MORE PC WOKE CRAZINESS?
Defund the Police?
Militarize the Police?
Is There a Middle Way?
Some Random Observations
What are the Hidden Agendas?
Opinion by Ralph Fucetola JD
We are, congressperson Cortez tells us, at a moment when radical change can be made to happen. It just takes leadership and political muscle. Mussolini couldn’t have said it better.
In rapid fire succession, the not-to-be-unexpected results of the National Lockdown upended politics in America.
From a nation with very low unemployment and accelerating opportunity to a nation in the grip of a government-ordered lockdown — just a few weeks.
It now appears that the lockdown had little or no impact on the progress of the Declared Pandemic. But the lockdown had a devastating impact on the economy, especially small business, and on all those required to shelter at home. After months of lockdown (curious word, usually used to describe what happens in a prison after a disturbance), just as restrictions were being eased, an incident happens. A white cop kills a black suspect. Video recorded for all to see what certainly looks like premeditated murder. That the cop apparently knew his victim adds a twist yet to be explored.
Of course nation-wide riots ensued. Anyone with any understanding of the dynamics of the situation would expect that.
Three black Peace Officers, including a Federal Court Guard in California, are killed. Do these black lives matter?
What appears to have been a coordinated effort to destroy the central shopping districts of all the major cities in the Blue States has deepened the economic crisis and pushed political rhetoric toward further radicalization. Where does this radical moment take us?
Demilitarized the police? Nationalize the police? Privatize the police?
Remember that Sheriffs are, in most of the country, the only elected Peace Officers. Some Sheriffs take that status seriously.
From Right to Left pundits pontificate while fearful citizens hide in their homes. The elite have their gated communities and private guards.
Some steps that could be considered, to try to reduce the political temperature which is reaching a fever pitch — a pandemic of wokeness.
Are you willing to consider some serious steps?
1. No military- grade weapons for police – violates 2nd Amendment guarantee that the people can be as well armed as the government and is simply not necessary in any reasonably possible scenario, even riots. Protective gear and non-lethal weapons should be preferred.
2. Locally (community) accountable functional police units (overseen by responsible command) and reviewed by respected community representatives under standards adopted by local municipalities (who employ the police), such as the Use of Force Project (see below).
3. Replace qualified immunity (which protects police from civil liability for wrongdoing) with insurance protection, with increased premiums reducing pay rates to ensure accountability. Good cops need to have an incentive to police the others.
Libertarians have always warned about the increasing militarization of the police through Federal Funding tied to military-grade equipment. Liberty Caucus and Freedom Caucus House members have long called for ending Federal Funding of police.
Democrat presumptive nominee Biden has called for using Federal Funding to departments to mandate Federally-set standards — in typical politics-as-usual Liberal tinkering with the system as the cities burn. President Trump has pledged that the police will not be defunded, as though that decision were within his power to determine.
The next logical step for both the Biden Left and the Trump Right is to call for nationalization of the police — a real nightmare from a Libertarian viewpoint.
Action / Reaction / ‘Solution’! — no real choices, just political manipulation by The Secret Controllers behind the scene.
There are a number of countries in which the population does not trust the government’s (usually nationalized) police. In such places as Panama, Costa Rico and similar, individual homes and apartment buildings are typically built with strong gates on windows and doors; local areas hire local people to patrol the streets. People have learned to rely on themselves for protection. Is America heading in that direction?
What is the law, and, who does the 2nd Amendment protect?
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
To rephrase, acknowledging the Supreme Court’s determination that the Amendment protects an individual right, “State-regulated police are necessary for security, however, the right of each person to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed (which means not even the least bit restricted; not even the fringe trimmed).
Ultimately, the police power is in the hands of the people.
Anything else is just political posturing.
One widely considered approach to police reform are the recommendations of the Use of Force Project: https://useofforceproject.org/#project
POLICE USE OF FORCE POLICIES
CURRENTLY LACK BASIC PROTECTIONS
AGAINST POLICE VIOLENCE
“These policies often fail to include common-sense limits on police use of force, including:
Failing to require officers to de-escalate situations, where possible, by communicating with subjects, maintaining distance, and otherwise eliminating the need to use force
Allowing officers to choke or strangle civilians, in many cases where less lethal force could be used instead, resulting in the unnecessary death or serious injury of civilians
Failing to require officers to intervene and stop excessive force used by other officers and report these incidents immediately to a supervisor
Failing to restrict officers from shooting at moving vehicles, which is regarded as a particularly dangerous and ineffective tactic
Failing to develop a Force Continuum that limits the types of force and/or weapons that can be used to respond to specific types of resistance
Failing to require officers to exhaust all other reasonable means before resorting to deadly force
Failing to require officers to give a verbal warning, when possible, before shooting at a civilian
Failing to require officers to report each time they use force or threaten to use force against civilians”