Gambit7

I think anyone who thinks there isnt a problem with our current justice system (public protectors included) needs to share the recipe for whatever shroom stew they're eating. The percentage of "bad cops" is way too high. Always has been. This is a problem that needs to be addressed.

__________________

CingularDuality

What is the solution? Where is there a better system?

__________________

Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market!

Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage."
TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

Atomic Dog

It's not a matter of where is there a better system. It's a matter of when did we, as americans, give up on creating a better system?

__________________

CingularDuality

Who has given up? I'm asking! What would make it better? What exactly is wrong with it now? So far, all I've heard is that there are too many rude cops. If that's whats wrong with our system, then I'm happy.

__________________

Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market!

Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage."
TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

xTYBALTx

End the drug war, fire a third of all law enforcement, and raise pay 20% across the board. Videotape all interrogations, investigate all complaints seriously, and be prepared to take harsh administrative action when wrongdoing is found. Stop using paramilitary tactics for routine arrests.

__________________
Current good song: Justice - Stress

Buckets

Agreed, with the addition of serious civilian oversight. Nobody should be able to police themselves.

__________________
The artist formerly known as "pecker"

Switch

Saying that the only problem is that there are too many rude cops is very disingenuously. There are too many unlawful cops that take discourtesy a step further by abusing their privileges at the expense of civilian rights.

__________________
|TG|Switch

Better known as:
That noob who crashed the chopper.
That noob who ran over the mine.
That noob who TK'd me with a sniper rifle.
That noob who hit that APC at 300m with light AT! Our APC...

ScratchMonkey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police

(When reading Wikipedia, I always make a point of checking out the Talk page, to see what controversy exists over the main page's content. This one's Talk page is quite large.)

__________________

El_Gringo_Grande

Couldn't simply give rep so have to post.

I agree with almost all of this except "fire a third" part. Maybe.

When I lived in some of the rougher parts of the country I noticed that you never saw a cop until something went wrong. Occasionally you would see somebody drive through.

Even now I never see a cop outside a car unless they are in a 7-11.

So very few of us ever come into contact with the police on a regular basis. We only see what happens on the news. The news reports the bad. Ergo, cops are bad.

So get the cops on the street. Why can't some walk around neighborhoods? All the neighborhoods. Have a car ready to pick them up if something happens at another place. But get them walking and involved.

This goes back to what I talked about wayyyy back in this thread. Make the police a part of the community. Make it personal. Bad cops will be sniffed out real quick. I also think it will be noticed that most of them are really good people worthy of our respect and trust.

I also want to speak to my earlier comment about how cops cannot protect us. I was speaking in general terms. The police force, and by extension the government, cannot protect a people. I never meant to suggest that an individual cop could not aid or protect a individual citizen. What I was trying to say is that the small group cannot protect a larger group from itself.

For example. The current immigration situation is horrible. It is not horrible because the border patrol did not do it's job. It is horrible because Americans ignored the law and, for all practical purposes, invited those individuals over. The law cannot stop the people from doing what they want unless it becomes draconian. See prohibition.

The last point xTYBALTx makes is very important with that regard. It appears the police are becoming draconian. That the govenment are going to enforce the law regardless of what the people actually desire. This extend to the drug war xTYBALTx also points to. It is useless and can only fail.

__________________
Sen. Barack Obama (IL) For President '08
---
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

TheFeniX

Considering there is only 1 officer for every 10,000 people in the US: firing a third of all officers would have horrendous consequences. One truth among law enforcement is: more officers on the street = less crime overall in a given area. It really just takes more cops driving around a neighborhood to help keep crime down.

I've said this before a number of times: if you want to lower crime, hire more cops, pay them better, train and equip them better, and crack down hard on crooked cops.

__________________

Hambergler

In addition a 50%-70% pay raise with stiffer entrance exams would attract more professional people.

__________________

CingularDuality

While I'd like to agree with you, I simply don't think this is what you want. There's a reason why the majority of cops have also served in our armed forces. It takes a certain type of person to run towards the sound of gunfire while everyone else is running away from it. Money and education don't change that.

Not to mention the fact that corruption and rudeness seem to be MORE prevalent in more "professional" occupations, so I don't know if that's really what anyone wants.

__________________

Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market!

Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage."
TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

xTYBALTx

Regarding the absolute number of police officers, which I favor drastically lowering: I was referring to all law enforcement, both local, state, and federal. And I assumed the drug was was ended. If the drug war is done for, you can cut out the DEA entirely. You can also cut out much of ICE and the Border Patrol. At the local, state, and federal levels you can either axe or reassign the cops currently on narco duty.

However, Gringo pointed out that in poor areas you never see cops. I don't know if that's a general rule or if it's specific to only certain poor areas. The only poor area I lived in was Isla Vista in Santa Barbara, and there were simply far too many police there. If you didn't have drug enforcement in that college town, then there would be little to enforce at all. I know that in the non-poor areas I've lived in, it seems like you can't turn a corner without running into a cop all day long. Maybe you've detected a separate issue here, I don't know. Moving some of them out of non-poor areas and into poor areas might be what's required, then.

__________________
Current good song: Justice - Stress

CingularDuality

Rich people would NEVER allow that.

__________________

Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market!

Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage."
TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

xTYBALTx

They would and they do. Rancho Santa Fe, in San Diego, has its' own private security force for the city - and only one cop. The security force can't issue citations, they just keep a watch for burglars and suspicious behavior. It's perfect.

__________________
Current good song: Justice - Stress