10 ms·

I would love to see more bills where Democrats provide more police funding but tie it to accountability reforms like this one. Seems like a winning move.

mrguyorama 4y ago
American police are funded locally, often with large budgets, and would happily turn away that extra federal funding and associated accountability. Even more, lots and lots of conservative politicians and talking heads would make a point about how they fought off "big government" and "democrat" control of their local police departments, and you'd be hard pressed to convince people not already pissed at their local PD that such a situation is a bad one.
- mistrial9 4y ago
  but, since covid times, many small towns are legitimately in financial distress.. especially around pension commitments.. its a slow-moving train wreck
- jrochkind1 4y ago
  If they had to turn away things like surplus military gear and federal dollars for training in military tactics because they weren't willing to take the accountability measures -- that'd be progress.
  - YeBanKo 4y ago
    Police really rarely needs military surplus gear anyway. Neither do they need training in the military tactics, unless they want to treat policing streets as a battlefield, which is very concerning if they do.
    - jrochkind1 4y ago
      Oh, they do, pretty widely, and it is concerning. https://theintercept.com/2014/08/14/militarization-u-s-police-dragged-light-horrors-ferguson/ https://theintercept.com/2014/08/14/militarization-u-s-polic...
- tcmart14 4y ago
  To add on. Even outside the scope of funding. There is an interesting trend in local politicians elected to city council, mayor, etc and having backing of the police union. Any serious action that would cause a culture change that is unwanted by the police could result in loosing the backing of the police union, hence, a good chance of loosing an election. So change on the local level is unlikely to happen.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    It is not a recent trend, it is simply a consequence of sufficient voters not able or willing to do sufficient due diligence and voting in the election. 100% of the cops and their family and friends will be voting for the politician that favors them. Will sufficient local voters not associated with cops also vote? Probably not. Few people want to go to work their jobs, raise their kid, and then also dig into the city budget to find out which politician is proposing increasing retirement benefits for cops that will cause massive increases in spending 30 years down the road. In many ways, our “democracy” relies on a certain amount of people doing the “right thing”, even though they could get away with worse. Too many people try to get away with stuff, and it will start to unravel.
kansface 4y ago
I would not cede funding of local police agencies to the federal government (ie, the next Trump or J. Edgar).
pessimizer 4y ago
A winning move if you want to create a police state papered with guidance that can be either ignored without consequence or repealed in days.
pstuart 4y ago
Another win would be promoting/funding resources for mental health crises. There are too many reports of unstable people being killed by the police when their families call in for help. Cops should be dealing with bad guys, not sick people.
akira2501 4y ago
Are we "funding police" or are we "funding enforcement?" And should all enforcement funding be viewed through the lens of political reform? Why is that necessarily a winning move?
pc86 4y ago
Except police have more than enough funding.
Alupis 4y ago
Police are not funded by Congress...
- colinmhayes 4y ago
  they could be though...
  - Alupis 4y ago
    Why would you want your local police force beholden to the federal government instead of the local populace that they serve?
    - colinmhayes 4y ago
      Many reasons. Maybe I'm a black person in the south who believes my local government is controlled by racists. Maybe I believe the incentives for the prosecutors who are supposed to police the police are completely out of whack because prosecutors rely on police work to do their job. Maybe I just think the police are completely unaccountable and am ready to see a new political strategy regarding policing to be tried. Either way, federal funding doesn't eliminate local funding, it would just be in addition to if the police agree to some rules.
      - Alupis 4y ago
        The problems you describe would only be made worse by moving funding to a centralized, far away and detached federal entity. Accountability - gone. Locality - gone. Trust - gone. We already have a centralized federalized police force - the FBI. Look what political shenanigan's they have become embroiled in lately. Who's interest are they serving currently? Who are they accountable to? What can be done about systemic issues in this system? Nothing and no-one... > Maybe I'm a black person in the south who believes my local government is controlled by racists This is vastly overplayed in modern times, despite what sensationalists would have you believe, but in this alternate reality nothing forbids the federal government from being filled with and controlled by racists either... Regardless, the solution is very clearly to change the local government, not side-step it for a government that's hundreds or thousands of miles away and unaware of local issues that might be important to residents. Oh how history repeats itself... the US wouldn't be a country today if we hadn't already learned this painful lesson. More federal government is rarely if ever the solution folks. Your local government already has the power and ability to do all the things it's citizens desire.

