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Why Do the Police Exist? (2020)

https://novaramedia.com/2020/06/20/why-does-the-police-exist/
8•robtherobber•1h ago

Comments

bediger4000•1h ago
When conservatives were busy freaking out about the slogan "defund the police", I thought a little bit about that slogan. Every interaction I, a white middle class Midwestern, have had with police has been either to my detriment (traffic tickets mostly) or had zero good effects. I've had bicycles and even a car stolen. The first thing out of the cop's mouth was "you're never going to see that again". What benefit do police (as an institution) supply? Witnessing traffic accidents so insurance companies can decide who pays seems to be the big one.
ge96•1h ago
> What benefit do police (as an institution) supply

This is one of those bad topics to talk about but to me it seems obvious. If there were no laws to prevent people from stealing, killing each other, you wouldn't have society. Yes you have bicycles/car stolen but I would think it would be a lot worse. I don't agree with that ACAB saying but I think people who haven't lived in a bad place say that. But I also am aware of racism/stereotyping it's funny you mention being white as yeah it's worse for not being white.

c22•53m ago
>If there were no laws to prevent people from stealing, killing each other, you wouldn't have society.

Laws are even less capable of preventing these things than police!

What actually prevents these things is social homogenization, equality, and shared community goals and experiences.

robtherobber•22m ago
Indeed. Comes to mind an expression from one of my professors, "laws are to keep honest people honest, just like doors; should someone not care about those, they can easily break them - most of the time without consequences". Because most criminals are not caught or investigated.
davidguetta•1h ago
The price of your stolen bike is order of magnitude lower than the amount of time / money the police force would spend tracking it.

It's supposed to be here for more serious matters.

Ancapistani•40m ago
Great - then they should simply write him a check to reimburse him, right?
davidguetta•21m ago
nobody said "police will prevent all crime"

in theory it's "some crime, starting with the most important"

hagbard_c•57m ago
Remember the 'CHOP/CHAZ' [1] fiasco during the 'Summer of Love' in 2020 [2]? That is where you end up if there is no police. Instead of a Kumbayah around the campfire you get some warlord-like individual who proclaims himself Lord of the Domain and anyone who crosses him gets to find out why 'abolishing the police' was a bad idea.

Does this mean that the police is always right? No, of course not, that is one of the many things wrong with the 'Die Partei hat immer recht' (German for The party is always right, part of the lyrics of the national anthem of the German 'Democratic' Republic [3]) philosophy. Nobody is always right and any power is there to be abused by those willing and able to do so. That's why there is oversight of those in power which - admittedly - isn't always as effective as it should be.

[1] https://www.historylink.org/File/22870

[2] https://reasonabletv.com/podcast/chop_s_deadly_legacy__5_yea...

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_IbCMOg9YA&t=18

c22•48m ago
I lived in the 'CHOP' during this time period and encountered no warlords nor any friction in going about my day to day business. There were a couple nights when police used teargas outside my house and I had to close all my windows.
pipes•38m ago
Here is an example of what happens when there are no police, Montreal police strike:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray-Hill_riot

sjducb•1h ago
There used to be county lines drug dealing outside my house.

County lines drug dealing is where organised gangs in London send people out to deal drugs in small towns outside London. It’s obvious because of the race of the people involved.

2 years ago the police did a massive crackdown and the county lines drug dealers disappeared. County lines drug dealers haven’t come back and now there is no obvious public drug dealing in my neighbourhood.

The police do a difficult job and they are fantastic at it.

https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/over-1-800-arrested-wit...

davidguetta•1h ago
yeah. the insane amount of organized anti-police and anti-prison propaganda such as "putting people in jail doesn't reduce crim" is ridiculous and a lots of studies are wildly instrumentalised.

If you act strongly, crime reduces, this has been documented everywhere (new york in the 80s, salvador, colombia).

Only in radical left minds the opposites lives free

robtherobber•54m ago
> It’s obvious because of the race of the people involved.

I think I know what you're saying. You're saying that non-white people are trouble, aren't you? I mean, why wouldn't such a thing be considered a fact and why wouldn't it be obvious? You said it, so it became a fact and also it became obvious.

sjducb•37m ago
I know they’re drug dealers because they tried to sell me drugs.

The English countryside is over 95% white. It’s obvious when organised violent gangs consisting entirely of people of color from London take over and start selling drugs.

The police put a stop to it and we are all very grateful.

robtherobber•55s ago
You don't know they are drug dealers, because not all of them tried to sell you drugs, did they? That's a ridiculous statement. You know that some of them tried to do that. Even so, the fact that they were not white had little to do with it, so it was not obvious by any measure.

> when organised violent gangs consisting entirely of people of color from London take over

In what respect did they take over? And how can you tell that they were all selling drugs? Maybe some were there as tourists, maybe some were visiting family etc.

You make some racist assumptions without evidence that I believe should be called out because you're hell-bent on proving something that may not actually be supported by evidence. You, my dear colleague, are fabulating.

Not only that the National Police Chiefs' Council County Lines STRA (FY Apr 2024 to Mar 2025) reports that 63.6% of recorded individuals involved are White (with 22.9% Black, 11.6% Asian, 1.8% Other)[0], but "county lines" narrative is routinely racialised and can amplify stereotypes [1], like you appear to do with your comment.

[0] https://www.npcc.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/pub...

[1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03063968231201325

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