Not really. If you actually read what I wrote, you'd see that. Ain't nobody got time fo' dat, I know, but come on.
Washington D.C. and SLC are not comparable. If number of officers determines public safety why don't you move your family to D.C.?
'Murica: Don't like it? Leave. At this point it's not really worth responding to you, but I have this weird thing about blind stupidity; I can't stand it.
I don't think 1 in every 500 SLC residents needs policing. I would say that 99% need no policing at all. At least 99 out of 100 people that live in my neighborhood do not require a police force to be good citizens and good neighbors.
Because "policing" people is all that cops do, right? I mean, they certainly aren't responding to auto accidents, crimes in progress, security for public events, etc. -- they are all parked in shady spots, speed trapping people and profiling would-be criminals like fishonjazz. Let's just hope that some ******* doesn't rear end your car, and then drive away, because the chances are good that one of the other 499 people that that particular officer is dedicated to has already called him/her and the cop is too busy to chase the *******. Heaven forbid it's a serious crime, right?
If it was my call I would push for less beat cops and more detectives. I want people that can follow and collect evidence in my police force not people justifying their jobs by writing as many tickets as they can and harassing people.
Again, this isn't NCIS, you ****ing clod. Do you think they assign every crime over to "detectives"? Beat cops are the ground force of ALL detectives and usually do the majority of the case work. On the flip side, "detectives" write their fair share of citations and tickets. If you did anything other than piss and moan behind your computer, you'd know this.
Actually, I think part of the problem is also that these local law enforcement bodies are getting TOO much from the federal government in terms of military firepower. Yet another horribly dysfunctional downstream result of the 'war on terror,' which is now being used an excuse to engage in wars of choice, violate civil rights, violate privacy rights, torture, circumvent habeus corpus, and now to militarize local law enforcement.
When was the last time you witnessed some of this "militarized" law enforcement? Serious question. Have you ever seen a local cop pull out a military grade weapon or vehicle to enforce a law? "But, but, Trout, don't you watch teh newz!?"
STFU
There are 317,000,000 people in this country, and some of them are real bad people who do real bad things. I would prefer that my local cops have an armored vehicle, body armor, and a rifle that can shoot through a wall so that they can catch the real bad guys before they hurt anyone else. Of the millions of arrests that happen in this country, the media chooses to highlight the stories that morons like you soak up and talk about. In 2012 there were an estimated 12.2 million arrests made in the USA -- let's say that one super, over-reacted, military style arrest was made every day. (Which is a gross overestimation) That would mean that 0.00002% of all arrests were over the top military style. What if there were 10 per day? You're still under three one hundredths of a percent. Let's get crazy and say that 1,000 arrests are made every day that are over the top, where cops are using AK47's and riot gear. That would equal a whopping 0.02% of all arrests made for the year. Even if the media reported all of them, instead of the juicy ones that cause idiotic uproar, you're still talking about 0.02%. Forgive me for not getting my magic underwear in a twist over a perceived threat that isn't really there at all.
More broadly it reflects our nation's punishment and incarceration fetish, again abetted at the margin by our dark and increasingly irrational fear of terrorists that go bump in the night.
Gee, I wonder how people got all scared and worried about these so called threats? The same way you did regarding the militarization of our police forces.
I'd rather have the military ditch its surplus tanks, for example, than gifting them to local law enforcement.
Care to show me a police force in the USA that has tanks? Secondly, you can't have it both ways; imagine the uproar and heads that would roll if the US military just junked billions of dollars of surplus gear.
These bozos can't be trusted with guns, let alone weapons of mass destruction. The acquisition of power comes along (whether intended) with an imperative to use it.
These bozos, huh? The same bozos that you trust to keep you and your family safe, and the first person you call in an emergency? You're pretty quick to judge these people; have you ever met one? Do you know who the chief or commander is in your city? Ever spent more than thirty seconds talking to a cop, other than when you're being pulled over?
But seriously, F THE POLICE! LOL. EYE.
