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> should be absolutely terrified of their government, because they've given their government the power to arrest them for literally no reason at all Would this

> should be absolutely terrified of their government, because they've given their government the power to arrest them for literally no reason at all Would this opinion change if you learned that in the UK people are generally trusted to make correct and true police crime reports? Say you lived in a place where actually 100% of reports to the police, were truly people who felt like a crime had taken place. In that case, wouldn't we be fine with cops following up all reports? So if people in the UK generally trust each other to be making true reports when they feel like a crime has taken place....why wouldn't brits empower the police to follow up on serious reports?

kelnos 4y ago
> Would this opinion change if you learned that in the UK people are generally trusted to make correct and true police crime reports? No, not at all, because "generally trusted" is not "100% of the time people will do things in good faith". And I don't agree with your assessment in any case; the article in question is a clear counter-example. And another comment somewhere here claims that the UK deals with quite a large amount of these sorts of reports where the police investigate and decide there's nothing to pursue. > Say you lived in a place where actually 100% of reports to the police, were truly people who felt like a crime had taken place. In that case, wouldn't we be fine with cops following up all reports? That depends on what you mean by "following-up". If tweeting something that made someone "anxious" means that you can expect the police to show up at your door and demand to interview you (or else you will be arrested), I think that's incredibly heavy-handed. In this case, the police should have been able to look at the tweet in question, think "hmm, well, that's a shitty thing to post, but I don't see anything criminal here", and leave it at that. > So if people in the UK generally trust each other to be making true reports when they feel like a crime has taken place....why wouldn't brits empower the police to follow up on serious reports? I've already pointed out that I don't believe this is true in general, but there's more to it than that. People change. Governments change. The law often does not. If you give one government the power to do something, because you believe that government is good and will not abuse it, you must consider that the next government may not be one that you trust as much, but will also get to have that power.

kelnos 4y ago

> Would this opinion change if you learned that in the UK people are generally trusted to make correct and true police crime reports? No, not at all, because "generally trusted" is not "100% of the time people will do things in good faith". And I don't agree with your assessment in any case; the article in question is a clear counter-example. And another comment somewhere here claims that the UK deals with quite a large amount of these sorts of reports where the police investigate and decide there's nothing to pursue. > Say you lived in a place where actually 100% of reports to the police, were truly people who felt like a crime had taken place. In that case, wouldn't we be fine with cops following up all reports? That depends on what you mean by "following-up". If tweeting something that made someone "anxious" means that you can expect the police to show up at your door and demand to interview you (or else you will be arrested), I think that's incredibly heavy-handed. In this case, the police should have been able to look at the tweet in question, think "hmm, well, that's a shitty thing to post, but I don't see anything criminal here", and leave it at that. > So if people in the UK generally trust each other to be making true reports when they feel like a crime has taken place....why wouldn't brits empower the police to follow up on serious reports? I've already pointed out that I don't believe this is true in general, but there's more to it than that. People change. Governments change. The law often does not. If you give one government the power to do something, because you believe that government is good and will not abuse it, you must consider that the next government may not be one that you trust as much, but will also get to have that power.