Alternative to the police

[Vee]

Hi everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of demonstrations on the news lately with people asking to defund the police, and there is one thing I really don't understand. If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack, domestic violence,
crowd/traffic control, missing person, etc?
I'm asking our of simple curiosity here. I don't want to get into politics or take sides.

 

[exchemist]

Hi everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of demonstrations on the news lately with people asking to defund the police, and there is one thing I really don't understand. If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack, domestic violence,
crowd/traffic control, missing person, etc?
I'm asking our of simple curiosity here. I don't want to get into politics or take sides.

Yes I too wondered about this, until it was explained on another thread that "defund" in this case means reduce funding, not eliminate it and shut down the police dept. altogether. It seems that in the US too many localities have dealt with crime by simply boosting the police budget, instead of funding other agencies that can address the root causes of crime, prevent re-offending etc. As we all know by now, a lot of crime is related to things such as drug abuse and mental health issues, for example. Just arresting people and locking them up not a very intelligent way to deal with crime, as the police themselves would be the first to admit. All you get in the end is a sort of Robocop dystopia - as we have just seen illustrated.

What I understand this idea is about is to divert funds to more of these other programmes that complement police work.

 

[Heyo]

Hi everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of demonstrations on the news lately with people asking to defund the police, and there is one thing I really don't understand. If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack, domestic violence,
crowd/traffic control, missing person, etc?
I'm asking our of simple curiosity here. I don't want to get into politics or take sides.

Nobody wants to get rid of the police. They are still the ones you call when there is some serious crime in progress. But for all the other things specialised civil services are more conductive. And those civil servants wouldn't need to carry a gun or have the same monopoly on force as the police has.
Of course the civil service has to be funded and as they take responsibility from the police they would get the funding that would have otherwise gone to the police.

 

[QuestioningMind]

Hi everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of demonstrations on the news lately with people asking to defund the police, and there is one thing I really don't understand. If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack, domestic violence,
crowd/traffic control, missing person, etc?
I'm asking our of simple curiosity here. I don't want to get into politics or take sides.

Jon Oliver does a great job of explaining what it's all about in the video below.

 

[sun rise]

I found this article about what other nations do helpful

The Washington Post: Defund the police? Here’s what has worked in other countries..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...6eab16-abf2-11ea-a43b-be9f6494a87d_story.html

 

[Mindmaster]

Hi everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of demonstrations on the news lately with people asking to defund the police, and there is one thing I really don't understand. If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack, domestic violence,
crowd/traffic control, missing person, etc?
I'm asking our of simple curiosity here. I don't want to get into politics or take sides.

You should check your privilege, lol. (sorry, that's what people said to me when I thought along these lines! ) But, anyway, there are other ways to provide equivalent functions but since these guys are the anarchy crowd basically their idea is that you pay for your own security. That's great until all the security providers get together and start jacking up the prices. So, to me it boils down to a few choices:

1. Appoint a community watch who actually has authority, but of course, they'll be woke as all hell and won't treat people who aren't as radical as them fairly. They probably won't do the job very well and you'll have to sit on your porch with a shotgun.

2. Restructure police to be more focused on the community policing objective with more training on how to deal with difficult subjects, rather than resorting to force. Viable option. But, your mileage with these scales with the level of threat you have to deal with in your location.

3. Anarcho-capitalist model -- you pay for your own policing and get extorted. There's a reason we do it the way we do now, it's to keep the price reasonable.

I think #2 is an intelligent choice... The rest are garbage.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Hi everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of demonstrations on the news lately with people asking to defund the police, and there is one thing I really don't understand. If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack, domestic violence,
crowd/traffic control, missing person, etc?
I'm asking our of simple curiosity here. I don't want to get into politics or take sides.

Simple answer.

Robots.

 

[Heyo]

Simple answer.

Robots.

Nope. Robots are also racist.

Man Accuses HP Computers of Being Racist

 

[Twilight Hue]

Nope. Robots are also racist.

Man Accuses HP Computers of Being Racist

Lol. You're probably right. Face recognition technology is also another major issue with race-based profiling.

Believe it or not I myself was rather shocked to find that sentencing guidelines used by judiciary is not made by human being. It's actually made by an algorithm that the courts use which unfortunately recognizes blacks as repeat offenders of crime, and the sentencing usually follows through in those terms outlined by the algorithm creating a disapportionate amount of blacks and minorities being the target of lengthy and oppressive sentencing as a result.

I forgot the name of the software program that they use, but it's there and it's sanctioned by the judiciary.

 

[WalterTrull]

...If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack,...

The law and order fairies, of course. Look for them now at the bottom of your garden. Be sure to ask questions.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Lol. You're probably right. Face recognition technology is also another major issue with race-based profiling.

Believe it or not I myself was rather shocked to find that sentencing guidelines used by judiciary is not made by human being. It's actually made by an algorithm that the courts use which unfortunately recognizes blacks as repeat offenders of crime, and the sentencing usually follows through in those terms outlined by the algorithm creating a disapportionate amount of blacks and minorities being the target of lengthy and oppressive sentencing as a result.

I forgot the name of the software program that they use, but it's there and it's sanctioned by the judiciary.

This is an expansion of my post I found some information in regards to the software used......

The name of the software used as a sentencing algorithm is called COMPAS.

Criminal sentencing software - SI410

Computer Program That Calculates Prison Sentences Even More Racist Than Humans

Predictive Algorithms in Sentencing: Are We Automating Bias? - Lexology

If you are a minority in American society, it's a pretty safe bet that that you're going to be screwed and would explain much of the disparity in prison population.

What's frightening is humans don't control this process, the algorithms do.

Essentially AI is in control and the humans who are in charge will certainly refuse to budge in order to change anything what they implemented.

It's the same phenomena that you see in YouTube with its algorithms where content creators are unfairly targeted by the use of algorithms and AI, yet the corporate engine, no matter how many times people complain, will continue to refuse to budge on rectifying anything it puts out.

Rioting or not, these people rest assured will never change it nor eliminate the software.

Don't expect law enforcement including the judiciary to change because it simply won't. It'll just be superficial token changes and that's all you're going to get.

 

[Friend of Mara]

Hi everyone,
I've been seeing a lot of demonstrations on the news lately with people asking to defund the police, and there is one thing I really don't understand. If there is no police, who will do all the duties that the police officers normally do, like respond when there is an assault, accident, break-in, terrorist attack, domestic violence,
crowd/traffic control, missing person, etc?
I'm asking our of simple curiosity here. I don't want to get into politics or take sides.

I don't think abolishing the police is a good idea. I don't think the majority of people who have taken a great deal of thought on the subject support this. There are clear cut and dry specific situations where police are absolutely necessary. What is the quote "if your only tool is a hammer all problems look like nails." So there are many problems that police shouldn't be taking care of. Situations where deescalation is more important than escalation would probably want someone who isn't armed with a gun and a license to kill you and statistically be unaffected by it.

So the two points I would make are.

1) Lots of other public services could take weight off of the shoulders of police and provide for those services more effectively.

2) Police need to be held accountable for their actions when they abuse the free pass of violence that is unprecedented in all other facets of American life.

 

[Vee]

The law and order fairies, of course. Look for them now at the bottom of your garden. Be sure to ask questions.

If I see fairies at the bottom of my garden I'll have a lot of questions to ask, that's for sure