Wow, that's... a whole lot of completely unsupported stuff you've said the last two pages.
When yourisk being brutally murdered simply for doing your job, paranoia and a fortress mentality aren't simply impossible to prevent, they're the only thing keeping you alive.
Seriously? Seriously? You're seriously arguing that the police *have* to be like this or they'll get killed? Do you have any evidence this sort of behavior and mentality helps? Or is this just empty apologism?
the rampant POLICE VS CIVILIANS divide didn't really exist
This has always existed, between the population the police were meant to protect and the population they were supposed to oppress. You want to know what's changed? The second group has been made progressively larger, and the consequences for their treating the police as anything
but an enemy have grown progressively more dire as the power of the police has increased, while oversight and limitations that the police once operated under have largely been lifted thanks to a population more interested in beating down the undesirables and a police force more able to use advanced technology to do things they couldn't before without provoking a major backlash.
If you want to change the attitude, here's a few ways to start:
1. Repeal laws that target large swathes of the population and serve no purpose in actually protecting them. Legally, the police
are the enemy of almost every decent person in this country, because they are the enemy of criminals and most everyone in this country is a criminal. (Everything I've heard from Colorado indicates that repealing the marijuana laws have gone a long way towards improving the relationship between police and non-police)
2. Reduce police power. Do not arm them as often, do not equip them with APCs and carbines and advanced weaponry. Hell, don't equip them with guns at all when possible. Do not get them special immunities and privileges that release them from a requirement to follow the law. Do not create situation where violence is the common solution that is in their best interests. This will attract those interested in violence and power, and turn away those interested in service to their communities. Do not make the police force an attractive place for thugs, and do not approach the police as a blunt tool that can be used to cow the populace into submission. On the other hand, compensate them well financially, and make them feel like they are doing good through regular exposure to their community in non-violent and non-oppositional situations.
3. Create robust systems for accountability. There are plenty of really top-notch police forces in the US where you never hear about stuff like this happening, and all of them have this. The technology is less important than the system. Ferguson HAD cameras, but it doesn't matter if there's no will to use them or no repercussions if they catch something nasty. This is a lot more difficult when 1&2 aren't good, because the police you attract will not be the type that are interested in accountability. And not just accountability for breaking the law, but actual
job standards. If you have to employ psychopaths and racists, at least make them fear for their jobs should they step out of line.
4. A national effort to convince good people to consider policing. Offer scholarships, financial support, paths to success especially among minority communities and in traditionally disadvantaged areas. Create an enormous pool of diverse applicants, so that police forces aren't stuck taking what they have and can fire people with less worry about filling the vacancies. Stop basing it on a friend-and-family system, and start involving the community in the process from the word go by recruiting from it directly instead of relying so hard on the families of those already in the force, and those volunteers that really just want to stomp boots into people's faces.
Edit:
Local Fox news poll from St.Louis (the page where it originally appeared no longer shows it though:
Remember! Not everyone sees the police as their enemy, many people see them explicitly as an attack dog they can use to prevent the feral animals (as the online conservatives have been calling black folk of late, but substitute hispanics, asians, liberals, muslims, and whatever the enemy-of-the-weak-is when appropriate) from getting to uppity.
Poll
7 (6.5%)
Author
Topic: Bay12 Election Night Watch Party (Read 821928 times)