Police Accountability

I had a very intense discussion today about defunding the police. The discussion centered on what happened to the black female social worker in Chicago and what she endured at the hands of the police. My friend thought that defunding the police would be the answer. I on the other hand believe that taking money from the police authority would do nothing to curtail these kinds of situations. If you reduced police budgets to zero that still wouldn’t stop people from acting as vigilantes under the color of law.

The only way you stop police abuse of power is by introducing codified regulation that mandates accountability. We require a uniform licensing process for doctors, nurses, dentist, attorneys, and cpa’s. All of those professions have continous education requirements. All of those professions have rules and regulations regarding what happens when an individual is found to be negligent or lacking in the requisite professional skills. If as a society we put in the same work to build accountability models for police like we do for other professions we could improve policing in a relatively short time frame.

There will be those that argue that police unions won’t let this kind of regulation occur. The unions can’t stop the passage of state laws. By mandating that police officers meet defined levels of accountability under penalty of being removed from the profession the unions lose the power to work on behalf of the bad apples. It’s not going to be easy, however it can be done. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Think!!
Eyes Wide Open!!!

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