> We overcorrected for brutality
Citation needed. I've yet to see any evidence that the brutality has been meaningfully reigned in.
What I have seen is police departments doing a work-slowdown when the mere mention of reigning them in is brought up.
Citation needed. I've yet to see any evidence that the brutality has been meaningfully reigned in.
What I have seen is police departments doing a work-slowdown when the mere mention of reigning them in is brought up.
This is probably cynical, but I think that good policing will have more instances of brutality than we’d like. I think to fix this you probably would need to spend a lot more money than anyone would want to.
That said there are some really good cops too. But our judicial system often puts them in harms way for no great reason. There’s a guy on the street here who has been arrested about 75 times. He doesn’t care about cops at all — and I’m amazed at the patience cops have with him. Especially knowing he will be back on the street in a couple of days.
From a quick look online, the German police make about 60k EUR a year, or around 64k USD at current (not favorable!) exchange rates. The average American cop makes significantly more, even before you factor in taxes[2] (these numbers are by state, so you should weight them for population.)
[1]: https://nypost.com/2018/08/27/new-yorks-best-paid-public-emp...
[2]: https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewdepietro/2020/04/23/polic...
That being said: police work is dangerous, but not uniquely or disproportionately dangerous: it doesn't crack the top 20 most dangerous jobs in the US[1], nearly all of which pay less than the police do. Being a delivery driver is nearly twice as dangerous, for half the average pay.
When we talk about the dangers inherent to policing, it's maybe worth considering whether those dangers are our own fault: cops in the US employ lethal and "less-lethal" force far often than cops in other countries do, and public trust in the police (leading to panicked interactions) is correspondingly lower.
[1]: https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-top-25-most-dangerous-j...
You hear about when they get shot back at because in a nation of 300mil there's a lot of cops instigating violent situations with people who are inclined to shoot back so there's more than enough to total volume to fill the news (and it makes a great eyeball grabber for various demographics) but deaths on the clock basically all come from getting hit on the side of the road or getting in car crashes without wearing a seatbelt (lots of cops don't use belts because they wanna be able to get out of the car ASAP).
Is it really all the stop is going to be about? You can guarantee that?
Not every criminal is a fugitive with an outstanding warrant. Some of them are unlucky enough to get pulled over during the getaway from their first capital offense for minor violations as stupid as window tint or loud stereos. It's like cheating-- if you're willing to break one rule, you're willing to break others. This is why these nitpicky laws for stupid shit exist.
So it won't end well when a meter maid expecting to write a tint violation ticket notices banging and thumping coming from Bob's trunk on an empty road. Alice is armed with a ticket printer. Bob is armed with god knows what, because given the limousine tint Alice can't see into the car as well as Bob can see out of it.
(Besides, people assault-and-batter meter maids in less-dire situations all the time. Suspects are supposed to fear the enforcement officer, not size them up.)
We literally train kidnapping victims trapped in trunks to sabotage brake lights because it will attract police attention and sufficiently-armed-and-trained intervention. The Department of Motor Vehicles isn't going to be who saves your ass.
Municipalities often spend 50% or more of their entire yearly budgets on police salaries, benefits, liabilities etc.
You’ll have to pay a lot more to get a different class of people.
Cops in my state have higher salaries, better benefits and better retirement options than software engineers do.
Pay isn't the problem with police recruitment funnels or policing in general.
Plenty of people do currently join the police in the USA with good intentions, but plenty more would never join at any price. The toxicity of police culture is enough of an offset that basically no salary would cover it for a growing fraction of Americans.
You want more and better cops? Make policing less toxic, then people might actually rebuild some respect for police in general.
https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/search/?q=Police&...
https://www.sanfranciscopolice.org/your-sfpd/careers/sworn-j...
Per this post, spending on police has increased faster than population in Vallejo specifically: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/84950dbe341d4d59ac3d6ef...
https://www.ppic.org/blog/how-much-do-california-cities-spen...
It's not clear to me, from the last 30 years of engorged police funding, that we can pay our way out of this one. Focusing on why it attracts people who are drawn to the negative aspects, for example, as you said.
If you want more information, see the article on the murder of Oury Jalloh [1] and that police department [2]
<(contains murder, rape, police violence, other)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Oury_Jalloh
https://de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/wiki/Oury_Jalloh?_...
[2] https://de-m-wikipedia-org.translate.goog/#?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x...
There's no we here. If your interpretation of what makes policing good involves brutality as a necessary evil, that has a lot more to do with your tolerance of government abuse than policing, and I don't share that.