A practical proposal: run police departments like fire departments

[Winehole23]

I'm going to suggest a solution that will sound radical, even in a country that styles itself "the land of free." Let's get cops off the streets, unless responding to a 911 call or serving a warrant issued by a judge. Everyone would be freer and safer, including the police officers themselves.


This is by no means an anti-cop argument. The problem isn't how they do their jobs; it's the job we ask them to do. A free society shouldn't be asking armed agents of the state to patrol the streets, keeping its citizens under 24/7 surveillance.


I haven't seen any surveys, but I have a feeling that if you asked cops at random why they joined the force, very few would say it was to protect the public from broken tail lights or untaxed cigarettes. The men and women we want on this job join to protect the public from real crimes, like murder, assault, rape and robbery.


Here's the catch: you can't have a free society where this "protection" occurs in advance. The federal and every state cons ution assumes the government can't and shouldn't do anything to prevent a crime. The Fourth and Fifth amendments were written to keep the government from even trying. They assume the government is powerless until a crime has already occurred, the Fourth in particular providing further restraint on how the government investigates after the fact.


Defending oneself while a crime is occurring is left to the citizen. It's not a responsibility of the police. Even the Supreme Court agrees. Protecting oneself is what the Second Amendment is all about.
The job we ask police to do today annihilates the principle of the Fourth Amendment. Regardless of statutes and Supreme Court rulings, police surveilling all of society all of the time is as unreasonable a search as there ever was. Only decades of becoming accustomed to the idea allows us to see it any other way.


It hasn't always been this way. The modern police department as we know it is a product of the 20th century. Prior to that, peace officers were generally dispatched in response to a complaint by the victim of a real crime, usually with a warrant. Contrary to legend, this did not lead to chaos, even in the inappropriately named "Wild West."


We don't need police officers out patrolling the streets. Fire Departments have proven we can achieve emergency response in minutes without that. There is no reason police departments can't operate the same way.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-mu...b_7871434.html

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I like it.

[boutons_deux]

but but but who will look after "broken windows"?

[baseline bum]

Under this plan every asshole would be driving 90 on 1604.

[vy65]

> we should get back to the original purpose, use, and intent behind police
> we should reject the original purpose, use, and intent of cons utional provisions we don't like

[boutons_deux]

Under this plan every asshole would be driving 90 on 1604.

maybe if they widen it to 3 lanes each direction, maybe 4

[spurraider21]

it would be a very short lived experiment

[Blake]

Taillights are a hazard on the road....i.e.a fire. a small fire, but it's a fire.

If fires occurred at a much higher frequency, I'd want the firemen patrolling the neighborhoods for fires.

[spurraider21]

Taillights are a hazard on the road....i.e.a fire. a small fire, but it's a fire.

If fires occurred at a much higher frequency, I'd want the firemen patrolling the neighborhoods for fires.

i feel like they'd be prejudiced... disproportionately patrol forest areas

[Blake]

i feel like they'd be prejudiced... disproportionately patrol forest areas

I bet if we were honest, we'd feel a twinge of fear if we came across a dark campfire area covered by a hoodie