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> Defunding the police was never a sincerely held belief save the ideas that institutional racism be addressed and militarization of police disrupted. https://

> Defunding the police was never a sincerely held belief save the ideas that institutional racism be addressed and militarization of police disrupted. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abol... New York Times: “Yes, we mean Literally abolish the police”

dhosek 5y ago
One of my friends recently had her car damaged in a hit and run accident while it was parked. The cop who came to take the report bitched about how "the laws" make it hard to catch criminals, but pointedly didn't do anything about actually trying to gather evidence other than take a report. This is typical of most police reactions to crime: they'll fill out some paperwork so you can file an insurance claim but they won't bother to do any actual investigation. We don't need armed people roaming the streets to do that, it's a clerical job. After watching cops openly ignoring mask mandates over the last year and a half while they take their half-hour coffee breaks (drinking coffee for which they don't pay), I think that yes, we should literally abolish the police and replace them with something better. Right now, we're giving guns to the guys who were bullies and jerks in high school and acting surprised when they continue to bullies and jerks.
- BuyMyBitcoins 5y ago
  >I think that yes, we should literally abolish the police and replace them with something better. It’s really easy to say that but I have heard of no viable proposals to actually replace the police with “something better”. Nor do such proposals ever elaborate on how the new system would operate without vagaries and wonderful nice-to-haves like unconditional free housing for the homeless and UBI. It’s extraordinary easy to say a hypothetical system would be better. But how do you actually implement it? I also think those brutish types you mentioned from high school might be the only kind of people willing to accept the dangers and anti-social elements that officers have to put up with. If you thought working in retail was bad, the kinds of people the police have to deal with are in a league of their own.
  - reilly3000 5y ago
    Some of the models I’ve seen involve staffing social workers to accompany officers on calls with the charge of defuse situations and connecting people with services. It sounds promising. In any case, they both frequently interact with the same usual suspects- might as well be from the same car. Furthermore, that kind of partnership may diffuse some of the sort of macho banter between cops that seems to lead to embarrassing headlines.
    - ipaddr 5y ago
      I understand the thought behind this but in practice it is a bad idea. You put the social worker in dangerous situation by putting them on the frontline before the situation can be assessed. The social worker feels unsafe and needs to rely in the armed police. This dependency creates a bond and they become part of the thin blueline family. In the end you are back in the same situation. The other thing to consider is a social worker is many parent's worst nightmare. If they find the smallest issue during a police call your kids could be taken away. Many people are afraid to call the police because they will call a social worker. I see this policy affecting single poor mothers in a much worse way compared to now. The other issue is a social worker isn't a hostage / crisis manager. They are trained to do very different things.
      - evgen 5y ago
        > I understand the thought behind this but in practice it is a bad idea. So far it is turning out to be a rather good idea, and every claim you make regarding why this would be a problem is, in fact, untrue.
  - jakelazaroff 5y ago
    I’ll concede that advocates for defunding don’t have a great answer to violent criminals (although for some reason, the poor track record of our existing police is never called into question). But by even the most generous of estimates, only around 4% of police time is actually spent on violent crime [1]. Surely we can start by defunding the 96% of situations that don’t require paramilitary personnel, and figure out how to deal with violence if and when we get to that last 4%. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/upshot/unrest-police-time-violent-crime.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/upshot/unrest-police-time...
- hellbannedguy 5y ago
  They sure have time to write marginal/dubious traffic violations? I live in Marin County, and they wonder why voters won't pass their bond initiatives. My father's best friend was a lieutenant in Oakland PD. They were so close he gave my father a "Get out of jail free card". It was just a business card which was signed on the back. If you commited a crime, you pulled out the card; you were let go. My father got out of a DUI with it. (I don't think they are handed out anymore?) His friend was a level headed cop, a bit liberal for a cop even. My father always wanted to hear about the big cases, or criminals they caught. He finally told my father the truth. He told him we play chess in the basement for a good part of the day. He wasen't a beat cop. He was up their in rank. My father was incredulous. He just didn't like the idea of government employees not out fighting crime. I remember telling my father, I'd rather have a cop by a landline, rather than zooming around irritating citizens with pesky driving citations. We finally agreed on something.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    >His friend was a level headed cop A cop that lets people drive drunk without consequences is not level headed to me. Nor is one that specifically lets their friends be above the law, especially for offenses that endanger others. I would rather have cops ticketing motorists with excessively noisy vehicles, excessively bright lights, and who are not paying their vehicle taxes.
    - shkkmo 5y ago
      > A cop that lets people drive drunk without consequences is not level headed to me. Nor is one that specifically lets their friends be above the law The cop that let him drive drunk wasn't the "level headed" one, but a different one who pulled him over and decided to give him a pass based on the "get out of jail free" card. Those cards are not uncommon. They won't get you out of everything (it is up to the discretion of the cop you show it too) but they will get you out of a lot. [0] I think such obvious corruption and double standards should be illegal, but hey, what do I know? [0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7gxa4/pba-card-police-courtesy-cards https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7gxa4/pba-card-police-court...
- downWidOutaFite 5y ago
  Yes! I think a lot of people would get behind "Fix The Police" over "Fuck the Police". Both partisan sides have this weird cognitive dissonance where liberals support all unions except police unions while the right backs police unions unquestionably. I'm independent because the party I wish we had would not be fighting for more or less government, it would be fighting for high quality efficient government!
  - reilly3000 5y ago
    Yes! There is such a thing as good government, and to me that means good people with a well-defined purpose and adequate resources. Not everyone can agree on exactly what that should look like, but I take umbrage with the notion that good government doesn’t and can’t exist.
  - jkestner 5y ago
    Fix the Police has produced many feel-good policies that have not had an impact. Defund the Police at least gets people's attention. It may be opening the conversation to a range of options, but I’m afraid it may be also reflexively hardening some opinions. How do you define efficient government?