mrguyorama 4y ago

American police are funded locally, often with large budgets, and would happily turn away that extra federal funding and associated accountability. Even more, lots and lots of conservative politicians and talking heads would make a point about how they fought off "big government" and "democrat" control of their local police departments, and you'd be hard pressed to convince people not already pissed at their local PD that such a situation is a bad one.

mistrial9 4y ago
but, since covid times, many small towns are legitimately in financial distress.. especially around pension commitments.. its a slow-moving train wreck
jrochkind1 4y ago
If they had to turn away things like surplus military gear and federal dollars for training in military tactics because they weren't willing to take the accountability measures -- that'd be progress.
- YeBanKo 4y ago
  Police really rarely needs military surplus gear anyway. Neither do they need training in the military tactics, unless they want to treat policing streets as a battlefield, which is very concerning if they do.
  - jrochkind1 4y ago
    Oh, they do, pretty widely, and it is concerning. https://theintercept.com/2014/08/14/militarization-u-s-police-dragged-light-horrors-ferguson/ https://theintercept.com/2014/08/14/militarization-u-s-polic...
tcmart14 4y ago
To add on. Even outside the scope of funding. There is an interesting trend in local politicians elected to city council, mayor, etc and having backing of the police union. Any serious action that would cause a culture change that is unwanted by the police could result in loosing the backing of the police union, hence, a good chance of loosing an election. So change on the local level is unlikely to happen.
- lotsofpulp 4y ago
  It is not a recent trend, it is simply a consequence of sufficient voters not able or willing to do sufficient due diligence and voting in the election. 100% of the cops and their family and friends will be voting for the politician that favors them. Will sufficient local voters not associated with cops also vote? Probably not. Few people want to go to work their jobs, raise their kid, and then also dig into the city budget to find out which politician is proposing increasing retirement benefits for cops that will cause massive increases in spending 30 years down the road. In many ways, our “democracy” relies on a certain amount of people doing the “right thing”, even though they could get away with worse. Too many people try to get away with stuff, and it will start to unravel.

kansface 4y ago

I would not cede funding of local police agencies to the federal government (ie, the next Trump or J. Edgar).

pessimizer 4y ago

A winning move if you want to create a police state papered with guidance that can be either ignored without consequence or repealed in days.

pstuart 4y ago

Another win would be promoting/funding resources for mental health crises. There are too many reports of unstable people being killed by the police when their families call in for help. Cops should be dealing with bad guys, not sick people.

akira2501 4y ago

Are we "funding police" or are we "funding enforcement?" And should all enforcement funding be viewed through the lens of political reform? Why is that necessarily a winning move?

pc86 4y ago

Except police have more than enough funding.

Alupis 4y ago

Police are not funded by Congress...

colinmhayes 4y ago
they could be though...
- Alupis 4y ago
  Why would you want your local police force beholden to the federal government instead of the local populace that they serve?
  - colinmhayes 4y ago
    Many reasons. Maybe I'm a black person in the south who believes my local government is controlled by racists. Maybe I believe the incentives for the prosecutors who are supposed to police the police are completely out of whack because prosecutors rely on police work to do their job. Maybe I just think the police are completely unaccountable and am ready to see a new political strategy regarding policing to be tried. Either way, federal funding doesn't eliminate local funding, it would just be in addition to if the police agree to some rules.
    - Alupis 4y ago
      The problems you describe would only be made worse by moving funding to a centralized, far away and detached federal entity. Accountability - gone. Locality - gone. Trust - gone. We already have a centralized federalized police force - the FBI. Look what political shenanigan's they have become embroiled in lately. Who's interest are they serving currently? Who are they accountable to? What can be done about systemic issues in this system? Nothing and no-one... > Maybe I'm a black person in the south who believes my local government is controlled by racists This is vastly overplayed in modern times, despite what sensationalists would have you believe, but in this alternate reality nothing forbids the federal government from being filled with and controlled by racists either... Regardless, the solution is very clearly to change the local government, not side-step it for a government that's hundreds or thousands of miles away and unaware of local issues that might be important to residents. Oh how history repeats itself... the US wouldn't be a country today if we hadn't already learned this painful lesson. More federal government is rarely if ever the solution folks. Your local government already has the power and ability to do all the things it's citizens desire.