Quote Originally Posted by KukriKhan View Post
So backroom consensus is: Police = teh bad.

This pdf survey of US police departments as part of city/county budgets works out to about $200 per resident, per year for police services.

Should we do away with police, since they are so bad? Take back that money? Hire rent-a-cops instead?
Nah, I don't think the police are bad, but they are certainly open to scrutiny like everyone else, and should be held accountable like everyone else, and that is done with information, education and transparency, not the ole boy system and coverups, not by blowing off criticism as a media/lefty conspiracy against authority.

If you ignore something, it only gets worse. In fact, Policelink.com recently ran a story on that showed cameras were more likely to protect officers careers and bodies than the likelihood that they would ruin the officer for misconduct etc. Scrutiny and standards are about protecting both sides, and no matter how many decent people I know and love who work in law enforcement I will never, ever use that as a reason to withhold criticism or disgust in situations involving cops acting inappropriately.

Far too often, people hide behind their choice of being a public servant -- whatever the hell that means anymore, as I just heard the Kennedys referred to as a family of servants -- as a means to be treated differently. It shouldn't work that way, people see right through it, although in most cases they are unable to stop it. So it builds and builds. Then you get knee jerkers having pro-cop killer rallies in Oakland and voters calling for the heads of Congress for misconduct only to replace them with clones of a different party.