There is no easy way to fix Police and do Police Reform but the current thinking of police seems to be "The Beatings will continue until moral improves". People will only be pushed so far before they decide to start pushing back.The big problem to police reform would be having to hire private security firms to "police" the city while they recruit and train entire departments to replace them and simultaneously have to deal with forceful backlash and opposition from both the police themselves and the "pro police" supporters that have been enabling and empowering this behavior in the first place. This forces the situation of widespread unpoliced crime some of which will actually be caused by the police and their supporters themselves to " get their point across" , Police and their supporters will also be intentionally and massively interfering with the recruiting, hiring and retraining of new officers and intentionally sabotaging it and their efforts. There is no easy solution to the problem due to how badly this goes down when you try to do anything to resolve it.
Except for when you remember one major common through line of these protests across the country, regardless of city or elected leadership: law enforcement forces have been repeatedly shown to be the escalating, aggravating, and provoking party. There is no other valid or rational conclusion that can be drawn from the tactics and materiel employed against protesters, all the way from preemptive kettling and blocking protesters from lawful vacation at curfew times, luring protesters into kill boxes, to outright unprovoked assault and battery such as that seen the other evening in Buffalo.That's not to say that either is very cool to use on peaceful protesters, but exaggerations helps no one.
Oh, they’re still using tear gas actually. They’re just calling it smoke bombs. Same thing happened in DC.A smoke bomb and tear gas are two different things, even if exposure to them produces similar symptoms. Generally speaking, if you leave the smoke you will quickly recover and rinsing your eyes with water will quickly make you feel better. If you get tear gassed the irritation stays with you for hours and trying to rinse your eyes with water will prolong the symptoms. Tear gas is specifically designed to be long lasting and hard to cleanse, so that the target remains incapacitated for as long as possible, smoke bombs, at best, will force a quick dispersal but the targets can quickly regroup once out of the area of effect.
That's not to say that either is very cool to use on peaceful protesters, but exaggerations helps no one.
Welp, can't see this going wrong.A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council has pledged to defund and dismantle the entire city's police department.
Minneapolis City Council members intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department
Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council on Sunday announced they intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department following the police killing of George Floyd.www.cnn.com
I thought it was no longer possible but I am actually shocked at the stupidity of my species.A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council has pledged to defund and dismantle the entire city's police department.
Minneapolis City Council members intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department
Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council on Sunday announced they intend to defund and dismantle the city's police department following the police killing of George Floyd.www.cnn.com
When the police show zero desire to reform, disbanding them and implementing alternative solutions seems wiser than doing more half-assed efforts.I thought it was no longer possible but I am actually shocked at the stupidity of my species.
Having had to call the police to deal with, among other things, violent altercation, which resulted in injury of colleagues before the police managed to arrive, you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical about the notion of disbanding the police.When the police show zero desire to reform, disbanding them and implementing alternative solutions seems wiser than doing more half-assed efforts.
Edit- also, consider that they are heading into a terrible legal battle with the Minneapolis police union which will stall any efforts at reform or removing any “bad apples” if they choose to keep the current force in place.
So... the person got injured before the police showed up?Having had to call the police to deal with, among other things, violent altercation, which resulted in injury of colleagues before the police managed to arrive, you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical about the notion of disbanding the police.
Yes.So... the person got injured before the police showed up?
You realize that most of what police do isn’t respond to emergencies, and that’s why disbanding and going with something else is the plan? A force that responds to violent emergencies more similar to the fire department would be of more practical use in that scenario than one where they’re mostly untrained to deal with that and primarily exist to arrest people for speeding.Yes.
Not sure why this is the point you're honing in on. Point I AM making is that in a world where the police didn't exist, more people would almost certainly have been injured. And again, while this is the most extreme example, I can cite other examples where police have had to be called in.
Why shouldn't people be arrested for speeding?You realize that most of what police do isn’t respond to emergencies, and that’s why disbanding and going with something else is the plan? A force that responds to violent emergencies more similar to the fire department would be of more practical use in that scenario than one where they’re mostly untrained to deal with that and primarily exist to arrest people for speeding.
Uh, the officer in question here was called in for a fraudulent note then killed a man. All cops carry guns and these divisions are not known or apparent to most people. Virtually all police in Minneapolis, including those traffic cops, are now handling riots and firing rubber bullets into crowds despite being undertrained for that purpose. Maybe it’s good to explicitly separate these guys up a bit and move more of their responsibilities over to social workers?Why shouldn't people be arrested for speeding?
I've seen this argument come up before, how a lot of police time is spent on stuff like tickets, speeding, etc. Okay, and? If I want to park somewhere that says no parking, but live in a world where there's no-one around to write me a ticket, rest assured that I'm far more likely to park.
But this seems like semantics. Police already have numerous divisions. It's why your average patrol officer isn't the person who's going to be the person who engages in hostage negotiation or whatnot. The police who I had to call in aren't the same police who cordoned off the area in the Lindt Cafe Siege. If you want to reserve the police for the latter, and replace the former with something else, then okay, but you're basically having people doing the same job under a different name.
And look, I don't have a problem with that per se, but that's not what some people are calling for. There's calls for the complete disbandment of police. And I'm skeptical of such a thing working. Looking at the US for instance, deaths at the hands of police are absolutely dwarfed by firearm deaths by civilians.
I'm not sure what point you're making here.Uh, the officer in question here was called in for a fraudulent note then killed a man. All cops carry guns and these divisions are not known or apparent to most people. Virtually all police in Minneapolis, including those traffic cops, are now handling riots and firing rubber bullets into crowds despite being undertrained for that purpose. Maybe it’s good to explicitly separate these guys up a bit and move more of their responsibilities over to social workers?