zlacker

I don't see much discussion of root causes here. But a lot of "police ought to be this or that".

Perhaps the best solution is to have more democracy or community input into policing. It seems like it's happening now in the US (it would be quite different in other countries, where the police is national and considered civil servants; in France you can't elect sheriffs, and police is beyond the responsibility of mayors).

In the end, some communities will vote for a police that's tough, and other communities will vote for a police that's less tough. There will still be issues when criminals used to non-tough cops cross into an area with tough cops, but that's life.

>>pnako+(OP)
We have already had more democracy and community input. It does nothing and gets ignored. The cops keep defending other cops from all accountability.

>>pnako+(OP)
One of the issues we've seen is that the police act as a political organisation. It's a message from the Police: "Look at these looters, you need us". They use their position to push for the political outcome they want. Similarly you can elect a mayor who will reform the police, but what's likely to happen is that the police just tweak their behaviour to allow an increase in crime so that come next election, the mayor's "reforms" have made his citizens less safe and you get rid of the mayor - because the police aren't accountable, the mayor is. An institutional interest has emerged and really the only way of changing that is to remove the institution and replace it.

>>pnako+(OP)
> a police that's tough

Tough is having courage and compassion while being firm. Tough not being an insecure bully. Please don't use "tough" when relating to US police brutality.

Having a decent police force is a solved problem. Just look around for a country with a decent relationship between population and law enforcements. Look what made that happen (Was it 2-3 year police training? mental health screens? No qualified immunity? Central/federal authority governing all police forces? perrhaps ALL OF THE ABOVE?).

>>alkona+Ol
Do you really think we can apply the policing methods of Iceland or Japan to the areas of Mexico where you have cartels chopping up people? Crime and violence are not homogeneous around the world, so I don't think police can be either.

See how far you go with a compassionate police in Brazil.

>>pnako+Iq
I think this is a false dichotomy. "Police brutality" isn't when police use force when required, it's when they use more force than required.

> Crime and violence are not homogeneous around the world

It's also a bit defeatist to say that somehow the US is infested with crime and violence and that must always be the case. This isn't a problem that will be solved in just one or two generations. Attitudes take a long time to change, but perhaps Police culture is part of the propblem and not just the solution.