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User.45
Guest
Agree with all.The Trump campaign and their allies kept switching between calling Biden and Harris the beginning of anarchy and a police state. It's kind of ridiculous. They weren't sure what attack ads to run, so they just used anything that might generate negative sentiment.
The "defund the police" slogan isn't that meaningful overall. Police are primarily funded and managed at the local level. At the national level, you can stop selling them surplus military equipment.
At the state level, you can write laws that undo some of the established case law, which favors officers. They should not be able to shut off body cams, and there are many many videos with inappropriate use of firearms in full view of the camera. It's not like they're pointing them somewhere out of frame. You can also centralize prosecution of these cases in a different manner so that prosecutors who are involved do not have a vested interest in maintaining good relationships. You can sanction and withhold funding on police and sheriff's departments that do not comply with legal information requests. You can stop dispatching police for things such as wellness checks.
Even if the percentage of overall calls that go bad is low, there are many incidences that appear to be avoidable, based on dash cam and body cam footage. I really don't think these departments deserve much sympathy in the presence of such things, particularly when they involve officers with disciplinary records.
1. Surplus military equipment has no effect on public safety
2. Militarized police increases mistrust in police
3. Police officer testimony without video evidence should not be acceptable. When the gun holster is opened, the cameras should always roll.
4. Cops should be prosecuted by an independent body to eliminate conflict of interest
5. Cops should be licensed and those w/o a license should be off the force.
6. Warrior style cop trainings should be banned. Those who want warfare can join the military.
Plenty of options. Of course gun regulation would also help making police work safer too.