First off, the disclaimer: there are many people who say there’s no issue here. Any incidents are just a normal part of law enforcement that’s being overblown by the media. Obviously if you don’t think there’s a problem, you don’t think there’s a need for solutions. This thread isn’t for you. So don’t bother arguing the premise. This thread is directed at those people who do feel there’s a problem with the police.
For those people who do feel there’s a problem, what do you think should be done about it? Different training in police agencies? The federal government getting more control over law enforcement? Reductions in police personnel? Putting more black people into police departments? An independent investigative organization? A ban on certain police practices? Some long-term fundamental changes in society that will make this problem fade away in the future?
And yet when I specifically asked people to not argue with the premise of the thread, you decided to do so anyway. This illustrates the problem with your solution - most people want other people to follow their rules but get annoyed when they have to follow somebody else’s rules.
Part of the problem is racism, and it doesn’t have that much to do with the racial makeup of the force. Implicit bias tests show that people of all backgrounds tend to harbor similar negative stereotypes if they are common enough in society at large. Black cops mostly react differently to young black men the way white cops do. You cannot solve that one except through long-term social changes that don’t have a ton to do with police tactics.
Part of the problem is police culture. There is a widespread belief among police departments that the way to maintain safety is to be domineering and, frankly, dickish. In my experience, the more well-trained the police force, the more this is a problem. You are far more likely to encounter an asshole NYPD officer than an asshole officer from Ithaca because they’ve been trained to be assholes. This approach leads to unnecessary escalation of confrontations. It may be the right approach to some situations, but it has become the default approach in too many places.
Part of the problem is over-criminalization in America, and in particular the drug war. If we stop asking the police to fight the war on drugs, then we will have fewer encounters and less violence. Decriminalization of some or all drugs would also eliminate much of the violence in the drug trade, further reducing some of the causes of police violence. Over-criminalization also includes things like having major chunks of police funding come from civil asset forfeiture. This approach to crime has disrupted normal community relationships between police and the communities they serve. By contrast, I believe community policing tactics decrease levels of police violence.
Body cameras are a great idea, if implemented correctly to ensure that relevant incidents are recorded and those recordings are preserved. But I suspect what we’ll find with body cameras is that a few egregious outliers start to disappear (Rodney King type incidents), but stuff like Ferguson will remain the norm until we start to fix these other things.
No city has figured out an effective way to do independent oversight of the police. Mostly they get co-opted by the police, as in NYC. Or they are never given any power or have it taken away because of the politics of it, like in Philly. So I doubt that’s a winning solution.
We could also use more research. We don’t actually have much data on the causes and circumstances of police violence. That would certainly be a good place to start.
Body cameras (and other cameras) would be a good start. Further, police forces should collect and release data regarding use of force. The first thing we need to know is the true extent of such violence.
Cameras, in theory, are a cop’s best friend. They exonerate him of wrongdoing - provided that there was no wrongdoing, of course - and refute false accusations.
The simplest solution is to fire and prosecute cops who are guilty of misconduct. Enough of that and the cops will come in line. The reason why that WON’T happen in enough numbers is because of your disclaimer. Too many people simply don’t see it as a problem.
I’ve said in the Ferguson thread that it looks like the prosecutor there is trying to whitewash the Mike Brown shooting and the whole police force is preparing to deal with crowds after a (likely) non-indictment of Officer Wilson.
As long as authorities do stuff like that, these abuses will continue.
There are already several existing threads where people are debating the issue of whether or not the police are doing anything wrong. So you can participate in one of those threads if you want to discuss that issue.
This thread is based on the premise that the police are doing something wrong and we’re discussing possible ways to fix the police.