Quote:
Originally Posted by CrazyLond
It seems inconsistent not to back the blue unless you don't support government power in general, since the blue is the government's enforcement mechanism.
In my case, I support a full disestablishment and liquidation of government because I believe all causes, including security, can be better provided through private contributions. But if you don't share this view, I don't see how you can support government laws at all, considering you oppose the enforcement mechanism. What alternative would you use to enforce whatever laws you do agree with?
I think we could make some very simply changes that would have an immediate impact in the short term. The first would be to have a separate entity enforce traffic laws that does not have the ability to arrest or detain for any other related matters. Sure some people with outstanding warrants who would have been arrested will not be, but those are far fewer than the times when cops find a way to escalate a simple stop and it ends up with someone dead or on the other end of a beating. People also need to stop calling 911 when they see someone "suspicious" as that often results in an aggro cop making angry demands without telling the person what is happening and going hands on if the person has the temerity to ask what is happening. Even with no underlying crime that person will get a beat down followed by charges they obstructed and assaulted the cop. I could give hundreds of examples of incidents in just the last 1-2 years and this is in a time when cops are being recorded (either via their body camera or a smart phone). Imagine how they operated when they knew no one would actually see what happened.
One of the most immediate needs is to end qualified immunity so cops can be accountable for their actions. It is a doctrine that was created by the courts and has resulted in cops having carte blanche to operate with impunity. The other side will say cops cannot do their jobs if they are worried they will be second guessed for split second decisions, but that is a very small fraction of when qualified immunity is invoked and in those cases a jury would most likely side with the cops. The evil of qualified immunity is that innocent victims of outrageous and often illegal police conduct have no path to be made whole. In these cases the juries would overwhelmingly side against law enforcement, but the cases never get to trial as the judge will dismiss based on qualified immunity.
Also, we need to create a system for those who end up in the criminal justice system due to substance abuse and mental illness. Decriminalizing pot is a no-brainer, but beyond that we have way too many people incarcerated simply because society would rather lock them up then address the real issue. Jail / prison is about the worst place for these people. In addition, conditions in jails / prisons are beyond terrible and will almost always result in the opposite of rehabilitation. The public would be outraged if they saw dogs in conditions like many prisoners yet very few know how bad it is and others who think that anyone in jail deserves whatever conditions that entails. Putting aside that retribution should never be the goal, the cost to society is immense as the recidivism rate for those incarcerated is very high.
Ultimately the real fix is for people to wake the f up and demand change. Even our feckless politicians would help drive change if it was an issue they thought mattered to their constituents. Unfortunately most people are unaware of how problematic this is within law enforcement until it happens to them. Back the blue until it happens to you.
I also believe that law enforcement has a very real issue with systemic racism, but I respect that others may not hold that view (I did not until I did more research on the matter). I live in Los Angeles and like many areas we have seen a spike in crime; however, the police are pretty useless in stopping it. They would rather spend their time terrorizing vulnerable people than solving crimes. Even in the best of circumstances cops are usually called upon to solve a crime that has occurred rather than a crime in process.