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[Loud Whispers]

You know what I meant say is the police is step to next moderate by moderating police or the police is as they are not moderated right now

Oh I get it, to clarify: moderating the police is the next step to moderating US society

[SalmonGod]

Moderating the police is or the police is as they are now?

do u even want know more to do look like is?

You know what I meant say is the police is step to next moderate by moderating police or the police is as they are not moderated right now

... I think Scriver had a stroke?

[TamerVirus]

Maybe he's talking about police moderators like forum moderators except police moderators actually hit bad cops over the head with comically large mallets?

[scriver]

You know what I meant say is the police is step to next moderate by moderating police or the police is as they are not moderated right now

Oh I get it, to clarify: moderating the police is the next step to moderating US society

Yes! I knew you could go as far

[Reelya]

Cool, thanks for fixing my mistake!

So that would make the odds of a cop being killed by gunshot about 1/20,000 per year.

I mean, I kinda wonder how much that would change if gun control were tighter in the USA. It's kind of hard to shoot someone if you can't get a gun.

Then the war on drugs could become the war on guns! Everyone wins!

EDIT: decided to deep-dive some basic stats. Yep, that 18000 was how many police departments there are, not police:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_enforcement_in_the_United_States

There are 17,985 U.S. police agencies in the United States which include City Police Departments, County Sheriff's Offices, State Police/Highway Patrol and Federal Law Enforcement Agencies

The actual number of police is available here
https://www.statista.com/statistics/191694/number-of-law-enforcement-officers-in-the-us/

686665 total police officers in the USA.

So, how about the murder rate for police:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/05/08/the-number-of-u-s-police-officers-killed-in-the-line-of-duty-increased-last-year-infographic/#3bdfda9d1189

A total of 106 police officers lost their lives on duty last year, a 13% increase on 2017. 55 officers were feloniously killed while 51 died accidentally.

So, 55 actual murders of police officers, out of 686665 means a murder rate conveniently close to 8.0 / 100,000. Now that's not actually much more than the average murder rate of the USA in general, which is 5.0 / 100,000. And it's a lot less than the average murder rate of dozens of US cities in general.

Also note your 1/20000 figure turned out to be a bit low. And it's just the average murder rate for Americans of all types. So if cops had that murder rate it would mean they're a safe profession, since murders of them would be at "background" rates.

[scriver]

Maybe he's talking about police moderators like forum moderators except police moderators actually hit bad cops over the head with comically large mallets?

That would certainly be an improvement

Edit: also sorry for the dumb posts, it seemed like a good idea at the time

[George_Chickens]

686665 total police officers in the USA.

it all makes sense...

[SalmonGod]

Holy shit

Minneapolis City Council actively exploring routes to disbanding the police

[kaijyuu]

I support taking guns away from first responder cops.

Secondary ones that are specifically called in for a pre-determined list of reasons after a normal cop is on the scene can still have them though.

Given how often a cop having a gun is used to justify *other people* being a threat to them ("they reached for my gun!"), it seems pretty win-win.


Aside from all this, of course, there needs to be huuuuuge cultural changes in the police force. Lay them all off (ALL OF THEM) and replace them with new blood. Ones that don't go on about "fighting bad guys" as if they're superheros.

[Iduno]

I personally see value in creating a society that doesn't have universal access to lethal force. I'd suggest that this could allow the focus of police interactions with the public to move away from a cop fearing for their life and responding with overwhelming force as an opening tactic to secure their safety. Without the threat of having their interaction potentially turn into an armed conflict, violent police behavior should rightfully be seen as an abhorrent act without justifiable cause.

Today, their focus is neutralizing resistance as quickly as possible to avoid violent armed retaliation. I'd hope in the future, without that mindset pervading the training and procedures used by police, it could be transformed into open dialogue and deescalation.

I agree with martinuzz, that it doesn't justify police brutality. But it does go a long way to explaining why police respond with excessive force as an opening tactic.

You're also ignoring that most of the police who are shot, are shot by other police officers. It turns out when you give people with poor impulse control steroids, a gun, and free reign, they aren't careful.

[scriver]

I support taking guns away from first responder cops.

Secondary ones that are specifically called in for a pre-determined list of reasons after a normal cop is on the scene can still have them though.

Given how often a cop having a gun is used to justify *other people* being a threat to them ("they reached for my gun!"), it seems pretty win-win.

Just going the Brit way of "the gun is in the car until it's needed" (or was it the Norwegian way?) would go a long, long way.

Aside from all this, of course, there needs to be huuuuuge cultural changes in the police force. Lay them all off (ALL OF THEM) and replace them with new blood. Ones that don't go on about "fighting bad guys" as if they're superheros.

ironically-topical-gary-oldman-crooked-cop-everyone!!!.gif

Holy shit

Minneapolis City Council actively exploring routes to disbanding the police

That's some neat stuff. Really, branching first responders should be more common (at least for big cities unfortunately, where they can afford the specialisation I mean). Police are often first responders for a lot of these things here too and it's just ridiculous to expect every single one persons to be able to handle all the kinds of varied emergencies that might warrant an emergency call.

[TamerVirus]

Cops deleted. Now criminals are subdued by fire-axe wielding firefighters or bumrushed by EMTs with defibrilators. CLEAR!

[Imic]

https://whyy.org/articles/philly-to-slash-police-oversight-anti-violence-initiatives-while-increasing-ppd-budget/

Don’t count your chickens before the dragon eggs hidden in the corner have hatched.

[SalmonGod]

https://whyy.org/articles/philly-to-slash-police-oversight-anti-violence-initiatives-while-increasing-ppd-budget/

Don’t count your chickens before the dragon eggs hidden in the corner have hatched.

Different city.  Horrible.  But if just one city gets rid of police and makes a good example of it, then other cities will have no excuse for not following that example.

[TD1]

Huh, didn't know we had this.

I'll just... sit here... and lurk for a bit.