4 ms·

Social cohesion is one possible one. For example, if you lived in a small community where the police officers knew you personally since childhood you would, on

Social cohesion is one possible one. For example, if you lived in a small community where the police officers knew you personally since childhood you would, on average, be less likely to be harassed by police.

JoshTriplett 12y ago
As long as you meet all the social mores of that small community, as evaluated by your local busybodies. Otherwise, you're likely to be pervasively harassed.
- proveanegative 12y ago
  That, sadly, is too often true. The only solution I see to this problem is allowing lots of different communities to exist with different sets of mores.
  - troels 12y ago
    Diversity within the police department would probably help.
  - JoshTriplett 12y ago
    That's a useful condition, but it ought to be completely unrelated to law enforcement. You shouldn't be required to live around people who look and think and act the same as you do to receive equal treatment by the law.
    - proveanegative 12y ago
      While I agree with you that it ought to be a separate issue I strongly doubt the separation is ever achieved in practice. Actual policing and "policing" of human behavior, looks and other norms appear to me to be inextricably linked. I'm sorry to single out this instance in particular but reinforcement of the local mores happens even through seemingly innocent behavior like your ought-statement above, which I happen to agree with but some people might not have, especially in the past. Police officers, persecutors, judges, etc. are affected by their own set of ought-statements in work as well as in life. (And the effect is exacerbated when you implement trial by jury.) On my part, I cannot come up with one historical example of people generally satisfied with how significantly different outsiders to their community policed them. I have come to think it's more or less an inevitability and the best we can do is to make it possible for people to freely move to where they find the mores agreeable.

JoshTriplett 12y ago

As long as you meet all the social mores of that small community, as evaluated by your local busybodies. Otherwise, you're likely to be pervasively harassed.

proveanegative 12y ago
That, sadly, is too often true. The only solution I see to this problem is allowing lots of different communities to exist with different sets of mores.
- troels 12y ago
  Diversity within the police department would probably help.
- JoshTriplett 12y ago
  That's a useful condition, but it ought to be completely unrelated to law enforcement. You shouldn't be required to live around people who look and think and act the same as you do to receive equal treatment by the law.
  - proveanegative 12y ago
    While I agree with you that it ought to be a separate issue I strongly doubt the separation is ever achieved in practice. Actual policing and "policing" of human behavior, looks and other norms appear to me to be inextricably linked. I'm sorry to single out this instance in particular but reinforcement of the local mores happens even through seemingly innocent behavior like your ought-statement above, which I happen to agree with but some people might not have, especially in the past. Police officers, persecutors, judges, etc. are affected by their own set of ought-statements in work as well as in life. (And the effect is exacerbated when you implement trial by jury.) On my part, I cannot come up with one historical example of people generally satisfied with how significantly different outsiders to their community policed them. I have come to think it's more or less an inevitability and the best we can do is to make it possible for people to freely move to where they find the mores agreeable.