Thread by @placeholder4abn

"Abolish the Police" is a concept that seems impossible to a lot of people when they first hear it so to break it down for anyone skeptical:

-It goes without saying that we need laws and systems in place to investigate and protect against acts of violence, reckless endangerment to the public, and other injustices

-HOWEVER there is absolutely NO REASON why ONE DEPARTMENT should be in charge of all of those things

-We currently have a system wherein officers are trained for a Very Short period of time to know a Huge Volume of laws and regulations for a Huge Variety of situations that often need to be handled delicately

-Most importantly/horrifically all of these officers are given weapons

-FIRST OFF you FIRE every officer with complaints on their records. We can't trust this system to do justice with investigating them. As the new departments are trained you phase out those last few old officers unless they're willing to go through specialized training...

AND no one in the community comes forward with complaints about them. If they fulfill those requirements there's a chance for them to be a part of the new system.

So what do we do INSTEAD OF POLICE

-Multiple small, focused, departments to enforce laws and public safety ordinances outfitted with the TRAINING AND EQUIPMENT that is PROPORTIONAL and RELEVANT to their VERY SPECIFIC jobs

-For example: Why do police officers get sent to houses when someone calls 911 to say they're worried someone is suicidal? There should be a specific department made up of THERAPISTS and MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS who carry those out.

-Why have police officers with guns monitor traffic and administer tickets? Instead create a specific department for traffic laws made up of people who know those laws inside out and DO NOT HAVE GUNS

-You can do these two examples for LITERALLY ANY nonviolent offense

-Create Very Specific jobs for Very Specific TRAINED People and Don't Give Them Guns

-If there IS an indication that the person being worked with may be dangerous then those specialized teams from their departments bring a bodyguard with UNARMED self defense training and tazers

-"Oh, Loreby," you say. "But what if the person in the car HAS a gun! Or the person getting a welfare check called on them! And there's no way to know ahead of time what encounters will be violent! And a bodyguard doesn't get sent!"

-To which I say: Tough Shit. Right now people are getting shot in their beds by trigger happy pigs. Small price to pay if a few people who volunteer for a job that May be dangerous get hurt rather than thousands of civilians a year who never asked to be put in those positions

-And for crimes that get called in or are being investigated that Actually Are Violent and Dangerous and Armed. THAT is the specialized department that those bodyguards for mental healthcare workers and traffic workers, etc. call in for potentially dangerous situations

-And they NEVER get to check out a gun unless they HAVE CONFIRMATION that there is someone else with a gun actively threatening human lives.

-NOBODY regardless of training walks around with a gun on their belt as their standard set of equipment to whip out any moment

-The bottom line is: If you're putting yourself in the line of duty to SERVE and PROTECT the public from PHYSICAL HARM then you have to ACCEPT that YOU WILL BE IN HARM'S WAY and be READY TO LET HARM COME TO YOU BEFORE YOU ENACT IT UPON ANYONE ELSE

-What we've seen is that PEOPLE AREN'T ABLE TO TAKE THE CHANCE OF BEING HURT OVER THE CHANCE THAT THEY MAY HURT AN INNOCENT. Which means WE CAN'T ALLOW THEM TO HAVE WEAPONS THAT KILL any time they MIGHT MAYBE be in danger.

-Anyways yeah. We don't need cops. We need people who know what the fuck they're doing taking care of their own communities.

-And before ANYONE gets hired on any of these departments you need to MAIL EVERY PERSON in their community a flier with names and photos of people...

-And give them a chance to recognize if one of them is a bigot or a shithead or untrustworthy and give a vote of No Confidence in that person to do their desired job BEFORE they ever get into a position of power/authority.

Fuckin rant over