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> US cops are some of the least corrupt in the world I don't think that's a good metric to judge them by (I also don't think it's true if you compare to first
by afavour 1y ago
> US cops are some of the least corrupt in the world
I don't think that's a good metric to judge them by (I also don't think it's true if you compare to first world countries).
Sure, third world countries have police forces that are more corrupt. But US cops are corrupt in a wide variety of ways and we should be very clear about how unacceptable that is. It doesn't matter if someone somewhere else in the world is worse.
- AlexandrB 1y agoI can't speak for other first world countries, but Canada has its share of police misconduct. The most recent example is the mishandling of the 22-person killing spree in Nova Scotia[1], and the Toronto police are so famously bad at investigating sex crimes and protecting victims that an entire book was written on the subject[2]. [1] https://www.vice.com/en/article/canada-police-mistakes-novia-scotia-shooting-inquiry/ https://www.vice.com/en/article/canada-police-mistakes-novia... [2] https://www.amazon.ca/Story-Jane-Doe-Book-About/dp/0679312757 https://www.amazon.ca/Story-Jane-Doe-Book-About/dp/067931275...
- sgnelson 1y agoincompetence =/= corruption.
- heavyset_go 1y agoCorruption allows incompetence to thrive. Deliberate inaction can also be whitewashed as "incompetence".
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jvergeldedios 1y agoI've never understood the "be happy you're not in authoritarian Russia" type of argument for papering over the shortcomings of circumstances here in the US. Like, ok? Why are we comparing ourselves to places that are worse? Shouldn't we be striving to make things better relative to our own ideals and standards?
- AlexandrB 1y ago[flagged]
- jvergeldedios 1y agoSo you're erecting a straw man and attacking that. My assertion is that policing in the US has structural issues that need to be addressed. I disagree that it's helpful to remember that it could be worse as evidenced in other countries. That's irrelevant to the original assertion. Also the argument that there are proposals on how to address structural issues in policing that you deem "ridiculous nonsense" is a straw man that does not address my assertion.
- SpicyLemonZest 1y agoI don't think we should defund most police agencies in the US. I absolutely think that we need to defund ICE, throw a substantial number of its current employees in jail, and build a new immigration enforcement agency from the ground up. Nobody who authorized masked raids by the secret police can be trusted to enforce the law and I do not consider any agency who employs them legitimate.
- jakelazaroff 1y agoIf I tried to abduct someone from my local courthouse, do you think the cops would let me get away with it? Because they've worked in lockstep with ICE as they've done exactly that. Defunding the police and defunding ICE are not two separate issues.
- SpicyLemonZest 1y agoCops routinely let private bounty hunters abduct people, albeit not from courthouses so often. I'm not happy about it, but I don't know if I necessarily want my local cops to be equipped to fight the Gestapo.
- const_cast 1y agoThe reason people think defunding the police might work is because American police are overly militarized and people speculate that plays into violence escalation. Basically, if you give the police way too many guns and armored vans then they might start thinking those are appropriate tools for too many circumstances. Sort of "if you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" type argument. I don't know if it'll work, but that's the idea.