The core issue is that on one hand, police needs power to protect the citizens, but at the same time the power might corrupt them.

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echelon 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

This is why state powers need judicial oversight.

There are some instances where powers need to be exercised in a hurry, but there should always be proper reporting and a paper trail, with stiff reprimanded for misuse or abuse of the system. Accidents can happen, but they should be infrequent and should follow protocol.

It would be great if citizens had more direct involvement in these cases too. I don't see why egregious abuses shouldn't be tried by jury.

Police and intelligence agency employees should be held to a higher standard than civilians (like military personnel are subject to UCMJ), and breeches of protocols should lead to harsher punishments imposed upon them. It would be fine to pay them more if it required more training and accountability.

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someonebaggy an hour ago | parent [-]

In most of Europe, police carry guns. But they are afraid to fire those guns, because there will be a disciplinary process and they are likely to lose their job or go to jail if they can't show there was no other alternative. But if there is a situation where it is necessary to fire the gun, it will be.

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mc32 20 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Also in Europe more cops have K-9s and aren’t afraid to sick them on suspects.

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echelon 42 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

In the US, anyone can own a gun. Police have to perform a different risk calculus than in Europe.

Police officers are 30x more likely to be murdered in the US South than in, say, Germany.

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catlikesshrimp 38 minutes ago | parent [-]

You just changed 45x to 30x. What is the source?

	▲	echelon 34 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		45x included accidents. I'll compile the citations, one moment. > "From 2014 through 2023, the South region had the most line-of-duty deaths yearly compared to other regions. There was a 38% decrease in line-of-duty deaths in the region in 2023 (20 deaths) compared to 2022 (32 deaths). Last year marked the lowest number of line-of-duty deaths in the South since 2015 (19 deaths)." https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/fbi-releases-officer... Felonious Deaths vs Accidental Deaths https://le.fbi.gov/cjis-division/cjis-link/statistics-on-law... > "A look at police crime statistics shows that fatal attacks on police officers are relatively rare. While violent acts against police officers are increasing overall—last year the statistics recorded 38,960 cases, a rise of 0.8 percent—no more than two police officers have been killed in the line of duty in any year since 2011." (Translated) https://www.bazonline.ch/die-schiessen-369707652687

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pstuart an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

> police needs power to protect the citizens

Those terms need to be clearly defined. SCOTUS has declared that the police actually have no duty to protect and to serve the people.

And with an overwhelming amount of evidence, the police operate with effectively no accountability and repeated demonstrate that they abuse their powers freely.

So yes, laws without teeth are pointless but the state's monopoly on violence should only be granted when it can be demonstrated to not be abused.