The growth of law enforcement is bad for society

I support more funding for the police so they can pay more to attract better quality officers.

When will people realize that the police is a need, not a want?

If crimes reduced on their own, cities would cut the police force.

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pay more to attract better quality officers.

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I hate to break it to you, but an extra $5-10k a year is not going to get you law school graduates that can read the Constitution.

Oh shite, I just realized it was you. I haven't been paying attention to why everyone else hates you, but I already feel bad for spending 30 seconds on a response.

There's a happy medium somewhere.

City police departments having MRAPS ain't it.

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I remember when police used to wear ties and caps and protected and served.

Now they wear their tacti-cool seal team six gear because of all their war on drugs grants. Now all they do is collect and harass.

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And carried 6 shooters rather than 20 round Glocks. Up through the 80s, cops would often try to defuse a situation using compassion, common sense and experience. Now they are handling situations like they are clearing houses in Fallujah.

I know a retired cop who always says he'd rather work with a lazy partner than an aggressive partner.

I can't remember the name of the blogger that made me aware to this in the late 2000s, but this is a decent article on it.

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In fact, between 1998 and 2014, the dollar value of military hardware sent to police departments skyrocketed from $9.4 million to a startling $796.8 million.

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That's no bueno. Does this help them feel emboldened to arrest people reading pedo books at school board meetings? Only others can say.

But the bigger factor that shits on our society? Decriminalizing and not prosecuting crimes. The cops are a tool, that's it. It's their job to essentially get your dumb cousin's arse to the jail so the DA can decide what to do with them.

This will probably get the thread RA'd, but plenty of LEOs are sent to perceived minor events. Yes, I know that domestic violence calls are the most likely to end in an LEO assault/murder. Not good. ETA: rolling SWAT on domestic disturbances is probably usually appropriate, but I suspect it's not going to help the situation.

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This means more money and more officers which for most places is just impossible.

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I disagree, respectfully. There are millions and billions of dollars available. Localities choose to do something else with the money.

Beat cops, detectives, forensics, firefighters, EMTs, spend all the money. Spend it there first.

You’re title is wrong. This has to be a troll?

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The more they're militarized, the more they have a sense of power over those they're supposed to protect

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Adam Carolla, in the mid 2000s, did mention that a lot of police he ran into in CA were essentially football players that didn't make it into college and really liked the ability to control others. Completely anecdotal, but I've dealt with a number of cops like that. It escalated in 2003 when I watched some of the tactics that were used against Iraq vets that just wanted to be left alone (it was either Kenner or Metarie). The family wanted the house, he wanted his family the hell out of his business, vet ends up dead after an assault. I can't find the NOLA article from 03/04 at the moment.

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Be sure not to call them if you should be in dire need of their assistance. Just handle it yourself.

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TSA sucks a bag of dicks, but the solution isn't don't fly