Who needs laws? Eliminate police departments

WND ^ | 07/26/15 | Ben Kinchlow

[donna]

Exclusive: Ben Kinchlow offers solution to complaints of 'out-of-control cops'

What? More stories in the news about “police brutality”?

I, for one, am so tired of hearing how cops are out of control. Let me propose a simple solution that will simply and permanently eliminate “police brutality.” This proposal would apply equally to all local, state and federal law enforcement officials. It would immediately and permanently eliminate all traces of racism and allow for all crimes to be reported equally, regardless of perpetrator.

This solution would affect almost every American citizen regardless of age, race, creed, financial or religious status. In addition, it would literally save billions of dollars currently being spent on police forces, courts and prisons, and eliminate any hint of concern regarding capital punishment.

The solution? Abolish all laws, and eliminate the police departments.

Since there would be no laws to break, there would be no need for police enforcement. Additionally, courts would be abolished because there would be no laws to interpret. Without laws to be broken, there would be no need for prisons because there would be no criminals to incarcerate.

We could do away with all these stupid laws about how fast we can drive; hey, if my car will do 120 mph and I want to “put the pedal to the metal,” why not? Why can’t I park anywhere and everywhere I choose and take whatever I want whenever, from wherever and whomever I want? After all, why should my liberties be circumscribed just because you disagree with what I want to do?

[donna]

Then what are you doing here on FR?

[donna]

WND has liberal and conservative articles, as you well know.

Why attack a conservative site instead of just discussing the article? Unless, you have a non-conservative agenda and want to hurt conservatives?

[Boogieman]

WND is a conservative-themed tabloid and nothing more.

[donna]

Stop bashing conservatives and talk about the topic of the thread or start your own thread.

[Twinkie]

That’s just it. The whiners cussing the “cops” would be the first to howl & bawl if they were in need of a “cop” & one didn’t show up.

[Boogieman]

Stop trying to tell us what the standard of conservatism is. You’re not our boss.

[donna]

Have your mother call me.

[The_Reader_David]

Last I checked the mission statement of FR, believing that WND is a splendid and unimpeachable source of news and editorial comment beneficial to American conservatism was not part of it.

In truth I joined FR when WND and FR were the only American sites from which one could get proper news about the Clinton bombing campaign against Serbia, and I found FR much more useful for that narrow purpose than WND. I stayed because I’m an American conservative of the sort who, if the right ever won and there were no leftists to oppose any more would be a moderate on the spectrum from paleoconservative to right-libertarian, find FR the best source for news on just about anything, and think FReepers are great to converse with.

[donna]

So, you want to keep the police?

[bjorn14]

He was the former co-host of the ‘700 Club’ along side Pat Robertson.

[The_Reader_David]

Are you sure you’re replying to the right person?

[donna]

The topic of the thread.

Do you want to keep the police?

[The_Reader_David]

Police qua police, yes. Police as they have become -- arrogant, seemingly unrestrained by the law even as the purport to enforce the law, no longer required to serve and protect, but only to enforce the law -- no.

Quite frankly every state in the union needs to pass laws requiring body cameras with sound recording be operative at all times, leaving aside undercover operations, which should require a warrant to conduct, invalidating arrests made in the absence of a recording of the proceedings, specifying significantly more severe penalties for crimes committed under color of law than for the same crimes committed by ordinary citizens, specifying that police do have as part of their job description serving and protecting the public, not just enforcing laws, and moving investigation and prosecution of police misconduct out of Internal Affairs divisions or department of police agencies and into an agency dedicated to that sole purpose, structured and incentivized to prevent collusion with police agencies in covering up police misconduct.

[donna]

What quality of person/character would wish to be a policeman under those conditions?

[The_Reader_David]

Are you suggesting that the current circumstance in which police are free to order citizens around with no basis in law for the orders, in which a blind eye is too often turned to police misconduct when the “blue wall” makes its investigation impossible, in which police have no obligation to serve or protect the public, is necessary to be able to recruit any police officers?

I would hope that having an obligation to serve and protect, knowing that one is as much subject to the law as the citizenry at large, and held to a higher standard in that regard as an agent of the law, and that one’s actions are being recorded when on the job would encourage better quality of person to become police.

[donna]

Would you ever take a job where you had to wear a bodycam while working?

[The_Reader_David]

I observe that you didn’t answer *my* last question.

I don’t think there jobs with my skill set are likely to have a reason to require a body camera. On the other hand, I’ve been making a point of having a record of my work by teaching my graduate course on enumerative combinatorics on a tablet computer rather than a chalkboard. I’m likely at some point to record my lectures on video so I can teach an online version of the courses I teach, so the analogous sort of thing in my line of work certainly raises no objections on my part.

[donna]

If you follow the thought, I did answer.

Pretend you want to be a cop, would you wear a camera? I wouldn't. Cameras don't tell the truth - isn't that just the way, lol.

If you wear a camera to your work and you speak kindly to a pretty coworker and your sweet wife sees it; you may be innocent but you wife is mad. (Just pretend you have a regular wife).

Prediction: After we put cameras on cops, women will take over the profession and it will become a reality show just like ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’.

[The_Reader_David]

Actually cameras and sound recordings do tell the truth, but only part of the truth, and those who view and hear the results need to understand that. Cops often don’t, and folks who make accusations of police misconduct often don’t, injecting even the little part of the objective truth set down by a video and audio recording from the vantage point of the cop’s shoulder or chest into each exchange between the police and the public should cut down on both. I am, however, more enthusiastic about the other reforms to policing I proposed — especially explicit statutory restoration of the duty to serve and protect the public.

[SouthParkRepublican]

Well we could start with my home town. This guy got a slap on the wrist and is still on the force:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/phillipsburg/index.ssf/2012/01/phillipsburg_police_detective_5.html

He was later suspected of being intoxicated while on duty:

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/phillipsburg/index.ssf/2013/09/phillipsburg_police_officer_in.html

But his brother who is a captain on the force investigated and apparently he was not. /sarcasm