dhosek 5y ago

One of my friends recently had her car damaged in a hit and run accident while it was parked. The cop who came to take the report bitched about how "the laws" make it hard to catch criminals, but pointedly didn't do anything about actually trying to gather evidence other than take a report. This is typical of most police reactions to crime: they'll fill out some paperwork so you can file an insurance claim but they won't bother to do any actual investigation. We don't need armed people roaming the streets to do that, it's a clerical job. After watching cops openly ignoring mask mandates over the last year and a half while they take their half-hour coffee breaks (drinking coffee for which they don't pay), I think that yes, we should literally abolish the police and replace them with something better. Right now, we're giving guns to the guys who were bullies and jerks in high school and acting surprised when they continue to bullies and jerks.

BuyMyBitcoins 5y ago
>I think that yes, we should literally abolish the police and replace them with something better. It’s really easy to say that but I have heard of no viable proposals to actually replace the police with “something better”. Nor do such proposals ever elaborate on how the new system would operate without vagaries and wonderful nice-to-haves like unconditional free housing for the homeless and UBI. It’s extraordinary easy to say a hypothetical system would be better. But how do you actually implement it? I also think those brutish types you mentioned from high school might be the only kind of people willing to accept the dangers and anti-social elements that officers have to put up with. If you thought working in retail was bad, the kinds of people the police have to deal with are in a league of their own.
- reilly3000 5y ago
  Some of the models I’ve seen involve staffing social workers to accompany officers on calls with the charge of defuse situations and connecting people with services. It sounds promising. In any case, they both frequently interact with the same usual suspects- might as well be from the same car. Furthermore, that kind of partnership may diffuse some of the sort of macho banter between cops that seems to lead to embarrassing headlines.
  - ipaddr 5y ago
    I understand the thought behind this but in practice it is a bad idea. You put the social worker in dangerous situation by putting them on the frontline before the situation can be assessed. The social worker feels unsafe and needs to rely in the armed police. This dependency creates a bond and they become part of the thin blueline family. In the end you are back in the same situation. The other thing to consider is a social worker is many parent's worst nightmare. If they find the smallest issue during a police call your kids could be taken away. Many people are afraid to call the police because they will call a social worker. I see this policy affecting single poor mothers in a much worse way compared to now. The other issue is a social worker isn't a hostage / crisis manager. They are trained to do very different things.
    - evgen 5y ago
      > I understand the thought behind this but in practice it is a bad idea. So far it is turning out to be a rather good idea, and every claim you make regarding why this would be a problem is, in fact, untrue.
- jakelazaroff 5y ago
  I’ll concede that advocates for defunding don’t have a great answer to violent criminals (although for some reason, the poor track record of our existing police is never called into question). But by even the most generous of estimates, only around 4% of police time is actually spent on violent crime [1]. Surely we can start by defunding the 96% of situations that don’t require paramilitary personnel, and figure out how to deal with violence if and when we get to that last 4%. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/upshot/unrest-police-time-violent-crime.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/upshot/unrest-police-time...
hellbannedguy 5y ago
They sure have time to write marginal/dubious traffic violations? I live in Marin County, and they wonder why voters won't pass their bond initiatives. My father's best friend was a lieutenant in Oakland PD. They were so close he gave my father a "Get out of jail free card". It was just a business card which was signed on the back. If you commited a crime, you pulled out the card; you were let go. My father got out of a DUI with it. (I don't think they are handed out anymore?) His friend was a level headed cop, a bit liberal for a cop even. My father always wanted to hear about the big cases, or criminals they caught. He finally told my father the truth. He told him we play chess in the basement for a good part of the day. He wasen't a beat cop. He was up their in rank. My father was incredulous. He just didn't like the idea of government employees not out fighting crime. I remember telling my father, I'd rather have a cop by a landline, rather than zooming around irritating citizens with pesky driving citations. We finally agreed on something.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  >His friend was a level headed cop A cop that lets people drive drunk without consequences is not level headed to me. Nor is one that specifically lets their friends be above the law, especially for offenses that endanger others. I would rather have cops ticketing motorists with excessively noisy vehicles, excessively bright lights, and who are not paying their vehicle taxes.
  - shkkmo 5y ago
    > A cop that lets people drive drunk without consequences is not level headed to me. Nor is one that specifically lets their friends be above the law The cop that let him drive drunk wasn't the "level headed" one, but a different one who pulled him over and decided to give him a pass based on the "get out of jail free" card. Those cards are not uncommon. They won't get you out of everything (it is up to the discretion of the cop you show it too) but they will get you out of a lot. [0] I think such obvious corruption and double standards should be illegal, but hey, what do I know? [0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7gxa4/pba-card-police-courtesy-cards https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7gxa4/pba-card-police-court...
downWidOutaFite 5y ago
Yes! I think a lot of people would get behind "Fix The Police" over "Fuck the Police". Both partisan sides have this weird cognitive dissonance where liberals support all unions except police unions while the right backs police unions unquestionably. I'm independent because the party I wish we had would not be fighting for more or less government, it would be fighting for high quality efficient government!
- reilly3000 5y ago
  Yes! There is such a thing as good government, and to me that means good people with a well-defined purpose and adequate resources. Not everyone can agree on exactly what that should look like, but I take umbrage with the notion that good government doesn’t and can’t exist.
- jkestner 5y ago
  Fix the Police has produced many feel-good policies that have not had an impact. Defund the Police at least gets people's attention. It may be opening the conversation to a range of options, but I’m afraid it may be also reflexively hardening some opinions. How do you define efficient government?