Here in Germany, there are several multi million Euro fraud cases that have been going on for decades. They get picked up by the media every couple of years, with hidden camera footage and everything. But the authorities do nothing.

I suspect they are all overworked - police, judges, prosecutors. They are all in reactive mode, trying to reduce the pile of paper on their desk. And, presumably, plan their next holiday.

The days where a cop, judge or prosecutor identified as the function they render to society are over, I suspect. It’s work life balance all the way.

And they may have a point. The woman who solved the Golden State Killer case, didn’t she die quite young because of the stress? If you look into the abyss for too long, the abyss looks back into you.

To do good work means risking divorce, lowering your per hour wage, becoming a target for the bad guys, watching your lazier colleagues pass you by, and putting your health in jeopardy. This was seen as heroic in the 80s. Today it is seen as dumb, naïve and futile.

This is terrifying and also true in many other industries, including software.

Add to this that most public servants make very little money and that nobody in the chain of command actually listens to the people on the floor… Well why would they care?

We’re quite dependent on the fastidiousness and conscientiousness of our peers, at least if you want life to be pleasant. People don’t have the ability to contractually enforce and codify good work ethic (see: people just trying to define SLOs for machines).

Especially with “public servant” type jobs which the comment was referring to.

The are in fact people who take their jobs seriously today. Are there actual hard numbers on how the prevalence of this has changed over the long term?

> To do good work means risking divorce, lowering your per hour wage, becoming a target for the bad guys, watching your lazier colleagues pass you by, and putting your health in jeopardy.

It is in fact possible to do quality work without martyring yourself.

> This was seen as heroic in the 80s. Today it is seen as dumb, naïve and futile.

"Was seen"... by whom? Both now and then, you'll get different answers on whether it's a good thing depending on who you ask.

Only difference is he would be smoking a cigarette. Or perhaps a cigar.

She died of an accidental overdose exacerbated by an underlying and undiagnosed heart condition. She had some level of opioid addiction prior to her death.

A 401k is no solice for a life lived into chains. It wrenches my tears. Never. To. Be. Free... Never freedom.

As a deterrent for what? US has some of the most well armed police forces in the world and that's not reflected in the crime rates at all(unless you believe that it's inverse corellation, then sure).

The current party in power ran verbatim on a platform of "defund the police".

"Let's fund initiatives which build our community, like teachers and school lunch so our kids aren't hungry. That's more important than funding police who come from outside our community and have a reputation for extortion and murder of our citizens instead of protecting us."

You may disagree with the read on the situation of the people involved, but I would be very surprised if you support the idea of you being taxed to support an armed force which was sent into your community and only ever acted in a hostile way towards you.

By the way, the DOJ seems also to feel that the Minneapolis Police was hostile to the citizens

Minneapolis Police Used Illegal, Abusive Practices for Years, DOJ Finds https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36917349

Minneapolis Police Use Force Against Black People at 7 Times the Rate of Whites https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23403891

At urging of Minneapolis police, EMS workers subdued dozens with ketamine https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17328770

And the slogan comes as part of a larger discussion of what the role of police should be in society, see i.e.

Minneapolis City Council looking into disbanding police department https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23398910

> We can totally reimagine what public safety means, what skills we’re recruiting for, what tools we do and don’t need. We can invest in cultural competency and mental health training, de-escalation and conflict resolution.

> We can resolve confusion over a $20 grocery transaction without drawing a weapon, or pulling out handcuffs.

> The whole world is watching, and we can declare policing as we know it a thing of the past, and create a compassionate, non-violent future. It will be hard. But so is managing a dysfunctional relationship with an unaccountable armed force in our city.

In what world is trying to pay with a counterfeit bill "confusion over a grocery transaction?"

I think you had ample chance to sell your ideas, and you lost:

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/02/1051617581/minneapolis-police...

Remove funding for the police to gather used and new military gear to use against the populace, while much more accurate - isn't as sticky...

Sticky thoughts win over accurate ones. Truth needs a proper wrapping now a-days to even get looked at.

How about this for a new phase:

"pay for: effective Detectives; not toys."

OR:

"detectives solves cases: military toys melt faces."

But humans don't select catch-phases and sound-bites by their truth value...

Sticky truths: that's what we need.

That's not what I remember. I remember calls in the most highly regarded news media to literally abolish the police.

Do you remember those?

Do you believe everything you see on TV?

https://www.cnn.com/factsfirst/politics/factcheck_fa5dd2d9-b...

Reality is outside of criminal investigation you have plenty of professions and people who conduct the same thing. Everything from auditing, insurance fraud, to a financial analyst even actually does the same "thing" but just in different domains.

It's a great example with the problem with our system. Why do detectives need to be gun-toting paramilitary and uniformed employees backed by use of force? They don't. We could just as easily have unarmed, non uniformed detectives who solve cases and then issue arrest warrants for specialized uniformed police officers to conduct arrests.

If you're the detective's boss, you have to tell them, at some point, "OK, let's spend our time where we can do some good." Because you have no assurance that the cold case is ever going to work out.