dagblog - Comments for "Keep the Police Away From the Public"

"Detached" would have been a

Michael Maiello — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 17:00:34 +0000

In reply to as opposed to internal death

"Detached" would have been a better word.

as opposed to internal death

Contrarian — Fri, 12 Dec 2014 11:56:49 +0000

In reply to I wish we could have

as opposed to internal?

I wish we could have

Michael Maiello — Mon, 01 Dec 2014 19:33:23 +0000

In reply to

I wish we could have generally unarmed police in America. I suppose that would mean also having fewer citizens brandishing external death penises, though.

Doctor Cleveland — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 23:06:43 +0000

In reply to Keep the Police Away From the Public

Good post, Michael. I would point out that there are societies that police minor offenses like this, with generally good results. Great Britain can do it. so can Japan. It can be done. We just stunk at it.

One problem is that to do this kind of broken-windows lifestyle policing, you need your police to be genial and neighborly. Cops reminding teenagers to use the sidewalk is not a problem. Cops confronting teenagers over using the sidewalk is crazy

More importantly, you can't do this with a police force, and a population, armed to the teeth. Don't-walk-on-the-grass policing works fine when the police are unarmed, and haven't been mistrained to treat every interaction like a mortal threat.

mis-trained spt

I hear what you're saying,

Verified Atheist — Fri, 28 Nov 2014 18:56:50 +0000

In reply to We might not see eye to eye

I hear what you're saying, but the flip side of that is the Pygmalion effect. (See also the Stanford Prison Experiment.)

Hey Hey Michael...

oldenGoldenDecoy — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 22:19:36 +0000

In reply to Keep the Police Away From the Public

Hey Hey Michael...

TPM Prime Hive

How NOT to Handle a Crime Scene and Chain of Custody Evidence

~OGD~

We might not see eye to eye

erica20 — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 13:41:47 +0000

In reply to I take issue with the value

We might not see eye to eye on the question of paper, and I'm ok with that. In neighborhoods where a few people are causing trouble and making life difficult for everybody else, it's good to charge people because then you can really keep track of who's just a general asshole and who's on an upward trajectory of actual criminal behavior.

But overall, I agree with your point. The war on drugs, in particular, has been really stupid.

I take issue with the value

Michael Maiello — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 22:41:54 +0000

In reply to Myself, I think it's

I take issue with the value of "having paper" on criminals which, to me, amounts to putting people through the system for minor offenses just because they haven't committed a major crime. That kind of thinking leads to the current national security policy of spying on everything, taking note of everything and generally just enforcing conformity where ever possible.

NYC is definitely like that.

Michael Maiello — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 22:40:18 +0000

In reply to You sound like you have lived

NYC is definitely like that. I'd say the subway is a great example. If you pay for it with fares, as we do, then you have to police fare beaters, a nice minor crime committed mostly by poor people, who you can charge $100 a pop when you catch them. If, instead, you just made the subway "free" and funded it with a general tax, you wouldn't have to expend the time and effort on those $100 tickets. You could actually get rid of a lot of laws just by changing how things are paid for to begin with.

McCulloch chose to present

barefooted — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 22:21:53 +0000

In reply to You sound like you have lived

McCulloch chose to present his case for a probable cause indictment to the Grand Jury in a highly unique way. By laying out the possible defense alongside the case for prosecution, he placed the decision of guilt or innocence in their hands. Essentially, he conducted a pre-trial. All done before any charges were ever filed or anyone being arrested. Perhaps that's a good way to avoid life altering, unnecessary and baseless prosecutions from ever taking place.

But in the real world, we don't get that kind of consideration -- that "fairness". After all, what would happen to the revenue stream? Prisons don't make money if they're empty.