zlacker

>>danso+(OP)
This is why we need civilian oversight of every police department. Cops are generally too corrupt and/or too incompetent to investigate their own. They've proven their inability to hold themselves accountable for their actions, so it's up to the rest of us to do it.

>>psycho+Mg
Or we could abolish the police and create a new public safety department without the structural racism and ingrained power-hungry culture.

>>miniki+mh
I don't understand why you are being downvoted.

The point of abolishing police isn't so that nobody shows up when you call 911. It's so that the right person for the right situation shows up when you call 911.

Given the current state of American policing, there is only one situation where I would call the police, and expect the right person to show up.

That situation is an active shooter. For nearly everything else, I don't need an armed-to-the-teeth, compliance-at-gunpoint, qualified-immunity-protected man with a gun to show up. He is not the right person for 99% of the work the police currently engage in.

>>vkou+Xo
Yep exactly. In America we used to have SWAT teams who would fulfill this latter role, for situations when violence of action was urgently needed. The first letter in the acronym stands for "special." These days it's not abnormal for regular beat cops to acquire surplus military equipment and roll up to a petty dispute in an MRAP.

I think taking away officer's weapons will drastically change who they decide to engage and how they do so.