<div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,30,33);font-size:14px">There's a basic structural problem with policing, as an institution. It is fundamentally the wrong solution for many of the tasks we've handed over to it.</p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,30,33);font-size:14px"><br></p><p style="margin:6px 0px;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,30,33);font-size:14px">"Part of our misunderstanding about the nature of policing is we keep imagining that we can turn police into social workers. That we can make them nice, friendly community outreach workers. But police are violence workers. That's what distinguishes them from all other government functions. ... They have the legal capacity to use violence in situations where the average citize<span class="gmail-text_exposed_show" style="display:inline;font-family:inherit">n would be arrested.</span></p><div class="gmail-text_exposed_show" style="display:inline;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(28,30,33);font-size:14px"><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:inherit">So when we turn a problem [i.e. homelessness, mental health, narcotics abuse, disruptive behavior in schools, etc] over to the police to manage, there will be violence, because those are ultimately the tools that they are most equipped to utilize: handcuffs, threats, guns, arrests. That's what really is at the root of policing. So if we don't want violence, we should try to figure out how to not get the police involved."</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:inherit"><br></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:inherit"><a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/06/03/457251670/how-much-do-we-need-the-police">https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2020/06/03/457251670/how-much-do-we-need-the-police</a> </p><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:inherit"><br></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 6px;font-family:inherit"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/End-Policing-Alex-S-Vitale-ebook/dp/B01I85OOZA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">https://www.amazon.com/End-Policing-Alex-S-Vitale-ebook/dp/B01I85OOZA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=</a> <br></p></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Jun 8, 2020 at 9:09 AM SR Ballard via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="auto">Completely agree.<br><br><div dir="ltr">SR Ballard</div><div dir="ltr"><br>On Jun 8, 2020, at 7:07 AM, Dave Sill via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">On Mon, Jun 8, 2020 at 12:19 AM Stathis Papaioannou via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:</span><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr"><span style="font-family:arial,sans-serif">They are proposing replacing the existing police force with a better one:</span><br></div><div dir="auto"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div dir="auto"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18)">“In Minneapolis and in cities across the US, it is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” said Lisa Bender, the Minneapolis city council president, at the event. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period. Our commitment is to do what’s necessary to keep every single member of our community safe and to tell the truth: that the Minneapolis police are not doing that. Our commitment is to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”</span><br></font></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18)"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><br></font></span></div><div dir="auto"><span style="color:rgb(18,18,18)"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><div><a href="https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/07/minneapolis-city-council-defund-police-george-floyd" target="_blank">https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/07/minneapolis-city-council-defund-police-george-floyd</a></div><br></font></span></div><div dir="auto"><font face="arial, sans-serif"><span style="border-color:rgb(0,0,0)">Even the poorest, most deprived states in the world generally find the resources to maintain a police force.</span></font></div></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>The problems with policing in the US are pretty well-known:</div><div><br></div><div>- too-strong police unions - bad actors rarely punished by the police force</div><div>- qualified immunity - bad actors rarely punished in civil court</div><div>- militarization - military weapons and equipment without real need or proper training</div><div>- excessive use of force - see <a href="https://8cantwait.org/" target="_blank">https://8cantwait.org/</a></div><div>- culture of disrespect for citizens - us vs. them mentality instead of "protect & serve"</div><div>- too many victimless crime laws - the Drug War does more harm than good</div><div>- attracts bad actors - if you're racist and/or you want to be a badass, it's the place to work</div><div>etc.</div><div><br></div><div>Starting with a clean slate might fix some of them but it won't fix all of them.</div><div><br></div><div>Politicians have to stand up to the unions. Congress has to end qualified immunity (there's a bill in the House now). Transfer of military equipment to police needs to stop. I think every use of force or allegation of wrongdoing by an officer should be reviewed by a citizen's review board empowered to recommend disciplinary actions, criminal charges, or firing, and these results should be a permanent part of every officer's record. State and federal governments will have to decriminalize drugs.</div><div><br></div><div>-Dave</div></div></div>
</div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>extropy-chat mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a></span><br><span><a href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat" target="_blank">http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</a></span><br></div></blockquote></div>_______________________________________________<br>
extropy-chat mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org" target="_blank">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat</a><br>
</blockquote></div>