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I'm putting my tinfoil hat on but this is my theory as an American. Post 9/11, the Western world became obsessive over a sense of security and we've accepted i
by notaustinpowers 3y ago
I'm putting my tinfoil hat on but this is my theory as an American.
Post 9/11, the Western world became obsessive over a sense of security and we've accepted it as a fact of life. To the point where we accept the TSA at airports without complaint, we accept nationwide surveillance, we operate on the internet with an innate understanding that "someone" at the government is watching everything we're doing. We accept these because we've been conditioned to believe that these tactics keep us safe.
As a lot of the population grows up and never experienced a pre-9/11 world, the government, police unions, etc have to ensure that these overbearing "security" tactics have a reason. Therefore, we highlight these "in your city" local crimes to provide validation for what they're doing.
- voisin 3y ago> Therefore, we highlight these "in your city" local crimes to provide validation for what they're doing. Except time and again they seem To only be highlighting their own ineptitude at keeping anyone safe. Their budgets keep increasing yet it doesn’t seem to lead to any measurable improvement in KPIs.
- notaustinpowers 3y agoThat's the whole point. "We position police as arbiters of peace and safety and they need our support and more money to defeat the evildoers of our great city!" We do the same with the American military and you'd get called a commie leftist Anti-American snowflake if you even breathe a word about reducing the military budget, even though this 40+ year "Way On Terror" seems like a dud.
- saveferris 3y agoI understand and generally agree with your sentiment but people are safer. Violent crime is down substantially since 2001 and even more since 1990s. https://www.statista.com/statistics/191219/reported-violent-crime-rate-in-the-usa-since-1990/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/191219/reported-violent-... Supisingly, so are motor vehicle thefts. Though, they are on the rise since the pandemic. https://www.statista.com/statistics/191213/reported-motor-vehicle-theft-cases-in-the-us-since-1990/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/191213/reported-motor-ve... https://www.statista.com/statistics/191216/reported-motor-vehicle-theft-rate-in-the-us-since-1990/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/191216/reported-motor-ve... So, KPI wise you can make an argument that it is effective. I may not agree with that argument in that we (USA) spend a lot of money and impose a lot of restrictions on the general population to get there. Crime has always been a "the sky is falling" kind of a thing even if it's literally one crime. We are more safe than we were in 2001 by any objective measure, whether or not that is "safe enough" is going to be different for everyone...
- voisin 3y ago> Violent crime is down substantially since 2001 and even more since 1990s. Is it down because of police action or because of changing demographics?
- pjc50 3y agoThis results in a unique combination of oppressive policing and incompetence at dealing with any crime that requires investigation. Police don't follow the fiction of police procedurals, they wander around blindly looking for "suspicious" people or rifling through people's stuff.