The institution of police needs to be abolished and replaced wholesale by something better. Measures meant to temper the systemic problems in the institution put in place by the Obama administration have been ripped out[1] by the white supremacist[2] sitting in the Attorney General's seat.
Their actions are counterproductive to the preservation of an integrated, fair civil society.
I wish people had to justify downvoting with a quick comment. I presume you are being downvoted a) for the possible hyperbole of 'white supremacist' (Is Sessions a White Supremacist, or protectionist and somewhere on the nationalistic scale? Genuine question, as I am unqualified to say) and b) as it is arguably fanciful thinking to simply 'rip it out and replace it wholesale' (I would argue 'never going to happen').
To a large extent, issues posed in this thread could be solved with body cams. When all police are held more accountable in this way, are your grievances eased at all?
How would you suppose a government bring about such a large upheaval when most modern politics spends its time on compromise and incremental change?
>When all police are held more accountable in this way, are your grievances eased at all?
No, because then they pull this nonsense[1]. They are an institution historically grounded in anti-labor terrorism and slave catching, crafted entirely to elevate the security of private property above all other societal concerns.
>(Is Sessions a White Supremacist, or protectionist and somewhere on the nationalistic scale?
You should reconsider your hesitance here. Intellectuals need to stop tapdancing around the issue of white supremacy, and call a spade a spade. He prosecuted a group of people that were helping African-Americans register to vote. He's pushed back time and time again against sentencing reform that would treat people more equally under the law.[2] Calling his actions "protectionist" or "nationalist" is explicitly excluding black citizens from The Nation in question. By attempting to misdirect and misattribute these actions you are complicit in the practices that sustain the root from which his hateful policies grow.
>You should reconsider your hesitance here. Intellectuals need to stop tapdancing around the issue of white supremacy, and call a spade a spade.
I am not a US citizen and don't know anything about this person, so I stand by my position on being unqualified to say (hence asking).
Actually on a side note, I agree with you, but on the other hand am equally concerned about the 'level platform' (e.g. 'my opinion is as valid as your scientific method') that we currently have in society.
Having said the above - Yes, I am a hesitant debater in general, so for other circumstances, I agree.
The reference you provided seems a little tenuous to this to me FYI (and is also a single data point). That flippant comment from a single police force regarding a corporation does somewhat reflect the power of companies at the moment, but I am not sure whether it shows anything more than this.
Side note, the police also said along the lines of "we will not rule out prosecuting the driver" (paraphrasing) which strikes me as terrifying, as the driver was arguably avoiding negligence as much as possible, while Uber could be considered grossly negligent here.
>They are an institution historically grounded in anti-labor terrorism and slave catching, crafted entirely to elevate the security of private property above all other societal concerns.
To play devil's advocate here, so were the Dutch[1], Swedish[2] governments etc.) - Which are among the more democratically represented countries we have at the moment (no where near a pure democracy, but still some of the best we have). These nations now have comparatively liberal prison and policing systems.
it's not a technological issue. Does it matter if body cams exist, when the footage can easily "go missing"? When the DA and the judge are incentivized to be lenient to advance their own careers? How often do you see headlines where the police commit outrageous atrocities and get a slap on the wrist?
The system is fundamentally broken. The incentive structure needs to be changed. This is a sociopolitical issue.
I do think that technology like this will be less and less corruptible over time though - I am fairly optimistic about this use case for cameras (but also have concerns about how unpleasant jobs like teaching and policing could become if people are monitored in an authoritarian way).
In terms of the system being fundamentally broken, my view is that 'ripping it out and starting again' is just not viable (esp with the US having essentially a 2 party system) - Incremental change such as introducing body cams, reducing its corruptibility, and general 'liberal' policy introduction over time is the only feasible path if relying on traditional government.
This incremental change, however, is far too slow, which is why I support Ethical Capitalism to provide an alternative path, guided by 'enlightened' public demand. Which brings its own problems and exploitable weaknesses of course.
>How often do you see headlines where the police commit outrageous atrocities and get a slap on the wrist?
I am fairly optimistic too in this regard - People are slowly wising up to Police perjury and other indiscretions, and it is more at the forefront of people's minds than ever before. I have no justification for this optimism in this conversation though unfortunately, as it is such a large nuanced shift to examine.
Their actions are counterproductive to the preservation of an integrated, fair civil society.
1. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-announces-...
2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/10/...