I’m one of those “radical extremists” who wants to reduce police power, and drastically so. I’m afraid that too many people, on the left and right, consider the necessary changes to be too radical.
Like, banning no-knock raid warrants, without exception.
Like, putting in place strict rules for when cops can point guns at people, and criminally prosecuting cops who point guns at people without good reason for assault and brandishing, and revoking their gun rights for a while.
Like, for arrest, how about requiring probable cause of a felony, or being a personal eyewitness plus being a narrow category of non-felony offenses that requires immediate arrest instead of citation, or having an actual paper warrant in hand. There’s less opportunity for misuse of force if we simply restrict the situations where force is permissible. Most offenses can be handled by citation. There’s no need to arrest someone in most cases. Issue a citation, which is a summons order to appear for trial (or to otherwise show up at a government building to handle the citation). If you skip trial, then issue a bench warrant for arrest.
For example, George Floyd should have been issued a citation and then released. No need to arrest someone for using, perhaps unknowingly, a fake 20. Confirm their ID (which is easy when everyone typically carries ID cards and when every cop has a camera in their pocket), put the citation in the computer system, and then let them go.
Further, because it should be just a citation, the police should not have been allowed to touch George Floyd at all -- excepting if Floyd tried to run or was especially uncooperative in the standardized process to verify a suspect’s identity at the scene. Any police touching Floyd unwelcomingly should be criminally prosecuted as battery.
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TT always nails it.
I’m one of those “radical extremists” who wants to reduce police power, and drastically so. I’m afraid that too many people, on the left and right, consider the necessary changes to be too radical.
Like, banning no-knock raid warrants, without exception.
Like, putting in place strict rules for when cops can point guns at people, and criminally prosecuting cops who point guns at people without good reason for assault and brandishing, and revoking their gun rights for a while.
Like, for arrest, how about requiring probable cause of a felony, or being a personal eyewitness plus being a narrow category of non-felony offenses that requires immediate arrest instead of citation, or having an actual paper warrant in hand. There’s less opportunity for misuse of force if we simply restrict the situations where force is permissible. Most offenses can be handled by citation. There’s no need to arrest someone in most cases. Issue a citation, which is a summons order to appear for trial (or to otherwise show up at a government building to handle the citation). If you skip trial, then issue a bench warrant for arrest.
For example, George Floyd should have been issued a citation and then released. No need to arrest someone for using, perhaps unknowingly, a fake 20. Confirm their ID (which is easy when everyone typically carries ID cards and when every cop has a camera in their pocket), put the citation in the computer system, and then let them go.
Further, because it should be just a citation, the police should not have been allowed to touch George Floyd at all -- excepting if Floyd tried to run or was especially uncooperative in the standardized process to verify a suspect’s identity at the scene. Any police touching Floyd unwelcomingly should be criminally prosecuted as battery.