• PunnyName@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    You realize police unions are nothing like other unions, right? Because their employees effectively get carte blanche to kill.

    Don’t make false equivalences. That does not a good argument make.

    • jasondj@ttrpg.network
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      1 year ago

      That doesn’t mean that the union itself should be scrapped.

      Put it this way…in any other career, suspensions with pay would be something a union probably should provide for employees. It’s “innocent until proven guilty” and employers should not be able to withhold pay or hours on accusations or theories alone. That also incentivizes prioritizing the investigation.

      To say cops shouldn’t have this benefit, I think, would be especially unfair…because cops are in a position to receive far more baseless accusations from the public. Their job is literally to make peoples days shit.

    • shalafi@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      So we pull the plug on police unions? On what legal grounds, what precedent? We would almost have to make law enforcement a distinct class of citizen.

      And for the record, I believe they are a different class of citizen and I believe they should be held to higher standards. And yes, if I had my druthers, that distinction would be written into law, perhaps even on a federal level.

      But how do we legislate that? Also, if we do this thing, it’s going to cost a mountain of political capital. “Defund the police” is the dumbest political slogan I’ve ever heard in life. The idea is rock solid, the soundbite ain’t. Now imagine trying to push legislation that pulls the teeth on cops.

      Maybe my premise was dumb, but I want to explore solutions. Been pushed around, jailed and had my ass beaten by cops with utter impunity. And I’m a white guy! Imagine how this shit goes for others.

      • Syringe@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I like the idea of making cops carry insurance. Too many incidents and their premiums go up or they get dropped. This also pushes the costs off of the taxpayers when these incidents happen.

        I’m sure there are issues with this approach though

        • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldOP
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          1 year ago

          I love the idea, and see it as the most workable way to bring police under some kind of genuine public control.

          Probably the only issue with it is that the cops and their unions would be opposed. They’d shout loudly that it’ll lead to mayhem in the street, rape and pillage, gang warfare, anarchy, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, etc.

      • PunnyName@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Police as a whole need to be gutted. It’s a body of force that is largely unnecessary and reactive. They are not a useful arm of public safety. They are an arm of force.

        If you want crime to drop, invest in public health, housing, minimum wages, education, and other social safety nets. Then police can be used as an arm for the rare circumstances that force and punishment would actually be needed for.

        Right now, police are a massive taxpayer funded powerhouse with virtually no oversight, carte blanche to fucking KILL, and have extremely low repercussions for abuse of their power.

        Fuck the police.