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 9 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 6 hours ago
So say we abolish the police. What happens when someone has been robbed?
kugel7c@feddit.org 6 hours ago
Either the robbery is severe enough for the person who was robbed to assemble a little group to catch the robber or they just let it slide. If we know some info about the robber we could let any institutions in the surrounding area know that this person is to be exiled or at least that his missteps be brought up before he is again considered to be part of polite society.
Local neighbourhood watch /militias could also exist and take over some of the polices current work especially when it comes to groups of potentially violent perpetrators.
None of this is going to be particularly effective but it’s not like currently a robbery, or most other crimes are likely to be effectively prosecuted either so I don’t see the big issue.
There are more watertight arguments made by anarchists, syndicalists and the like that you could read and agree or disagree with. But at the end of the day there is little ability for either of us to demonstrate, to me that the police can be fixed with any proposed method, and to you that society without police would work/ be more fair. So ultimately we are not gonna get much further here.
mrbutterscotch@feddit.org 5 hours ago
I’ll be honest, what you are describing sounds like a return to vigilante justice, which does not sound enticing to me. It sounds like the prelude to Gang/Militia warfare. Organised Crime would thrive in such an environment.
I’m not intelligent enough to propose solutions for fixing a police force which is highly corrupt. But I feel confident enough to say there are absolutely examples of countries with a functioning/not corrupt police force.
Germany is a very good example of what a good police force can look like. Sure there is always some that have a power trip and abuse their power, but that’s something you’ll have in any system, a system of vigilante neighborhood/militias included (if not more so). Police in Germany are generally well trained and a boon to society.
Not sure what country you are referring to, but I’ll stick with Germany as an example of a functioning police force. In Germany 58% of crimes are solved
And the missing 42% aren’t because of police corruption, but due to missing evidence etc.
So I don’t believe Police as a concept is outdated, since we need a way to enforce the laws that we as citizens agree on, but rather that the countries that have corruption problems need radical reform.