Tuesday, August 19, 2014

A Modest First Step Proposal to Bring Police Under Control

I have long held the view that Congress should enact a  law that states the President of the United States should be the last man allowed into a bunker that protects against nuclear attack.

Until all other citizens are protected, he should stand naked against the wrath of an enemy that launches a nuclear attack against the U.S..

Quite simply, I view an attack on the United States by nuclear means as the ultimate failure of government and that the head of such a failure should be the last man protected.

Taking this down a few notches to the local level. We are often told that local police are present "to protect and serve."

Indeed, this is the official motto of the Los Angeles police department:


Now, personally, I hold the view that police protection is largely a myth (SEE: How to Deal with Police), but let's continue with the generally held view that police do protect.

How is killing a person ever "protecting" that person? Now granted there may be extenuating circumstances where a police officer kills someone in a way that most would consider justifiable, but in the current structure of the police versus the rest of society, the police can often get a pass after killing someone without justification.

I believe that this needs to be changed. A good first step in making police think twice about killing someone is that it should be standard policy that any police officer that kills someone should be immediately removed from the police force, his salary stopped and that he be prevented from receiving any pension or other payments that would normally be due an officer leaving the force.

This should be only a first step, of course. Prosecution of an officer should also be a further option if it is clear that the cop was not acting in self-defense or protecting others from harm.

We need to get coppers to think twice about shooting people. We need them to understand that there will be no silent blue line, with machinations in the background, that will move to protect them of any killing. We need them to know that the killing of someone has serious consequences. If they truly are officers that "protect and serve," then let's put their feet to the fire and make killings on their watch have consequences.

-RW

7 comments:

  1. A Very Great Idea, however unlikely to be implemented.

    Until Libertarians focus their attention on cops and soldiers (pigs & grunts), instead of politicians, bureaucrats, pundits, subsidized professors and psychotic philosophers, they will continue to fail to focus on the problem. Evil laws are harmless until evil men enforce them. If those evil enforcers have free will, then all the horrors of what we call "government" are to be blamed on them and only them.

    If you would form a clear mental image of "Government", picture some beefy, sarcastic, skinhead pig stepping out of a squad car at night in LA or Chicago and pointing a gun at you. Then picture Obama and Paul Krugman cowering behind him sticking their tongues out at you. Those two impotent little intellectual perverts are not your problem. The primitive savage with the gun is.

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    1. "Until Libertarians focus their attention on cops and soldiers....."

      Have you not heard of William Grigg, Laurence Vance, Bill Buppert, Jeff Berwick or Adam Kokesh among others?

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    2. The soldier (cop included) is where the rubber meets the road. Libertarians focus on that frequently enough. The intellectual IS a problem, however, because he lends credence to the soldier's actions. He provides the thoughts that become a basis for society's acceptance of the use of force.

      "There are people who think that plunder loses all its immorality as soon as it becomes legal. Personally, I cannot imagine a more alarming situation." - Frédéric Bastiat

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    3. NY Cynic, if I say that Libertarians need to do something, it does not imply that I have never heard of any who are already doing it. Unfortunately, there are yet many who are not.

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  2. So basically the profit and loss mechanism. You serve the customer, you're rewarded; you don't and you're punished.

    Essentially, private security and law enforcement.

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  3. Everywhere in the western world it increasingly seems that the rule of law is no longer applicable to all citizens equally. From Members of Parliament in the UK to banksters and the head of Formula One buying off the German court for his bribery case, oh the irony!! A large fine paid and no case is tried. Now in the UK even watching an ISIs horror vid is regarded as terrorism? Govts ard out of control and no longer fear the people or the consequences of trangressing the law.

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  4. Mr. Wenzel, how about localities start de-certifying their police forces? It could be ugly at the start, but take away their monopoly on violence and let them see what it's like to be a simple private citizen.

    I realize that this is a pipe dream, but it's delicious to think about. Take away their right to use violence on the rest of us and let them see what it's like when the shoe is on the other foot.

    Just a thought.

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