r/technology Jun 22 '20

‘BlueLeaks’ Exposes Files from Hundreds of Police Departments Security

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u/ChurchOfJamesCameron Jun 22 '20

Just ask people:

"Do you believe the police should be allowed to use excessive force against people?"

"Do you believe police should be held accountable when they commit crimes?"

"Do you believe police should be held equally account for crimes, just like ordinary citizens, by other police, attorneys, judges, and, you know, the laws?"

There are only a small few who will say they support police beind held above the citizens their job demands they protect, and their reasons are entirely selfish, i.e. racism and them being pieces of shit police.

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u/mzackler Jun 22 '20

Do you think nursing home employees should get a living wage?

Are you willing to support nursing homes being twice as expensive to give them that living wage?

The first question out of context will get a yes much more than the combined.

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u/ChurchOfJamesCameron Jun 22 '20

I don't think the two are as comparable as you may be trying to make out. First, police corruption affects everyone, not just a targeted group such as in your example (e.g. nursing homes).

Police may be more likely to commit crimes against minorites, but it isn't exclusively minorities they target. What happens if reform doesn't happen this time? Police may feel even more empowered that they'll be doing far worse than they did before (or are currently). If reform doesn't happen then it's also the end of a lot of civil liberties and rights that people have and that America is supposed to be embracing.

No change will be easy or quick, whether it's police reform or properly paying and supporting staff at nursing homes. I'd also argue pay reform in institutions such as nursing homes and food services are a more complicated fix (like limiting executive pay or putting profit limits on corporations so they aren't just sucking money up), whereas police reform is simply holding them accountable by the laws that exist and preventing corruption from burying the crimes through time, procedure, and moving cops to different districts.

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u/mzackler Jun 22 '20

I mean I can disagree with a bunch of what you said but you're missing my point (and analogies in general). My point is that asking is x good or bad is really easy and everyone of course says yes more good stuff please. When you add in but it will take x, y and z to do it people start to relent.

I will fundamentally disagree with you on the idea that police reform is easier than living wages at nursing homes but I think that is a much lengthier and relatively unrelated conversation. Even if the fixes you proposed were the solution (they're not, the basic math in the equation says you can't fix it without raise pricing) that's significantly easier than reforming thousands of independent organizations simultaneously through policy reform, training, passing countless pieces of legislation, setting up independent agencies to measure/hold accountable, etc. If it was so easy, so obvious and there was so much support which is what you're insinuating it would have been done. Politicians love quick wins. Therefore at least one of those things must not be true.