In a staggering report last month, the Department of Justice documented pervasive abuse, illegal use of force, racial bias and systemic dysfunction in the Minneapolis Police Department. City police officers engaged in brutality or made racist comments, even as a department investigator rode along in a patrol car. Complaints about police abuse were often slow-walked or dismissed without investigation.
I can see how that would work in some places, but where I live, the opposite would happen. There actually is crime for them to police. Hell, with organized crime going up after California turned certain types of stealing from a Felony to a misdemeanor, theft and smash and grabs have skyrocketed in some places.
Plus, in the rural areas, Cartels are moving in and setting up illegal weed farms and such and threatening the local government and communities.
I’m not saying that the police aren’t a bunch of racist, sexist, militant fascists: they are. But if we could reform the police, they have a use protecting people from actual crime. The one benefit of having actual crime to police is that over the years, I’ve noticed much fewer cops harassing or ticketing normal people for stuff like minor traffic violations or “just because”. Probably because they actually (for once) have better things to do.