Quote Originally Posted by Nobody View Post
I guess this is just how I would do things if I was in charge.

1. For issues like large riots and other large scale problems with a small police force, ideally I'd want to involve community "minutemen" police that can be called upon should the need arise. These people could be like the national guard where they have periodic training and get paid a bit for it, but you're not hiring full-time people. And since these are community people, they shouldn't be vested in putting people behind bars, but de-escalation. Full time cops have a tendency to see the public as potential rule-breakers and prison/jail as a natural punishment. It might even be a better idea to have it be a mandatory thing for certain age groups, similar to how some country's force everyone to join the military for a time. The goal is to have all kinds of people in the police force and not just that domineering asshole type that thrives on the authority.
I like this idea, it not only solves a problem, but also brings the community together, which is important imo.

2. Police shouldn't be full-time. What I mean is they are full-time employed, but only cops part-time. The other time they do other jobs and functions for local governments and communities. Making them full-time creates problems because they tend to see the worst in their communities and it can have an effect on how they view and interact with the public.
Well this makes sense, yeah. You'd need to have sufficient people rotating in at all times to deal with emerging situations effectively tho. Organization is beside the point tho.

3. We should find cheaper ways to enforce the law for minor things. We could have people that are trained and certified as a public servant to help de-escalate or fill in a for a cop when one isn't around in time; they could maybe get some perks or paid a little for it. We could enforce speed limits with electronics, make it mandatory to have a dash-cam for accidents, and have better tech for enforcing certain laws, such as noise ordnance that is effective. So if someone is breaking certain noise laws, there will be direct and immediate evidence and they will be fined or whatever the penalties will be. No need to call police every time people are being assholes to each other. Anything to help bring down the amount of more minor issues that police get, so they can focus on stopping the big crimes or helping the public with disasters and conflicts. Less giving you a ticket and more being an overall positive influence in the community.
Ok, again makes sense. I'd get behind this.

4. Eliminate police unions (or limit their power to protect police against convictions). They are only there to defend the police from criminal convictions. Police are government employees and as such there needs to be complete transparency about everything they do, otherwise there is no authority making sure the police are following the law too. And that's pretty important. That's like giving the executive branch of the US government no checks and balances. That's troublesome.
Depending on the circumstances unionizing is beneficial for a workforce imo, so I would not get rid of them.

5. States need to give employers incentives to hire released convicts. Some people may not like this, but if people use that against them they are more likely to turn back to crime. It's just something that needs to be done.
Not as law enforcement tho.

6. I'm a fan of Andrew Yang's UBI because it would directly help convicts integrate into society. But I do understand why a lot of people are against this, so it's not super important to do. But convicts do need some help integrating into society. Maybe a short-term UBI for recently released convicts would be better. I don't know, but something.
You could have a system in place where they'd get food stamps and basic needs met for 6 months as well as every opportunity to get a job or the system to find a job for them within that timeframe. UBI has been tried here in Europe... it does not work in practice. You guys can always try I guess.

7. Police budgets need to be revised quarterly for their needs and voted on and scrutinized by the public. This is the only way that the public can make sure their police departments are going in the right direction with things. Some police departments might actually need tanks and military weapons and bigger SWAT teams, if they are dealing with gang wars or things of that nature. But when it's not needed, it shouldn't remain the focus of their budgets. And you should never have a situation where every year the police budget increases because the police are afraid that if they don't spend everything they get, they will get less money next year. That's definitely not how budgetary concerns should be motivated. Maybe something like giving police bonuses or incentives for reducing the budget will help this, but you don't want to demotivate them to increase a budget if it's needed. So there needs to be some kind of way to incentivize having a proper budget.
Ok, sounds fair.

I probably left out a lot and some of these most police departments might already do, but I think that would be a nice start.
I'd still start with mandatory 2 year police academy, strict evaluation, proper training.