TRH and Pira.
Very interesting discourse.
IMHO, too many laws, too many lawyers, too lenient prison system, too slow of a justice system, too many who game the system and suffer no apparent consequences. too many corrupt "public officials".
Question: is a professional police force worth the money we're paying them?
Too much, too little or just about right?
Is the use of the police to generate revenue for the municipality a proper use ?
The whole revenue thing has completely gotten out of control. It's what led to quotas. It wasn't that they were worried about what we were or were not doing. The city councels got to wondering where all the revenue was that should have been coming from tickets and ordinance enforcement. So they looked. And found that a majority of officers were not writing many tickets. This was throughout the 60's and 70's. Which led to quotas in the 80s and 90s. Then, in Ca at least, they were outlawed. So they came up with a new name.....performance goals. Our unions got rid of that too (one of the few things unions have done right.)
So now you just don't get the assignments you want or promoted or whatever if they don't see production out of you. Not everywhere. Mostly in smaller cities with less crime. In larger cities, you have traffic officers and regular officers (among others). Traffic guys will probabaly write the ticket. Patrol guys are usually using the stop to see if you have a warrant or something.
As for if we're worth what you're paying for, I don't know. I do know that since our wages and benefits have gone down, we don't get the quality applicants we used to. I'm part of the hiring and training process, and since the decline of the economy, our application numbers have skyrocketed, but the quality has gone down a lot. It's horrible.
Part of the problem where I work is that it's way overpriced. A lot of us cannot afford to live anywhere near where we work. The local population is either doing good, or failing miserably. Those doing good don't apply, those failing, aren't usually hireable for one reason or another. The qualified good applicants are leaving the state. Good for them, but we're screwed because of it.
So, that's a fraction of the equation I'm sure. But it's what I see. I work at a Sheriff's Office so I don't see the problems with quotas and such. We don't do a lot of tickets and no one cares. We're litterally too busy for it. Plus there's still a culture of "old Sheriff's" around here. We don't roll 10 deep on a call. Usually one or two. We don't look for reasons to arrest, we look for reasons not to. And we quite literally know all the bad guys in the county. Due to patrol, courts, and the jail. So were a tad more successful at resolving things on scene. Sometimes, an arrest is just what's gonna happen.
I agree that we have too many laws. Too many lawyers. The prison system is failed and overcrowded. There's one more part of the issue you missed though. And it's the worst. Judges. Judges, who I call magical fat creatures in black robes, think they are above the law. And mostly, they're right. There is simply ZERO accountability for a judge that doesn't follow the law. They go outside of it on a daily basis. Blatantly. And you can't sue them. You can complain, and have your complaint heard by........wait for it.......a judge.
Judges are worse than politicians in my mind. Because no one even recognizes that they are corrupt. On a national level, sometimes we talk about them. But that's it. Ask any guy who's been to divorce court or family court. The law simply don't matter. See it all the time. Even in criminal court.
So the question is still hanging out there. Hanging by a thread (pun intended...get it?
). What system would be better? And how, in this day and age, do you implement it???
My solution involves a fantasy where the citizens fix it by force. But I know it ain't gonna happen. So any real ideas?
