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Comment by shibeouya | Hacker News Reader

Coming from a country where police has been rendered completely toothless by the same policies some people in this country are trying to promote which led to literally lawless areas, I am completely against this movement that's currently for some reason trying to demonize cops.

I do not care if you're black, white, asian, gay, lesbian or anything - if you break the law, threaten a police officer, or simply ask completely irresponsibly around them, you should be punished appropriately.

What I DO agree with is perhaps greater transparency from the police. This is a problem that can be fixed. Anyone wishing to defund or even abolish the police clearly has lived a coddled life for way too long and doesn't know what happens when police can't do their jobs.

Be smart and don't let poisonous politics cloud your judgement - police are nowhere near as bad as some media would love to make you believe.

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> punished appropriately

This is exactly what the protests are about, that police are using disproportionate amounts of force, and it seems to be heavily influenced by race.

If you break the law, you're entitled to a fair trial and a fair punishment. Handing someone a fake $20 bill doesn't warrant death. Hell, I've gotten caught speeding multiple times, I can't imagine that you'd argue that it's worth an execution or even a beating. I also jaywalk all the time.

And people aren't getting their opinion of the police from the media, a lot of this anti-police sentiment is spurred by firsthand videos from protestors on the ground.

Not to mention that protesting is protected by the constitution and is a cornerstone of our democracy.

it is also not the job or the prerogative of cops to punish anybody FFS.

They have a VERY special role in society where they are authorized to use violence against other citizens. This role absolutely does not include any form of punishment or beating up people because they feel like it.

Unfortunately police needs way stricter rules, monitoring and accountability than what they have today in many countries.

I think the police should protect and help the people. This often doesn't work out. At least in my country I think they could do that better if they had more funding. But from what I gather about police in the US they quite often punish people. I don't think that's okay, but I also don't think that cutting their funding would help with that.

>I am completely against this movement that's currently for some reason trying to demonize cops.

I think you could dismiss systemic police brutality against minorities a little less frivolously.

It would be interesiting to see this "cost side" of police reform. How was police rendered toothless? What did happen as a result?

Why is punishment the only way?

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