# Resolved: The US will have to fire almost all Law Enforcement personnel **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [April 26, 2025, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527 "2025-04-26T07:11:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/21 "2025-04-28T19:13:24Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Well, yes, that’s kind of my whole thesis. They won’t go along with it, so they’ll have to be fired. But once the threat of being fired is gone, they will stop being such dicks about immigrants. > [@Horatius](#): > > I wouldn’t call several hundred police forces “a handful”,… There is something like 18,000 police dept in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/22 "2025-04-28T20:04:27Z")
I’m reminded of the arresting officer who told Otto Frank “you have a lovely daughter,” then went on to a perfectly respectable career in the Vienna police. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/23 "2025-04-29T20:46:51Z")
We’ll need a de-nazification of the entire government. I’d love to see a new set of Nuremberg-like trials. Miller looks enough like a classic Nazi, he needs to be in the first trial. Then we can have the SCOTUS judges trial, and the doctors trials. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/24 "2025-04-29T21:12:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > There is something like 18,000 police dept in the USA. I can think of at least a dozen, just in the city of Cleveland. The city police, of course, and the county sheriff’s office, and the state and feds, but also a force for the transit system, and the parks, and one each for at least two different hospitals and two different universities, etc. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/25 "2025-04-29T21:12:44Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I’ve always been told the reason women’s advocates stop pressing for laws that prohibit domestic abuse perps from owning firearms is because if that were to become law, half the police force and army would have to change jobs. Because they’d be prohibited from having access to guns! Which groups have stopped pressing for these laws? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/26 "2025-04-30T00:37:11Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > I’ve always been told the reason women’s advocates stop pressing for laws that prohibit domestic abuse perps from owning firearms is because if that were to become law, half the police force and army would have to change jobs. Because they’d be prohibited from having access to guns! Well, you are twice wrong. It is already a federal law and has been a CA state law for a while now- [https://stateline.org/2024/06/21/us-supreme-court-upholds-law-that-prevents-domestic-abusers-from-owning-guns/](https://stateline.org/2024/06/21/us-supreme-court-upholds-law-that-prevents-domestic-abusers-from-owning-guns/) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/27 "2025-05-01T00:41:30Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I was thinking you’d need a Marshall-plan like operation, in which every major Western Democracy lends you a few thousand officers, to both engage in normal policing duties, while also recruiting and training new US officers. I still think you’re under the mistaken impression that American cops are worse now than they used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/28 "2025-05-01T00:56:57Z")
The cops are actually less bad than they’ve been in the past. Its just due to lots of people having cell phones in their pockets and there being the early stages of accountability for the police, people are just starting to realize how dangerous police officers in the US can be. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/29 "2025-05-01T04:46:21Z")
The police are worse because they’ve been systematically _trained_ to be worse. For decades they’ve been trained to be paranoid and to default to violence; “better judged by twelve than carried by six”. They are taught to _grossly_ overestimate how dangerous being a police officer is and to be ready to see threats everywhere, and kill them. They also [spend a lot of time training in Israel or by Israeli trainers](https://www.amnestyusa.org/blog/with-whom-are-many-u-s-police-departments-training-with-a-chronic-human-rights-violator-israel/), basically being taught to think like an occupying force. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/30 "2025-05-01T06:14:55Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > I was thinking you’d need a Marshall-plan like operation, in which every major Western Democracy lends you a few thousand officers, to both engage in normal policing duties, while also recruiting and training new US officers. You’re going to get over one million officers from other countries? Who is going to train them on our laws and such? And you’re going to have them come to a land they’ve never been to and take over roles of authority? Sounds like a foreign occupation on our soil. And where are you finding over one million citizens to be new officers in the U.S.? There has been a hiring crises in American law enforcement for almost a decade now. Even with increased salaries and benefits a lot of agencies are having a hard time getting qualified candidates to apply. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/31 "2025-05-01T10:28:46Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > You’re going to get over one million officers from other countries? Who is going to train them on our laws and such? And you’re going to have them come to a land they’ve never been to and take over roles of authority? Sounds like a foreign occupation on our soil. It is pretty much exactly a foreign occupation, which is why I want Americans to start thinking about this now. How do you think Germany and Japan felt in the decade following WWII? You’ll be in the same boat. As for “They must be trained on American laws”, well, not really. Laws in America will fall into two broad categories: 1. The same laws almost everyone else has. No murder, no assault, no rape, no theft, no drunk driving. 