Uh-huh. So, in your fantasy world where cops don’t exist, who intervenes when someone inevitably commits a crime?
I’m sure you’ve got some version of Social Workers with Enforcement Powers^TM^ in mind, but all that really amounts to is Reformed Cops^TM^. So, just admit ACAB is your anger-fueled generalization/oversimplified solution to a complex problem and say you want police reform, like the rest of us sane people.
Lemminary@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Who intervenes when cops are around, though? I’ve been laughed at in my face and told they couldn’t do anything despite us having proof in the form of a brick through our window. Not even the restraining order was honored.
Or how about the time I got beat up and all they did was allegedly take some notes and tell me they couldn’t do anything because it was private property?
It’s kind of insane how much we rely on their image rather than their direct actions to even dare be so condescending.
Tedesche@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
All of those instances are examples of either cops not doing their jobs or the law being imperfect. Problems like that will always exist but that just means we need to focus on fixing them, by changing laws and instituting better systems for policing the police. Getting rid of police as an institution is pointless and fixes nothing.
I agree we need reforms in both law and police departments, as well as a better institution than “Internal Affairs” to keep cops in line. More essentially, we need to change the cultural problem at the heart of police corruption. Regular psychological evaluations, deescalation training, and an active stance against authoritarian personalities in police need to be adopted.
kugel7c@feddit.org 4 hours ago
Cops are a few hundert years old concept why would they be necessary now when most places they barely existed pre ww1.
Your second paragraph is just as pie in the sky as abolishing, specifically because as with every position entailing power over others, authoritarians will flock to it.
The police was created so that wealth and power can effectively use part of the state for physical protection of their assets and lives, and that is still their operating background, the management of the local meat packing factory or the amazon warehouse will have much greater access to police resources than you or your plumber, by design, the law is imperfect and cops are not doing their job, more or less on purpose. And this status quo will not change unless at least some part of this system is entirely redone.
If the greater context in which the police exists, makes normal people scared of consequences, and powerful people immune to consequences enacted by police, why should any normal person argue for their existence.
mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 1 hour ago
So say we abolish the police. What happens when someone has been robbed?