up. There's an argument to be made that this is already happening and, in fact, has been happening for decades. I'm of course referring to the "War on Drugs." There's quite a bit of analysis in the literature to show that restrictions on mind-altering substances was explicitly introduced to disadvantage particular populations. What's more, despite popular perception[0], the "crime" rate is at its lowest levels in more than 50 years[1], yet we continue to fund[2] law "enforcement" at levels even higher than when we were at the peak of the "crime" rate during that time. So. Since crime rates have plummeted, yet we're spending more than ever, it's likely your paraphrase is already the case right now. More's the pity. [0] https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/americas-faulty-perception-crime-rates https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/amer... [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/10/17/facts-about... [2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-04/america-s-policing-budget-has-nearly-tripled-to-115-billion https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-04/america-s...

dvtrn 6y ago
>Once they have this ability, it will be much harder to make them give it up. There's an argument to be made that this is already happening and, in fact, has been happening for decades. Notable examples are RICO Laws, FISA courts and the PATRIOT act. So. Yes.
WorldMaker 6y ago
Having watched the newspaper coverage of the debacle involving Breonna Taylor with neighborhood interest, it's very clear how much the War on Drugs has caused so much pain for so little gain. There are so many facts involved that make it harder and harder to not cynically and conspiratorially believe there was some sort of personal vendetta involved and the media circus a cover up (the latest word is the city's Drug Enforcement SWAT team throwing the cops involved under the bus for not complying with Drug Enforcement accountability procedures in a warrant search involving a person's residence and throwing the entire department under the bus for trying to execute too many warrants at the same time spreading itself too thin and not following procedures). Occam's Razor still suggests outrageous ineptitude was involved, and the feeling of a conspiracy is just cops doing what they always do and protecting their own as long as they can before only breaking ranks just when public scrutiny gets too tough. (But the detective that put together the residential warrant "bundled" it with a bunch of non-residential warrants, nearly burying/hiding it, when it took it to the Judge to be signed, and then again the SWAT team now says that the residential warrant execution plan was buried in the same swamp of non-residential warrant executions, and it's really hard to keep from wondering if that was malice or incompetence as all these details come out. Was it personal? Or was it dumb luck? I can't even tell which is worse at this point, because either seems to show a lack of responsibility, and both are worsened by likely what will continue to be a lack of consequences or atonement.)