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Comment by 1024core | Hacker News Reader

The Federal government should exclude these non-cooperating departments from the 1033 program[1] then. I hate it when Democrats just throw up their arms and act exasperated; there _is_ a way here. Withhold FBI's cooperation from these departments too then.

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/09/why-police-pay-nothing-for-m...

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Yep, they should also be put on a 'no fly' list that excludes them from any Federal Law Enforcement Grants or Funding, which is a large part of many police dept budgets. For instance, it's how the Federal government enforces speed limits in all 50 states, by only giving highway funding to states that comply.

Hell, don't just cut off funding & cooperation for not participating, tax them also - as in if they don't want to participate, the need to pay fees to the FBI, perhaps the amounts related to the costs of FBI staff gathering the same data about them - i.e., either provide the data, or pay to have it provided for you.

That should get the attention of a few mayors, town/city councilpersons, if not just the police chiefs noticing the holes in their budget.

That's a good start.

What concerns me is the lack of attention everyday policing problems get. It's an "ignore it and it will go away problem" at best, or it's an "it only applies to the poor, stupid, addicted people who can't control themselves, and have to be treated like animals anyway" non-problem, based on dehumanizing the victims.

Somehow we've decided that we don't care about accountable policing, almost certainly because no-one realizes how big of a problem it is, and that happens for a wide variety of reasons (#1 is that if you complain about the police in the US, 95% chance you'll get ignored, and 4% you'll get blamed, 1% chance anyone takes it seriously, and 1 in a 1000 chance anything at all happens.

The problem is that most local PDs would be considered organized crime in any other context (violent gangs and extortion rings within police departments have been well documented). Most don’t want the FBI involvement and are perfectly happy to extort the citizens of their cities for protection.

I routinely tell anyone that will listen that the US police forces are our most active domestic terrorist organization. People do not want to listen to the truth.

The police unions could pull a coup off in a day with adequate preparation.

Right; and because they effectively control the legal system, there is zero accountability. Some cops in my area were murdering drug dealers in order to steal their cash and got caught red-handed. They didn’t even lose their jobs, much less go to jail.

Those programs should be stopped entirely whether or not they comply butni also argue that these uncooperative departments should have all federal aid cut off until they comply. Maybe go as far as to cut off any federal funding to that municipality (no idea how much federal money these places get) in order to get them to start doing something about their terrible policing practices.

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