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Would reorganizing the police to be like the military (structurally) do some good? (Long)

Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:03 pm
Posted by red sox fan 13
Valley Park
Member since Aug 2018
15334 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:03 pm
I was thinking about this as I read the Minnesota cop thread earlier, and what we could change to get a better relationship between cops and regular citizens. What if we structured police like the military? I think it could help cops be better at the their job and help law enforcement in general. This might be outlandish or dumb to you but hear me out.

So this is how I would do it. Set up a police citadel, similar to the service academies. If you want to be a cop, you go to the citadel for a year or two of basic training in law enforcement, and a year or two of learning under “professor” cops. This would help make sure people who want to be cops are educated and it would make a nationwide standard procedures for cops around the country. Also, going to the academy and doing boot camp would hopefully squash the Napoleon complexes and power fantasies a lot of cops have, showing that it’s a serious job to be done honorably.

Once you graduate, you get deployed to a city with your “platoon” complete with a captain, corporal and several privates. You would operate with your group in the city. Obviously this would not be small town thing. Also you would have to bring in a ton of extra officers for places like New Orleans, but that’s the point. Distribute police to the places that need them most. I think that working in units would promote officers to not use excessive force or fall to corruption, because you have other guys you are close with there to hold you accountable for your actions. If a cop unjustly kills someone or commits a crime, they would get “court martialled”. I also think the squad system would help fight crime. You would have say four cops for every one criminal if you attack each criminal as a squad, cutting off escape routes.

Also there could be “general” cops. The best in the business, they would be at the citadel to teach the latest and greatest techniques and approaches from combat to detective work. They would also help standardize police behavior around the country. They could also be deployed to towns where you have serious issues such as Ferguson a few years ago. I think this idea would help promote strict discipline and discretion for police doing their jobs. The cops would be trained to function efficiently and with minimal casualties for them and civilians. The funding for all of this would just come from a small fraction of our military spending.

I know I’ll probably get crucified for this, but I wanted to get y'all’s opinion. Is it better than the system we currently have? If you think a restructuring is necessary how would you do it?

Edit: Where did I say I want a police state? I want highly trained police officers equally distributed to the areas that need them most, along with standardized training as well. I also want the fatasses and power abusers out of law enforcement. This will also attract jobs for qualified people as well that may not have considered it otherwise
This post was edited on 5/26/20 at 10:27 pm
Posted by saintsfan1977
West Monroe, from Cajun country
Member since Jun 2010
7610 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:05 pm to
Just think of the stupid laws that would pop up just to fund this. You think speeding tickets are unjust?
Posted by AUCE05
Member since Dec 2009
42557 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:06 pm to
are you calling for a national police state?
Posted by Btrtigerfan
Disgruntled employee
Member since Dec 2007
21366 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:06 pm to
Yay. More government.


Posted by Jake88
Member since Apr 2005
68043 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:07 pm to
quote:

 what we could change to get a better relationship between cops and regular citizens
Cops have a relatively good relationship with regular citizens. The frequent flyers, maybe not so much.

Again, with hundreds of millions of police and citizen interactions, these events are very rare. The cop will be punished, no doubt.
Posted by wasteland
City of peace
Member since Apr 2011
5600 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:11 pm to
Holy fricking police state
Posted by jimbeam
University of LSU
Member since Oct 2011
75703 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:12 pm to
This seems really familiar.
Posted by USMEagles
Member since Jan 2018
11811 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:13 pm to
I have a lot of ideas on this.

I think the police should be reactive, responding to 911 calls instead of cruising around looking for trouble.

The modern policing paradigm is built around the traffic stop. Where did this concept come from? In the days before the automobile, did the cops chase down riders with special fast horses and stop them?

It's absurd and invasive. The cops should respond to complaints about actual crimes against actual victims instead, and they should do so more diligently.

I also think the police should be selected like juries. Any non-felon should be eligible for selection for some term as a cop. It should not be a profession, outside of the uppermost, preferably elected, stratum of leadership.

The notion of a professional police force sniffing around everywhere, all day, looking for trouble is terrifying. It does not surprise me when they get assaulted. The position they are put in by our system invites it.
This post was edited on 5/26/20 at 10:16 pm
Posted by arcalades
USA
Member since Feb 2014
19276 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:14 pm to
no, that's ridiculous. But there's no good answer. The founding fathers knew police forces would be an existential threat to freedom; that is why they refused to create any. Just look at the ff own words re: police forces. There's no way to avoid a police state once you have police. It's inevitable.
Posted by CheEngineer
Louisiana
Member since Aug 2019
4234 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:16 pm to
So you solution to cops using to much for and killing citizens is to reorganize them under the same structure that has created the most powerful killing machine in the entire world.

Posted by red sox fan 13
Valley Park
Member since Aug 2018
15334 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:17 pm to
Standardized training and equally distributed forces to understaffed cities is what I want. There’s a coast guard academy, why not a cop academy? Obviously there would need to be checks and balances in place
Posted by DeafJam73
Baton Rouge
Member since Sep 2010
18397 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:17 pm to
No. We have too many laws. Also, you’re asking people to be absolutely perfect doing a very dangerous job for shite pay, with long hours and dealing with shitty people day in and day out. You get what you pay for.
Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
141660 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:21 pm to
We didn't want to see soldiers patrolling the streets in 1776

I doubt if we've changed much
Posted by CalcuttaTigah
Member since Jul 2009
769 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:22 pm to
I’ve been saying for years now that there needs to be a partnership with all major professional sports. You launch a season long ad campaign which clearly lays out why cops approach you, what to expect when they do and why they are doing it, how they expect you to react, what to expect if you deviate from that (e.g. get tasered), etc. All walks of life and all languages will see it if it is on NHL, MLB, NFL, MLS, etc so everyone knows what to do. At the same time, cops across the nation are trained from Day 1 to follow this protocol.

I think the problem is that there are no standards and people react irrationally because they genuinely never expected to be in an arrest situation. It’d. be like driving an automobile if there were no rules of the road. Everything works fine (most of the time) because people know what to expect and when to expect it.

Every single encounter with LE, whether by foot or by car stop, needs to be predictable based on pre-defined and universal rules that both sides know. I think law enforcement is the only side that has expectations today.
This post was edited on 5/26/20 at 10:25 pm
Posted by JohnnyKilroy
Cajun Navy Vice Admiral
Member since Oct 2012
35289 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:22 pm to
Most of the shithead cops you hear about are former military.
Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
141660 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:23 pm to
quote:

I also think the police should be selected like juries. Any non-felon should be eligible for selection for some term as a cop. It should not be a profession
yes, that's the way to create universal standards, prevent it from being a profession
Posted by Kafka
I am the moral conscience of TD
Member since Jul 2007
141660 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:24 pm to
quote:

Every single encounter with LE, whether by foot or by car stop, needs to be predictable based on pre-defined and universal rules that both sides know
I agree with this, if you can get all suspects to do the same
Posted by djangochained
Gardere
Member since Jul 2013
19054 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:24 pm to
Ha
Posted by PetroBabich
Donetsk Oblast
Member since Apr 2017
4609 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:26 pm to
Many countries have Federal Police but it's typically because they have weak or non existent local governments. Basically no civil society as we conceive of it.
Posted by theenemy
Member since Oct 2006
13078 posts
Posted on 5/26/20 at 10:26 pm to
quote:

There’s a coast guard academy, why not a cop academy?


Are you serious Clark?

There are cop academies...
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