In a staggering report last month, the Department of Justice documented pervasive abuse, illegal use of force, racial bias and systemic dysfunction in the Minneapolis Police Department. City police officers engaged in brutality or made racist comments, even as a department investigator rode along in a patrol car. Complaints about police abuse were often slow-walked or dismissed without investigation.
  • The_v@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 years ago

    Let me summarizes the entire article:

    1. Ethical cops decrease crime. So less of them are needed.

    2. Corrupt cops increase crime. So people think they need more cops. Which increases crime some more…etc…

  • magnetosphere @beehaw.orgEnglish
    3·
    2 years ago

    Instead of fighting to retain police officers who feel threatened by accountability and perpetuate that distrust, cities might consider just letting them leave.

    Sounds good to me. Police who won’t respect the people they’re supposed to “protect and serve” have no business being police.

  • CIWS-30@kbin.social
    2·
    2 years ago

    I can see how that would work in some places, but where I live, the opposite would happen. There actually is crime for them to police. Hell, with organized crime going up after California turned certain types of stealing from a Felony to a misdemeanor, theft and smash and grabs have skyrocketed in some places.

    Plus, in the rural areas, Cartels are moving in and setting up illegal weed farms and such and threatening the local government and communities.

    I’m not saying that the police aren’t a bunch of racist, sexist, militant fascists: they are. But if we could reform the police, they have a use protecting people from actual crime. The one benefit of having actual crime to police is that over the years, I’ve noticed much fewer cops harassing or ticketing normal people for stuff like minor traffic violations or “just because”. Probably because they actually (for once) have better things to do.

    • ashok36@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 years ago

      Cartels are moving in and setting up illegal weed farms and such and threatening the local government and communities.

      Solution: Legalize drugs already.

      • Alto@kbin.social
        1·
        2 years ago

        Weed’s legal in CA (don’t get me wrong, it should absolutely be legal federally. I actually fully expect Biden to campaign on it).

        Any time there’s a highly regulated market, there’s going to be a black market. The best way to get rid of that is try to decrease the financial overhead said regulations create over time, lowering the incentive for people to buy off the black market. Obviously that’s not something that’s feasible to do overnight though.

    • Aesthesiaphilia@kbin.social
      2·
      2 years ago

      The problem in my area is that the cops refuse to actually do anything. 20 or 20,000 makes no difference if they won’t actually do any policing.

    • aberrate_junior_beatnik (he/him)@midwest.socialOPEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      Hell, with organized crime going up after California turned certain types of stealing from a Felony to a misdemeanor, theft and smash and grabs have skyrocketed in some places.

      Question: why are people stealing? Isn’t it because they need money, because they are poor? Maybe the solution is to make people less poor, rather than to have a bunch more “racist, sexist, militant fascists” patrolling the streets.

      Cartels are moving in and setting up illegal weed farms

      Again, the obvious solution to this problem does not involve police.

      But if we could reform the police

      I’m not sure we can.

    • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
      1·
      2 years ago

      That’s not a conclusion supported by the facts here. What is supported by the facts is destroying the conventional wisdom that more cops means less crime.

    • Tigbitties@kbin.social
      1·
      2 years ago

      No, but maybe we need to rethink policing. Sure, nothing is perfect but we can get better if we took the time to get it right. It’s probably not that hard if we can admit we all kinda want the same things.