There's a pretty consistent omission in discussions of police reforms that always bugs me, namely that in order for real lasting change to be made, we'll need to be drawing police officers from a different pool of people. That is, a lot of the problems we have now are really rooted in the kinds of people who are drawn to that job, who tend not to be folks with super progressive ideas about crime and justice. That's a big part of why it's difficult to simply impose those ideas either by the orders of more progressive political figures, or through protest and pressure campaigns.
So, another possibility for making change is to make a push for people who favor a more progressive approach to criminal justice to become cops themselves, and change the composition of the force. They're one of the few organizations that are pretty much always hiring, after all, so it ought to be possible to get committed reformers on the inside, as it were. And, indeed, that's a thing that HAS to happen at some point. But it's basically never part of the menu of options being proposed for action.
A long time ago I tried in a couple of ways to encourage journalistic web-sites to refuse comments from anyone using an anonymous name; indeed, every comment published would have to be associated with a legal identity. What actually has happened is appalling.
There's a pretty consistent omission in discussions of police reforms that always bugs me, namely that in order for real lasting change to be made, we'll need to be drawing police officers from a different pool of people. That is, a lot of the problems we have now are really rooted in the kinds of people who are drawn to that job, who tend not to be folks with super progressive ideas about crime and justice. That's a big part of why it's difficult to simply impose those ideas either by the orders of more progressive political figures, or through protest and pressure campaigns.
So, another possibility for making change is to make a push for people who favor a more progressive approach to criminal justice to become cops themselves, and change the composition of the force. They're one of the few organizations that are pretty much always hiring, after all, so it ought to be possible to get committed reformers on the inside, as it were. And, indeed, that's a thing that HAS to happen at some point. But it's basically never part of the menu of options being proposed for action.
Right on, Tim!!
A long time ago I tried in a couple of ways to encourage journalistic web-sites to refuse comments from anyone using an anonymous name; indeed, every comment published would have to be associated with a legal identity. What actually has happened is appalling.