myrmepropagandist
It can be frustrating to read the way that people who are unaware of all of the things that “police presence” will do to a neighborhood write about police abolition— even when they are making an effort to understand they still regard police as something that, if removed, would need to be replaced. After all? who will stop the criminals? Who will keep the neighborhood from descending into chaos?
What they fail to understand is that the police *are* the chaos. 1/
myrmepropagandist
Have you considered that there being “a lot of crime” might indicate that police aren’t very effective at reducing the crime?
Police do not prevent crimes. They don’t leap out and stop muggers, or knock men who grope you on the head. They also hardly ever solve crimes after they happen. They won’t even look for the person who robbed you. They may look for a murder— but they hardly even solve half of the cases. Fewer if the victim is poor.
jamesTown
I know someone, they are physicaly fit and like to follow Orders and structures.
They are nessecery for society and to enforce laws. Laws without enforcements are empty words.
I live in relatively Bad Party of town, there are Universitys but many people here are lazy and or come from uneducated households. There is a lot of crime here and without cops this place would burn in months.
Sibylle
@futurebird @JamesTown_ they say we have the nicest prisons here. That's because we want people who come out to function in society. They might become our neighbour after all...
Still... I do not like cops. What kind of mindset do you have to have to become a cop...
Sibylle
@futurebird @JamesTown_ I live in Switzerland. A very safe place to live on this planet.
And guess what, it is not a safe place, because we have police. But because most people think they are treated well by society. Like more or less.
Every person who served the military has a right to take his gun home after the two years. But still there are hardly any shootings. That's not because we are better people. But society is not built upon oppression.
myrmepropagandist
@JamesTown_ This could be one way to describe the problem. It doesn’t change the fact that they do more harm than good and I’m sick of it.
jamesTown
@futurebird your problem is incorrectly managed police, those Problems dont exist in countries without "crashcourse cops".
myrmepropagandist
None of this made any sense until I started living in neighborhoods where the police are a negative presence. Sometimes these neighborhoods have their own problems. Wage theft, domestic disputes, shop lifting… but police do not address these issues. In fact, should you call for help because something was stolen, or because someone wants to hurt you they may make the situation worse. I can’t help but think of it as punishment for incorrectly presuming police exist to protect and help you. 2/2
myrmepropagandist
When police do catch a murder they often have a pretty obvious tip or the person is still there after the crime. Other criminals they won’t even chase. But they still manage to arrest a ton of people but mostly for nonsense like “resisting arrest” or “impending a police investigation” or “being rude to a cop” or “being homeless”
Melody Cooper
@futurebird I agree with most of this but we cannot get away from the violence exacted on those considered “weak,” including women and children, by those in power. And it can be anyone from police to the military, criminals, a local bully, a town leader, a teacher, armed or not, openly or hidden. We need some kind of system to protect those who are not safe from those who — from time immemorial and across cultures and countries — have sought to take and harm.
Paul Cantrell
@MelodyCooper @futurebird
One of my refrains:
We need public safety.
Whatever the police are, it’s not public safety.
There’s both a harm •and• an unmet need here, and those two things are not contradictory.
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