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Even if they weren’t directly defunded, they were probably demoralized, and likely lost good staff during the ‘ACAB’ period. Would you really want to remain a c

Even if they weren’t directly defunded, they were probably demoralized, and likely lost good staff during the ‘ACAB’ period. Would you really want to remain a cop when ‘all cops’ are suddenly so viciously hated by so many in the media, politics, and activism?

Kye 4y ago
It's one of the safest, best paid jobs you can get with few skills and minimal training. If they're so fragile they can't take the paycheck and deal with a little criticism, they have no business walking around with a gun and the force of law behind them.
- incone123 4y ago
  In 2018, 106 police officers died on duty (roughly even split of feloniously killed vs accidental). There are other more dangerous jobs, but to describe policing as one of the safest _on a forum full of office workers_ is disingenuous.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
pjc50 4y ago
The police had to choose between "being liked by the public" and "being able to murder members of the public without consequence" and chose option B in almost every single case.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
nitwit005 4y ago
Those protests, and the political activism generally, are just a symptom. Every single person in the US has seen multiple videos of police violence, lies, and various other abuses. A mix of widespread cameras, and the police being increasingly flagrant with some abuses, has radically reshaped people's opinions. Even if no one protested, seeing trust crater is to be expected.
- bluescrn 4y ago
  While we're obviously seeing more widespread distribution of footage of the worst incidents via social media, isn't it likely that policing has actually improved over the last couple of decades, as the genuinely bad cops are increasingly likely to be caught on camera now that there's hundreds of millions of smartphones, dashcams, bodycams, CCTV cameras, etc out there?
  - nitwit005 4y ago
    At least for body cameras, the research I've seen suggests small or no effects on number of incidents: https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/research-body-worn-cameras-and-law-enforcement https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/research-body-worn-camer... The cameras do presumably need to be paired with police departments of prosecutors willing to do anything, which doesn't seem to be guaranteed.
  - 8note 4y ago
    You're making the assumption that without social media outrage, that that catching a cop doing bad things on video matters, or us evidence of some crime. They aren't. The cops won't go after their own, and the politicians will only respond to public pressure. Video footage makes it easier to get public outrage, but it's still the public outrage that has to do the work to hold cops accountable
nkrisc 4y ago
Law enforcement officers are given privileges (social and legal) while they are on duty (and other informally while off duty) that other citizens do not have. They should be held to a much higher standard in return for those privileges. And true, many of those privileges are likely necessary in order for them to fulfill their law enforcement duties. But it's not the media and politicians who are shooting unarmed civilians, or killing people in their custody. You can see many of the videos for yourself, often recorded by the officers' own body cameras. It's horrifying. The disregard for the decency and humanity of others is on display for anyone to see, unfiltered. The fact that it happens at all and the officers themselves aren't outraged by it is an outrage in and of itself. One bad apple spoils the bunch. If you can't trust one police officer, you can't trust any of them. And we can see for ourselves how they can so often get away with what would be a murder charge for anyone else.

Kye 4y ago

It's one of the safest, best paid jobs you can get with few skills and minimal training. If they're so fragile they can't take the paycheck and deal with a little criticism, they have no business walking around with a gun and the force of law behind them.

incone123 4y ago
In 2018, 106 police officers died on duty (roughly even split of feloniously killed vs accidental). There are other more dangerous jobs, but to describe policing as one of the safest _on a forum full of office workers_ is disingenuous.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

pjc50 4y ago

The police had to choose between "being liked by the public" and "being able to murder members of the public without consequence" and chose option B in almost every single case.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

nitwit005 4y ago

Those protests, and the political activism generally, are just a symptom. Every single person in the US has seen multiple videos of police violence, lies, and various other abuses. A mix of widespread cameras, and the police being increasingly flagrant with some abuses, has radically reshaped people's opinions. Even if no one protested, seeing trust crater is to be expected.

bluescrn 4y ago
While we're obviously seeing more widespread distribution of footage of the worst incidents via social media, isn't it likely that policing has actually improved over the last couple of decades, as the genuinely bad cops are increasingly likely to be caught on camera now that there's hundreds of millions of smartphones, dashcams, bodycams, CCTV cameras, etc out there?
- nitwit005 4y ago
  At least for body cameras, the research I've seen suggests small or no effects on number of incidents: https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/research-body-worn-cameras-and-law-enforcement https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/research-body-worn-camer... The cameras do presumably need to be paired with police departments of prosecutors willing to do anything, which doesn't seem to be guaranteed.
- 8note 4y ago
  You're making the assumption that without social media outrage, that that catching a cop doing bad things on video matters, or us evidence of some crime. They aren't. The cops won't go after their own, and the politicians will only respond to public pressure. Video footage makes it easier to get public outrage, but it's still the public outrage that has to do the work to hold cops accountable

nkrisc 4y ago

Law enforcement officers are given privileges (social and legal) while they are on duty (and other informally while off duty) that other citizens do not have. They should be held to a much higher standard in return for those privileges. And true, many of those privileges are likely necessary in order for them to fulfill their law enforcement duties. But it's not the media and politicians who are shooting unarmed civilians, or killing people in their custody. You can see many of the videos for yourself, often recorded by the officers' own body cameras. It's horrifying. The disregard for the decency and humanity of others is on display for anyone to see, unfiltered. The fact that it happens at all and the officers themselves aren't outraged by it is an outrage in and of itself. One bad apple spoils the bunch. If you can't trust one police officer, you can't trust any of them. And we can see for ourselves how they can so often get away with what would be a murder charge for anyone else.