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Comment by booleandilemma | Hacker News Reader

I wish more resources were spent on law enforcement at the local level, fighting real crime. They could have more police patrolling the streets and subways, deterring assaults[0] and daylight shootings[1].

Does anyone really care that this drug dealer is locked up? Is anyone safer now? Do I have to worry any less about getting mugged on the subway at night?

Of course people are calling to defund the police, and if that happens I’ll have to be more worried.

[0]: https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-homeless-m...

[1]: https://nypost.com/2020/09/08/three-injured-in-broad-dayligh...

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>I wish more resources were spent on law enforcement at the local level, fighting real crime. They could have more police patrolling the streets and subways, deterring assaults[0] and daylight shootings[1].

Since it's become clear that the NYPD is intentionally[0] not doing its job in "protest" over perfectly reasonable state[1] and local[2] oversight of their activities, we need to ensure that they actually do their jobs rather than create a more dangerous place by not doing so. And this deeply troubling activity may actually get the city to soften[5] these important reforms.

>Of course people are calling to defund the police, and if that happens I’ll have to be more worried.

Given that crime is at its lowest point in NYC in over 50 years (and that includes the recent uptick in shootings[3]), it seems to me that your concerns are misplaced, especially since the reduction in funding --much less than the widely quoted $1 billion -- for the NYPD has yet to take effect.[4]

[0] https://theweek.com/articles/938068/police-protection-racket

[1] https://abc7ny.com/police-reform-nyc-bills-nypd/6238620/

[2] https://council.nyc.gov/press/2020/06/18/1990/

[3] https://www.newsweek.com/new-york-crime-rise-shootings-15249...

[4] https://cbcny.org/research/was-nypd-budget-cut-1-billion

[5] https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2020/08/26/city-co...

Moving some money from the police into social services in your area is going to have a much more immediate positive effect on your life. The people mugging you in the subway need help/rehabilitation more than the police need another armored vehicle.

There are also magnitudes more destructive things they could be hunting on the dark web. This is like the lowest bar of illegality going on

The drug dealer was selling meth. Meth destroys people. And meth addiction leads to many robberies and burglaries. I think punishing this meth dealer is a net positive for society.

Someone will just fill the void left by this vendor and no harm will be removed. It wont be a net positive at all. In the end, all there will be is another person ruined.

I don't think it's right to punish a pub for all problems caused by alcohol intoxication, but I do think punishing a pub for serving alcohol negligently is okay.

My understanding is one of the main reasons methamphetamines are so widely used and sold is because meth is cheap and easy to make compared to safer possible alternatives. That indicates to me that this seems like a market that needs regulation, not prohibition.

I'm not saying meth should be legal, I'm saying the drug market can be regulated to reduce harm. If that regulation means disallowing certain substances that do cause excessive harm, that's a good thing too.

>The drug dealer was selling meth. Meth destroys people.

You could replace meth with any sort of legal substitute and the statement would still be correct.

'The bar was selling liquor. Liquor destroys people.' 'The pharmacy was selling opiates. Opiates destroy people.'

So, when faced with a dilemma of hypocrisy like that, let's punish the wrong do-ers when they do wrong, as is traditional with substance abusers, rather than the 30 'criminals' involved in the supply chain that haven't actually done first-party harm to the peace at large.

One could say that they could be done in parallel, and I agree, but the resource spent to fight both sides of the crime in parallel should still be spent on keeping the peace, not preventing the imaginary destruction of future peace.

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