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Comment by ein0p | Hacker News Reader

Meanwhile Seattle where hard drugs are still illegal has become an absolute 4th world shithole near the center, with passed out drug addicts strewn around Benaroya Hall. I literally saw a police officer watch a guy shoot up heroin and do nothing. Is this “progressive”? Is this good for the public? Where do we draw the line, if anywhere?

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Because public (voters) don't care enough. Like, did you file a police report? Did you film the police officer doing nothing? Did you sue the police for not doing their duty?

And no one did, because no one cares enough. There are more pleasant things to do, e.g. online.

Well in SF we have been made apathetic to filing reports by YEARS of soft on crime policies. Like prosecutors simply releasing repeat criminals, who go on to victimize everyone all over again. The only value to filing a report is insurance - but who is going to pay the deductible for something stolen out of your car that is worth less than the deductible? I personally don’t blame the officers at all - I blame the state legislators, city leaders, and city attorney offices.

You're never going to win a suit against policemen not doing their duty.

* https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=910846825412517...

* https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/545/748.h...

The point is not winning. The point is keeping checks, and publicity. Knowing they might get sued, even winning, is enough. How they are gonna talk to their neighbors who read about that case in a local newspaper?

But the more people say "you're never gonna win" -- the less people care, coming to the current situation.

Who paid for the police job? Who will do the police job? Who will have problems with police and law because of the job? Can you calculate risk/reward for police and for volunteer?

Yes, but democracy is not a system that can be set up well and let it run. It needs constant monitoring and maintenance.

This is not “democracy”. People don’t want this, and therefore the will of the people is being ignored. It’s just that all candidates they can realistically elect in Seattle are OK with it, or worse. Why, I have no idea.

>Did you sue the police for not doing their duty?

What duty? Let alone one that the average citizen has standing to sue them over?

Many people do not know this, but police has no duty to protect you. At all. I’m not joking: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_v._District_of_Columb....

I was shocked visiting downtown Seattle recently, as there was an entire block or two near the art museum that was completely taken over by drug addicts. Most seemed to be on fentanyl, as they were standing hunched over as I’ve seen elsewhere. I saw security guards around but they didn’t care. And I saw a police SUV drive by, so they definitely are aware it is happening. We ended up moving two blocks over to find a way around without having to walk through all that.

The way you put it makes it sound like drugs are defacto decriminalized in Seattle.

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