What do you think about the police?

[TaraJo]

But your complaint about cops only getting there after the fact is just plain dumb and stupid - that what cops are there for. I wouldn’t care to live in a society where the police arrested people before crimes were committed. And the police aren’t the ones putting psychopaths into prisons instead of hospitals, that’s done by judges and juries.

I disagree.  Had a cop found out about Tim McVeigh's truck and bomb before he blew up a building a lot of lives would have been saved.  Had law enforcement known about September 11 before it happened and arrested the terrorists, a lot more lives would have been saved.  Stopping crimes before they happen should be a goal of law enforcement if you ask me.

[arewethereyet]

But your complaint about cops only getting there after the fact is just plain dumb and stupid - that what cops are there for. I wouldn’t care to live in a society where the police arrested people before crimes were committed. And the police aren’t the ones putting psychopaths into prisons instead of hospitals, that’s done by judges and juries.

I disagree.  Had a cop found out about Tim McVeigh's truck and bomb before he blew up a building a lot of lives would have been saved.  Had law enforcement known about September 11 before it happened and arrested the terrorists, a lot more lives would have been saved.  Stopping crimes before they happen should be a goal of law enforcement if you ask me.

When we are able to provide the police with knowledge of criminally planned activities, that works.

Crystal balls aren't part of their equipment.

[FlatAssembler]

With the police, the exceptions do not prove the rule. Most to virtually all police officers are decent human beings who work odd shifts in the name of public service.

I am not saying "all cops are bastards". Cops are priests of a religion that I do not believe in, that putting criminals in prisons somehow makes us safer.

[arewethereyet]

With the police, the exceptions do not prove the rule.  Most to virtually all police officers are decent human beings who work odd shifts in the name of public service.

I am not saying "all cops are bastards". Cops are priests of a religion that I do not believe in, that putting criminals in prisons somehow makes us safer.

So, we should leave the child molesters, rapists, etc. out on the streets so they can hurt more people?

[FlatAssembler]

But your complaint about cops only getting there after the fact is just plain dumb and stupid - that what cops are there for. I wouldn’t care to live in a society where the police arrested people before crimes were committed. And the police aren’t the ones putting psychopaths into prisons instead of hospitals, that’s done by judges and juries.

I disagree.  Had a cop found out about Tim McVeigh's truck and bomb before he blew up a building a lot of lives would have been saved.  Had law enforcement known about September 11 before it happened and arrested the terrorists, a lot more lives would have been saved.  Stopping crimes before they happen should be a goal of law enforcement if you ask me.

Unfortunately, any real-world attempt at predictive policing will end up being a disaster. Red-flag laws are ineffective at preventing terrorism, but are perfectly capable of destroying peoples' lives.

[FlatAssembler]

I am not saying "all cops are bastards". Cops are priests of a religion that I do not believe in, that putting criminals in prisons somehow makes us safer.

So, we should leave the child molesters, rapists, etc. out on the streets so they can hurt more people?

I think so. Either that or killing them outright. Temporarily putting them in prisons, places from which they will return with even more psychological problems, makes no sense.

[FlatAssembler]

So, you think police protects us? Like I've said in the post that @BrianSoddingBoru4 deleted, I don't see how exactly police protects us. The police nearly always only comes after a psychopath has already murdered somebody. And then, nearly always, they put that psychopath not to a place where they will rehabilitate, but to a place from which they will return with even more psychological problems that made them murder in the first place. Once you think about it that way, it looks like the police is actually making us less safe, rather than protecting us.

Cops don’t actually make citizens less safe or more safe (study after study show that putting more cops on the street has no effect on crime rates). 

But your complaint about cops only getting there after the fact is just plain dumb and stupid - that what cops are there for. I wouldn’t care to live in a society where the police arrested people before crimes were committed. And the police aren’t the ones putting psychopaths into prisons instead of hospitals, that’s done by judges and juries.

Boru

Then what's the point of the police? What are cops there for?

[Jehanne]

So, we should leave the child molesters, rapists, etc. out on the streets so they can hurt more people?

I think so. Either that or killing them outright. Temporarily putting them in prisons, places from which they will return with even more psychological problems, makes no sense.

Mass executions? Since the first execution at Jamestown over 4 centuries ago, less than 20K people have been put to death in the continental United States. What you are proposing is an apocalyptic nightmare.

[Fireball]

[The Architect Of Fate]

The police are a necessary evil. Though one that should always be looked at with a healthy amount of suspicion.