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I can see how that would work in some places, but where I live, the opposite would happen. There actually is crime for them to police. Hell, with organized crime going up after California turned certain types of stealing from a Felony to a misdemeanor, theft and smash and grabs have skyrocketed in some places.
Plus, in the rural areas, Cartels are moving in and setting up illegal weed farms and such and threatening the local government and communities.
I'm not saying that the police aren't a bunch of racist, sexist, militant fascists: they are. But if we could reform the police, they have a use protecting people from actual crime. The one benefit of having actual crime to police is that over the years, I've noticed much fewer cops harassing or ticketing normal people for stuff like minor traffic violations or "just because". Probably because they actually (for once) have better things to do.
Solution: Legalize drugs already.
And tax the fuckers
Weed's legal in CA (don't get me wrong, it should absolutely be legal federally. I actually fully expect Biden to campaign on it).
Any time there's a highly regulated market, there's going to be a black market. The best way to get rid of that is try to decrease the financial overhead said regulations create over time, lowering the incentive for people to buy off the black market. Obviously that's not something that's feasible to do overnight though.
Fucker ran on it last time!
Legalizing marijuana is far too progressive for a conservative like Biden.
He cares a lot more about winning the white house again than whether weed's legal
Edit: sp
They said they expect him to campaign on it, not "fix" it.
I don't expect a thing. He only needs to be better than Trump, again. As an incumbent. Against a literal criminal who tried to overthrow the government.
Lowest bar in history, Jack.
I wish I had your confidence
It was intended as sardonic with overtones of bitter rage. I don't actually know if the bar is low enough
As if the president could waive a wand and make it legal. He pardoned everyone in federal prison on possession.
Caveat: there wasn't actually anyone in prison on possession at the time. Which isn't to say it didn't send a message to supporters of the drug war.
As if that'd be the first time a candidate has campaigned on something they can't actually do
The problem in my area is that the cops refuse to actually do anything. 20 or 20,000 makes no difference if they won't actually do any policing.
Question: why are people stealing? Isn't it because they need money, because they are poor? Maybe the solution is to make people less poor, rather than to have a bunch more "racist, sexist, militant fascists" patrolling the streets.
Again, the obvious solution to this problem does not involve police.
I'm not sure we can.
Yes. Literally. Look at city budgets in the United States. Police budgets are multiple times the amount spent on housing and social programs, which are things that actually reduce crime.
Move money out of police budgets and into housing in particular. Housing first. Because the increases in homelessness and crime are primarily being driven by the lack of affordable housing right now.
https://data.aclum.org/2023/04/05/fy2023-boston-police-department-budget/
If California has affordable housing that was accessible to everyone it wouldn't have the ORT problem worse than the rest of the country.
If people don't have houses, it's more difficult to get jobs. If people don't have jobs, they need a different way to get food. It really is that simple. Unconditional housing makes people less likely to be poor and less likely to steal than if they didn't have a safe place to live.
"You think its easier to not have poor people than reform police? I dont think the first is feasible in a population this size. The latter is absolutely attainable with a dozen law changes to hold cops accountable, which will also mean less of them"
The person you asked that to didn't claim that "it's easier to not have poor people than reform police". "Not having poor people" would require a complete restructuring of political and economic systems, while police reform would require fewer changes.
It is, however, easier to have fewer poor people, that are less poor, than it is to reform the police.
Step 1 is increase taxes on the rich.
Step 2 is use that money to buy and build houses.
Step 3 is give those houses to anyone that needs one.
So for your original question, no, I don't think that.
Unironically yes
Where I live, we didn't lower criminal penalties for anything like that, smash and grab crimes are also up, and cops still don't do anything about them. They also have stopped doing any traffic enforcement, and have basically been quiet quitting since there was unrest about how they shouldn't commit extrajudicial violence.
The one thing they do still do, is hassle black men about weed, despite that actually being decriminalized in the city. Since they can still cite people under state law, they can ruin your whole day or weekend over a roach if they feel like it. Unsurprisingly, the statistics are literally 10 to 1 black to white people being cited for pot.
This is one of those instances where it seems that cops are contributing to crime in an area where the ambient crime doesn't cover it up as a rounding error. In that case they do more harm than good. That same ambient increase in high crime areas gets overcome by police force. The ideal state is that police don't contribute to crime at all. Like the artical states, public trust in police is the only way that's possible (the cause and effect go both ways here). That and actually, across the board, effective police work. They are paid the same as or more than engineers. We should expect the same or higher competency for on the job skill set. Otherwise, turn them loose like any respectable company would in the same situation.
People who advocate for defunding and disbanding the police have never lived somewhere that has happened.
I advocate for defunding and disbanding the current policing system. Back the blue till is happens to you!
New system you ask? No qualified immunity, require licenses and liability insurance, always on body-cams that are publically accessable. Phew, there goes nearly every problem.