Police budgets are higher than they've ever been in history and they're spending millions on social media and "strategic communication"
https://therealnews.com/police-departments-are-spending-mill...
IMO less cops is a good thing. We put too much on them. They shouldn't be the ones responding to mental health crises, cats stuck in trees, and suicide attempts, muggings, car accidents, etc all at once.
Many cities are already experimenting with mental health first responders and similar things. This definitely seems like the right direction and will also alleviate concerns about less people wanting to become cops. It'll also mean people with more expertise can focus on specific needs of a specific situation.
Police already have some of the most powerful unions and are able to use taxpayer money to fund their own lobbying (to be funneled more taxpayer money, sigh). Many departments already have tanks, drones, and other military equipment that they only got because some "defense" contractor managed to convince a politician to subsidize them. Departments like NYPD also include fines and ticket fees into their budget expectations creating a strong incentive to be overly punitive. All of these are signs of an institution that's grown far too strong and desperately needs to be broken apart
Protagonist from Snow Crash!
There's nothing I'm proposing here at all. I'm only critical of the obvious pro-private militarized police force, which every American should be. And this article is blatant propaganda for that agenda. The author herself works at The Federalist Society, a far-right conservative magazine.
It would have been a more fair article if they mentioned this other stuff, but they didn't, it only painted them in the best light possible. Call that a lie of omission. Some people are more sensitive to being manipulated.
[0] https://www.opb.org/article/2021/12/02/part-two-police-prose...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_killings_by_law_enforc...
Massive eyeroll.
So given that enforcing security is impossible to make completely pristine (you DO understand that that is a given, correct?), would you rather have flawed (but more accountable) taxpayer-funded police, or flawed (but arguably less accountable and only loyal to their employer) private police?
You cannot have your dream world of "perfect cops enforcing justice perfectly," because humans are all flawed. Pursuing this unachievable ideal at all costs is not going to get us anywhere but somewhere worse off.
So take your effing pick, and then quit complaining about it, because this "always complaining no matter what solution presents itself to solve a problem that isn't going to go away" noise is really getting incredibly irritating.