Quote Originally Posted by BetCheckBet View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Dan Druff View Post
Lots of talk these past 2 weeks about "demilitarizing" police.

Can someone take a crack here at stating why this is a good idea? Seems like the goal is to weaken police so violent mobs can overwhelm and abuse them without consequence.

Either police have authority to use force, or they don't. We shouldn't be weakening them when they do need to use force. Militarized police would have put down these riots quickly, and people would have been more likely to peacefully protest than feel they could escalate to rioting/looting with no consequence.

When I think of demilitarizing police, I think of the North Hollywood Shootout of 1997. where a huge police contingent was outgunned by two dudes with heavy weaponry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Hollywood_shootout

After that and similar incidents, police decided they would be more prepared to deal with heavily violent or threatening situations, and I was all for that.
Pretty strightforward that police are reactionary and it’s better to target reasons for crimes than focus on arrests. It’s better to have police officers working as gang mentors or improving employment and education in hoods. Defunding police altogether is stupid and only the most extreme believe that. But there are legitimate arguments that funding for the aforementioned issues has better return on the dollar than miliarizing police.

I’ll also emphasize that most developed nations do not militarize police and their crime issues are far less severe.

Also the idea that brute force can stop riots is pretty well tested throughout history....
At least 75% of my IG Feed that is supporting BLM are for this. Don't say its a fringe element. Its a very real talking point.

You are taking a very utopia stance on this. There will always be the have's and have not's. Rich people and poor people. Poor people will resort to gangs and violence and illicit activities to make a buck. You cant stop this.