If you require a reason that is bureaucracy which people complain about for good reason. Requiring a reason adds great cost and we would rather not pay it. We might be forced to because not everybody is honest, but it is much better if we can trust others and so not have to do this.

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throwaway27448 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Who on earth is complaining about bureaucracy in the police station? Maybe the VA, maybe the DMV, maybe the fish and wildlife service, but who wants the men who run around with guns and shoot people to do so without any administrative oversight?

Edit: anyway, the "bureaucratic" overhead of providing a reason seems to be unlikely to impede police work if indeed there is a legitimate reason to access these databases.

	▲	Macha 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		People who’ve consumed some of the decades of hollywood movies and TV shows where the hero is portrayed as having to break the rules to get their guys and people enforcing rules are portrayed as officious bureaucrats.
	▲	samrus 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		People do complain about bureacracy with the police. They dont phrase it that way. What they say is that when they need the police, its never able to help. People dont realize that in addition to the police being corrupt and lazy, its also because the systems to help can be slow and cumbersome to use effectively and quickly

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pavel_lishin 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> which people complain about for good reason

But bureaucracy itself exists for a good reason. The hard part is finding a balance.

	▲	bluGill 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That was my point. Finding the balance is hard.