- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
- cross-posted to:
- [email protected]
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“all black and white”
looks inside
shades of gray
“Not all cops, but so many and in such incredible proportions that it may as well be, especially considering the choice to be a bastard is one that must be made every moment of every working day”
There are cops out there who want to do good in bad departments. They are either pushed out of the force, or pushed under the extant culture of callousness and brutality.
There are cops out there who want to do good in good departments. They’re rare, and the way that policing is (not) regulated in this fucking country makes all good departments inherently unstable, as power tends to corrupt, and unchecked power doubly so - but they do exist.
But the vast, vast majority of cops out there are complicit with their departments - and the vast, vast majority of departments in this country are rotten. And until we, as a society, reckon with that - ACAB remains a valid criticism.
To add to your point: Even at the best department, they are still beholden to a system that maintains the property rights of the owning class over the well being of all citizens.
I think my main quibble with this is that cops in the US aren’t really beholden to anything or anyone except themselves. That description could be applicable to the legal system as a whole, but US cops have a weirdly loose relationship with the entire legal system despite, theoretically, being its enforcers.
US police departments are more like gangs that receive public funding in exchange for literally nothing, rather than state enforcers.
Cops are either contributing to a system that oppresses minorities or are complicit in doing nothing to stop it. ACAB.
As a friend of mine once said people who join to change the system either end up dropping out, or compromised. The only way to fix the police is to not have police
I can imagine which kind of gun enthusiasts will form militias then, and what kind of values they will enforce… Certainly not equality and the rule of law. Many would probably hunt or terrorize immigrants and LGBT+ folks for leisure, for example.
Sure, police culture and accountability are broken in many places (especially in the US), but just getting rid of them while leaving a power vacuum for any nut jobs with power fantasies to fill, with literally 0 accountability, would be even more of an absolute nightmare for minorities.