2. “American Exceptionalism” laws, that should probably just be ignored, and probably taken off the books in the first place. “No eating vanilla ice cream in Birmingham on a Sunday” type stuff. While the fine details of category 1 may differ, they won’t differ enough to affect street-level policing. You see two guys fighting, break it up, arrest them both, collect evidence, and then let the lawyers figure out if it should be “assault this” or “assault that”. As to the scale of it, that’s again why you should start thinking about it now. But also, start thinking, “Does the US really need _that many cops?_” You are one of the most heavily policed countries in the world (mostly because you can afford that), and yet you still have insane levels of crime. Maybe re-think the plan a bit? How often have you seen videos where 10, 20, 30 cops all respond to a minor incident, just because they’re there? Is that really necessary? > [@](#): > > And where are you finding over one million citizens to be new officers in the U.S.? There has been a hiring crises in American law enforcement for almost a decade now. Even with increased salaries and benefits a lot of agencies are having a hard time getting qualified candidates to apply By the time this plan is to be enacted, I expect the US employment environment to be very different, as well as the social environment. We won’t be looking for the same sorts of people that current US police forces are looking for, the sorts that @Der_Trihs [discusses above](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/29). We’ll be looking for people more interested in real policing, the stuff people in the community want. “Community policing” has been a thing that lots of people have been pushing for, and when it’s been tried, it’s usually been successful, but it keeps getting stomped all over by the “tough on crime” guys every election cycle. Breaking that mindset will be an explicit part of this program. I think you’ll be surprised by how many people, who would never even consider being a cop today, might be interested in being a part of that. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/32 "2025-05-01T11:18:37Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > now. How do you think Germany and Japan felt in the decade following WWII? Do you mean after they lost a war that they started? WGAF how they felt? The rest of your plan is just pure nonsense. None of your speculations are going to happen. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2025, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/33 "2025-05-01T20:00:01Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The police are worse because they’ve been systematically _trained_ to be worse. For decades they’ve been trained to be paranoid and to default to violence; This is not true at all. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/34 "2025-05-02T02:01:51Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > This is not true at all. Simple announcing “It’s not true” doesn’t change the facts. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/35 "2025-05-02T02:05:52Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Who is going to train them on our laws and such? They probably already know our laws better than the current police officers. > [@pkbites](#): > > And where are you finding over one million citizens to be new officers in the U.S.? Try recruiting people who want to help people, instead of limiting recruitment to just sadistic thugs. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/36 "2025-05-02T02:11:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Try recruiting people who want to help people, instead of limiting recruitment to just sadistic thugs. Yeah. The fundamental problem with American police, is that they tend to _be the sort of people_ who shouldn’t be police. They’re going to act brutally _because_ we’ve recruited and trained brutal people and created police with a culture of brutality. Just as they’ll act racist because we’ve filled up the ranks with racists. Brutal racists will predictably act in a brutal and racist way. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/37 "2025-05-02T06:02:54Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > Who is going to train them on our laws and such? > > They probably already know our laws better than the current police officers. What are you basing this on? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/38 "2025-05-02T10:38:06Z")
The fact that US law enforcement has a much worse grasp of the law than most people, including thinking that a great many things are illegal that aren’t. Take a look at the list of things that black people routinely get pulled over, arrested, or killed for. Whenever cops murder a black person, it’s always justified with “We thought he had a gun!”. Foreign cops would almost certainly know that it’s perfectly legal for a black man to have a gun. That alone is enough to put them well over American cops. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/39 "2025-05-02T13:24:06Z")
Your arguments are ridiculous. BTW, which countries do you want these million cops from? China? Mexico? North Korea? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527/40 "2025-05-02T13:29:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They probably already know our laws better than the current police officers. I am one hundred percent certain this is ridiculously, comically false. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-the-us-will-have-to-fire-almost-all-law-enforcement-personnel/1017527.md?page=3)