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It is absolutely critical to a civil justice system in a democratic society that police department activities (including arrests) are a matter of public record.

It is absolutely critical to a civil justice system in a democratic society that police department activities (including arrests) are a matter of public record. Operational details are not necessary, but at the very least the police have to be obligated to report that they have arrested someone and why. If not, you have a secret police department and secret arrests. In my town, only convictions and lawsuits show up if you search someone by name in the court record system. However, you can go to the police department and ask for the daily activity log, which indicates who has been arrested, where, when, and on what charge. The newspaper does this every day, and publishes demographic information but not names. Do you really want people disappearing with no one taking responsibility or giving an explanation? No, thanks. I don't need my local police department turning into the Stasi.

tzs 12y ago
> Do you really want people disappearing with no one taking responsibility or giving an explanation? Of course not. That's why I said that I fear the reduction of the public record. However, consider that 30% of American males are arrested at least once by age 23 [1], or maybe that should be 40% [2]. It's a little confusing because both numbers come from studies that analyzed the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and looked at arrests from 18-23, and both studies are by the same group of authors. WTF? Anyway, apparently a lot of American males have been arrested (and this is excluding arrests for minor traffic violations). It only takes losing one job due to an arrest to turn someone into a "yes" voter for an initiative to remove arrest records from the public record, and with so many people having an arrest on their record, there could be a lot of those "yes" voters. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/us/nearly-a-third-of-americans-are-arrested-by-23-study-says.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/us/nearly-a-third-of-ameri... [2] http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/uosc-sho010314.php http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/uosc-sho01031...

tzs 12y ago

> Do you really want people disappearing with no one taking responsibility or giving an explanation? Of course not. That's why I said that I fear the reduction of the public record. However, consider that 30% of American males are arrested at least once by age 23 [1], or maybe that should be 40% [2]. It's a little confusing because both numbers come from studies that analyzed the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and looked at arrests from 18-23, and both studies are by the same group of authors. WTF? Anyway, apparently a lot of American males have been arrested (and this is excluding arrests for minor traffic violations). It only takes losing one job due to an arrest to turn someone into a "yes" voter for an initiative to remove arrest records from the public record, and with so many people having an arrest on their record, there could be a lot of those "yes" voters. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/us/nearly-a-third-of-americans-are-arrested-by-23-study-says.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/us/nearly-a-third-of-ameri... [2] http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/uosc-sho010314.php http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/uosc-sho01031...