4 ms·

At my polling place (an elementary school gymnasium) the officer was in the entrance/hallway on his phone the entire time. Probably some easy OT for a day of mo

At my polling place (an elementary school gymnasium) the officer was in the entrance/hallway on his phone the entire time. Probably some easy OT for a day of more or less basically being a hall monitor.

gwright 5y ago
Part of being a police officer (perhaps a huge part) is simply being present and visible. This "presence" generally coincides with any large gathering of people. It seems completely normal to me for a police officer to be there and to have not to have been needed. Sounds like a peaceful event.
- chrisseaton 5y ago
  Presumably-armed police loitering outside a democratic process even when there's nothing going wrong seems very strange to people outside the US.
  - bluGill 5y ago
    Places where where the police are there to ensure people vote the right way should be concerned. The US (and the other countries where readers of this likely live) doesn't have a history of forcing people to vote "the right way", which in turn means nobody worry's about it. Those (perhaps the majority of people on earth!) who live in a place where how you vote isn't actually something you are sure is your personal choice have reason to be concerned.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      I thought police unions in the US often explicitly declared support for particular candidates? That'd be unthinkable in most countries.
      - bluGill 5y ago
        The unions do. However the police officers do not do anything about people voting against the union candidates. That is police officers may want you to vote some way, but they still defend your right to vote against them. (at least for now)
  - gwright 5y ago
    I don't think it is helpful to use language like "loitering". The police are present at high school football games, beaches during the summer, festivals, parades, large town meetings, etc. That isn't "loitering", that is just standard policing. FWIW, the US has very decentralized policing, which is different than many other countries where the police force operates at the national level. Not sure if that is affecting the way people are thinking about this though. If you told me the FBI was present at a voting location I would wonder what is going on. Local police officer, nope.
    - chrisseaton 5y ago
      > The police are present at high school football games, beaches during the summer These aren't normal for a western democracy, if you were wondering.
      - gwright 5y ago
        I can't speak for "western democracy", just my experience in the US.

gwright 5y ago

Part of being a police officer (perhaps a huge part) is simply being present and visible. This "presence" generally coincides with any large gathering of people. It seems completely normal to me for a police officer to be there and to have not to have been needed. Sounds like a peaceful event.

chrisseaton 5y ago
Presumably-armed police loitering outside a democratic process even when there's nothing going wrong seems very strange to people outside the US.
- bluGill 5y ago
  Places where where the police are there to ensure people vote the right way should be concerned. The US (and the other countries where readers of this likely live) doesn't have a history of forcing people to vote "the right way", which in turn means nobody worry's about it. Those (perhaps the majority of people on earth!) who live in a place where how you vote isn't actually something you are sure is your personal choice have reason to be concerned.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    I thought police unions in the US often explicitly declared support for particular candidates? That'd be unthinkable in most countries.
    - bluGill 5y ago
      The unions do. However the police officers do not do anything about people voting against the union candidates. That is police officers may want you to vote some way, but they still defend your right to vote against them. (at least for now)
- gwright 5y ago
  I don't think it is helpful to use language like "loitering". The police are present at high school football games, beaches during the summer, festivals, parades, large town meetings, etc. That isn't "loitering", that is just standard policing. FWIW, the US has very decentralized policing, which is different than many other countries where the police force operates at the national level. Not sure if that is affecting the way people are thinking about this though. If you told me the FBI was present at a voting location I would wonder what is going on. Local police officer, nope.
  - chrisseaton 5y ago
    > The police are present at high school football games, beaches during the summer These aren't normal for a western democracy, if you were wondering.
    - gwright 5y ago
      I can't speak for "western democracy", just my experience in the US.