A basic Crowhill political principle is that some people have to have power to create and maintain a successful society, but you can never trust anyone with power. Power will corrupt. It’s a matter of when, not if.
It looks like the Brits are getting another example of this principle. Daniel Morgan murder report: the ‘devastating’ verdict for Scotland Yard
Police will become corrupt. It’s inevitable. It doesn’t matter how many nice people become policemen, or how many good, self-sacrificing things policemen do. They’ll eventually cover for one another, lie, hide evidence, take bribes, etc., unless there’s a strong force to keep them in line.
Which is, of course, the secret to handing out power. You give group A power, but you give group B the power to kick them back in line.
“Defund the police” is a childish reaction. If you believe there’s corruption in the police department (and of course there is), the slogan should be “audit the police,” or “investigate the police,” or “double the funding for public defenders,” or something along those lines.
QUOTE: “Defund the police” is a childish reaction.
Not sure I’d say it’s a childish reaction, given its intended purpose is to address what you speak about in your post. It’s more likely a bad misnomer. A better example of a childish reaction is the January 6 Capitol riot and the misguided efforts to overturn the results of the election and reinstate the loser.
That is a much better example, especially given the fact that we have GOP members of congress in denial about that horrible atrocity. If there is any case in which we should trust the police, any rational person would see their attempt to push that mob back as an act of bravery. The vote of the GOP against a commission to investigate the events on that day is utterly disgraceful and can only exhibit not merely childishenss, but – when push comes to shove – disdain for the police.
Indeed childish…the very ones that purports to endorse “Blue Lives Matter” surely didn’t demonstrate it in this instance. Albeit horribly misnamed, at least the effort to “Defund the Police” is about improving relations with police and minimizing their potential abuse of power. How are the police to trust those that won’t endorse efforts to investigate how they were severely assaulted and measures to prevent future incidents? Blue Lives Matter…really???
QUOTE: If we had a justice department it would be rounding up all these ghouls who are celebrating the shooting of the police officers in Compton and throwing the book at them.
It appears there has been progress since September 2020, when Crowhill made this post. Per the January 6 Capitol riot and attack on police and government officials, 521 people (aka ghouls) have been arrested and charged with crimes by the current justice department. Maybe it is true that elections have consequences?
https://www.insider.com/all-the-us-capitol-pro-trump-riot-arrests-charges-names-2021-1