Why police?
With the recent events in the news, I find myself asking questions I NEVER thought I’d have to. I realize my thought process is a bit simple: work hard, obey the law, plan, invest in oneself, treat others like I’d like to be treated, etc. So it comes as quite a surprise (at least to me) that I would ever ask the question: why do we have police departments? Let’s dig.
Military organizations are nearly self-explanatory: keep foreign guys from invading your local country, to keep your local country from being overthrown by said foreign guys (good or bad). After all, if your local country is worth anything, there are always others that would like to take it. Such has been mankind’s history, since…well, since countries. The old adage ‘good fences make great neighbors’, only on a national scale. The flavor of the military has obviously changed over the centuries, including air, sea, land, and even space capabilities. We now even have cyber-attacks to be concerned about. But the basic premise is unchanged—keep your country YOURS.
Police departments are normally considered the local version of the military. Land forces to enforce the law there, coast guard and game wardens to enforce laws on waterways, etc. But it just isn’t as simple as that anymore. Consider the current and somewhat recent events involving police:
1. Police in Florida do NOT save the children in a school mass shooting. The Supreme Court ruled that police ‘did not have a constitutional duty to protect a person from harm’. This ruling even covered ex-spouses covered by restraining orders.
2. Police are used to enforce Governors’ ‘shelter in place’ laws, even those that are quite questionable as to the law’s legality and Constitutionality. This further excites those that wonder if local police will enforce blatantly anti-2nd-Amendment gun-grab laws.
3. Police in current riot conditions are ordered to stand down. One police chief stated, he would not risk his officers for ‘buildings or possessions’. The news media was replete with rioting in many cities across the US this weekend, with not a patrol officer in sight.
4. Many police departments have deployed or purchased excess military-grade hardware, such as armored personnel carriers (APCs) and advanced SWAT gear. Curiously, that gear was used to enforce 2 above, but not 3.
5. Minorities have been shouting for years that police mistreat and over-enforce their folks. Now, this is hard to quantify, but the TV images of the cop-induced death of George Floyd over the weekend certainly bolster those arguments.
So, given all of the above points: why do we continue to field and pay tax dollars for our police departments? I’m not the only person thinking the speed-trap revenue generators are a poor use of tax funds. Note that I understand the incredible risk rank and file patrolmen and women take on every day. It is NOT a foregone conclusion that all will return home safely at the end of their shifts. This is in no way an attempt to belittle their risk. But if ‘to serve and protect’ is no longer valid, what exactly are they doing, and why are they doing it? If they are not protecting anything, maybe this needs deeper investigation.
YES, WE NEED POLICE. AND JUDGES. AND COURTS. AND JAILS.
The alternatives to police are few and extremely limited: you can replace trained officers with ‘posses’; you can arm neighborhood watch groups; you can return to The Old West, and go ‘everyone for themselves’; or you can just capitulate to every wild-ass idea ever proposed by any advocacy group. If you can’t see the obvious downsides to EVERY one of those approaches, stop reading. You may be one of the folks that equates ‘smash and grab looting’ with ‘shopping’. You are so willing to disband the primary defense between the innocent and the lawless for a perceived injustice, you ignore the consequences.
The police departments are NECESSARY to a civilized society. Their visible presence alone reduces crime–if they are allowed to do silly things like ARREST people. The no-bail approach some cities are adopting make arresting potential criminals like drinking coffee with a fork (H/T Reggie Jackson). The same damage is done with the ‘plea bargain express’, where wink-wink-nudge-nudge ‘justice’ is pleading guilty to a lesser (meaningless) charge, with nearly no punishment, just to keep the ‘wheels’ turning. Except that is exactly what you get–return offenders so often, they know the judges by their first names. And the latest atrocity: REMOVING the entire police force from a riot situation, because ‘property and buildings are not worth it’. So, mayor or police chief of such city: What exactly IS worth it? Your officers signed up for the job to ‘protect and defend’–is that just YOUR house?
A side note: what businessman in his right mind would risk his capital, effort, credit, time, and other resources ANYWHERE that does not have a viable police force? I can point to MANY riot-torn places in the US RIGHT NOW where the destroyed businesses will simply not return. So, that is a good thing? Who exactly do you think HIRES people?
Here’s a silly idea I think just might have a small chance at success: ENFORCE ALL LAWS WITHIN YOUR JURISDICTION. NO PLEA BARGAINS–YOU GET TRIED ON THE SERIOUS CRIME YOU ALLEGEDLY COMMITTED. If this method requires more courts, more judges, more jails, and more police…better start building and hiring. Because the current situation leads to lawless anarchy–survival of the strongest to prey on the weakest. In other words, the end of real civilization. Your move.
