3 ms·

Why do we need an FBI? There are over 200 other federal law enforcement operations, and certainly one (or ten) of them will step up to fill the gaps in cross-st

Why do we need an FBI? There are over 200 other federal law enforcement operations, and certainly one (or ten) of them will step up to fill the gaps in cross-state criminal investigation that would be left by disbanding the FBI.

j16sdiz 3y ago
How do you make sure the one who step up won't become next FBI?
- willcipriano 3y ago
  Strong states rights protections. Recover the republic from the ashes of democracy.
  - rtkwe 3y ago
    States have their own FBI-alikes and they're not much better when it comes to privacy they just have fewer tools but mostly because they're not getting that much in the way of work that would need it. If they get delegated responsibility they're not going to turn out much better than the FBI.
    - willcipriano 3y ago
      Easier to change your state than your country. Also your vote is much more effective at a state level as opposed to a federal one.
      - rtkwe 3y ago
        With the level of gerrymandering at the state level I'm less sure that's true today, in theory yeah you're individually a larger portion of the vote but the same anti-democratic processes freezing things at the federal level are in part rooted at the state level. On top of all of that the Republican party who's benefitting the most in most states from gerrymandering is more pro-police power than not, they're just mad their guy got got by it.
- JasonFruit 3y ago
  Well, I'm confident they would become the next FBI. It's a feature of intelligence services. But until they did, we'd have some breathing space.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Or much worse...
paulsutter 3y ago
Where can we see a list of these 200 other groups? That's fascinating. Perhaps a much larger "re-org" is needed
- efitz 3y ago
  I did a Google search for “list of us federal law enforcement organizations “ and this was the first result: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_t...
- est31 3y ago
  In the US, basically every federal agency is responsible for enforcement of federal regulations in the domain assigned to it. Until 2003, there even used to be a dedicated Library of Congress police for example.
  - graypegg 3y ago
    Maybe the only premise for a cop show that I’d ever watch: library force
    - DicIfTEx 3y ago
      Not quite the library, but there was a show about the postal service cops (bankrolled by the USPS): https://yewtu.be/watch?v=OCjG78McFxQ https://yewtu.be/watch?v=OCjG78McFxQ
      - galleywest200 3y ago
        Postal inspectors will ruin your day, do not mess with them. They are a pretty serious group of individuals.
  - jonhohle 3y ago
    I just leaned that the post office has armed officers as well. That’s so ridiculous. Each of these agencies also stockpile ammo, a portion of which is used each year for training. I’d be happy to see the FBI take that role on for federal assignments _if_ that reduced budgets and the current rot was excised in some meaningful way with mechanisms put in place to hold individuals accountable.
DrThunder 3y ago
Yeah you don't need the FBI specifically. You do need a group that does what they can do. I think for the most part state agencies could hand what the FBI does. You do not need a national agency. There definitely needs to be cuts in 3 letter federal agencies. They're out of control. In the end though, it doesn't matter because eventually over time all of those agencies with too much power will become corrupt. Massive oversight and constant cleaning out of people that have been entrenched too long is necessary.
rtkwe 3y ago
The FBI is the generalist of them, the rest are nominally more specialized to their particular parent department's purview. Inefficiency by just having a separate department for every federal crime is a silly way to try to go about limiting overreach when we haven't even really tried proper oversight and enforcement.

j16sdiz 3y ago

How do you make sure the one who step up won't become next FBI?

willcipriano 3y ago
Strong states rights protections. Recover the republic from the ashes of democracy.
- rtkwe 3y ago
  States have their own FBI-alikes and they're not much better when it comes to privacy they just have fewer tools but mostly because they're not getting that much in the way of work that would need it. If they get delegated responsibility they're not going to turn out much better than the FBI.
  - willcipriano 3y ago
    Easier to change your state than your country. Also your vote is much more effective at a state level as opposed to a federal one.
    - rtkwe 3y ago
      With the level of gerrymandering at the state level I'm less sure that's true today, in theory yeah you're individually a larger portion of the vote but the same anti-democratic processes freezing things at the federal level are in part rooted at the state level. On top of all of that the Republican party who's benefitting the most in most states from gerrymandering is more pro-police power than not, they're just mad their guy got got by it.
JasonFruit 3y ago
Well, I'm confident they would become the next FBI. It's a feature of intelligence services. But until they did, we'd have some breathing space.
jacquesm 3y ago
Or much worse...

paulsutter 3y ago

Where can we see a list of these 200 other groups? That's fascinating. Perhaps a much larger "re-org" is needed

efitz 3y ago
I did a Google search for “list of us federal law enforcement organizations “ and this was the first result: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_t...
est31 3y ago
In the US, basically every federal agency is responsible for enforcement of federal regulations in the domain assigned to it. Until 2003, there even used to be a dedicated Library of Congress police for example.
- graypegg 3y ago
  Maybe the only premise for a cop show that I’d ever watch: library force
  - DicIfTEx 3y ago
    Not quite the library, but there was a show about the postal service cops (bankrolled by the USPS): https://yewtu.be/watch?v=OCjG78McFxQ https://yewtu.be/watch?v=OCjG78McFxQ
    - galleywest200 3y ago
      Postal inspectors will ruin your day, do not mess with them. They are a pretty serious group of individuals.
- jonhohle 3y ago
  I just leaned that the post office has armed officers as well. That’s so ridiculous. Each of these agencies also stockpile ammo, a portion of which is used each year for training. I’d be happy to see the FBI take that role on for federal assignments _if_ that reduced budgets and the current rot was excised in some meaningful way with mechanisms put in place to hold individuals accountable.

DrThunder 3y ago

Yeah you don't need the FBI specifically. You do need a group that does what they can do. I think for the most part state agencies could hand what the FBI does. You do not need a national agency. There definitely needs to be cuts in 3 letter federal agencies. They're out of control. In the end though, it doesn't matter because eventually over time all of those agencies with too much power will become corrupt. Massive oversight and constant cleaning out of people that have been entrenched too long is necessary.

rtkwe 3y ago

The FBI is the generalist of them, the rest are nominally more specialized to their particular parent department's purview. Inefficiency by just having a separate department for every federal crime is a silly way to try to go about limiting overreach when we haven't even really tried proper oversight and enforcement.