Bodycams exonerate the innocent every time. They’re an absolute, indisputable record of what happened, and if you didn’t do anything wrong they’ll prove it to everyone. If you’re lying, bodycams will prove that too.
Keep that in mind when you see police fighting tooth and nail against body cams or, when they can’t entirely prevent the use of a camera they fight to make sure they’re the only ones with access to the footage. This is because they’re a street gang, they know it, they break the law on a regular basis and rely on one another to lie. That’s what the police do. They don’t prevent crime, or we’d see that more police would lead to less crime and vice versa. They don’t solve the vast majority of crimes. They give people an illusion of safety and order, and they apply violence indiscriminately to anything outside the normal order without regard to the law. They explicitly do not know the law, and thanks to qualified immunity they are simply not responsible for their actions. This is because the people who decide what the responsibilities of the police are know that they won’t be the ones pulled out of their cars and beaten to death in the middle of the street.
I’ve changed my opinion on police over the past few years. As someone who rides public transit a lot, I’m often scared. My city (Portland) wasn’t so dangerous in the past. I carry a gun now after some bad situations and I wish I didn’t feel the need to.
90% of my interactions with police around here have been positive and I’m disagreeing with you about adding cops not reducing crime.
I had a friend who lived in Portland who had a very different experience. He lived in the city center near where the protests were taking place and was constantly stopped and harassed by police to show ID just because he was walking to his apartment. I’m sure it may have something to do with the fact that he’s not white though.
An ABC OTV analysis of state and local police funding and violent crime data in the U.S. overall between 1985 and 2020 found no relationship between year-to-year police spending and crime rates. (An analysis by the Washington Post found similar results from 1960 to 2018.)
This isn’t a matter of agreement or disagreement, the numbers are there. The number of police, their training, and their equipment have nothing to do with crime rates whatsoever. Cutting police budgets doesn’t increase the crime rate. Getting more cops and giving them better toys doesn’t decrease the crime rate.
Interestingly enough, Portland was almost twice as violent 20 years ago as it is today. The violent crime rate has wiggled in the past few years, but mostly has leveled off after a steep plunge that began in 2004.
Bodycams exonerate the innocent every time. They’re an absolute, indisputable record of what happened, and if you didn’t do anything wrong they’ll prove it to everyone. If you’re lying, bodycams will prove that too.
Keep that in mind when you see police fighting tooth and nail against body cams or, when they can’t entirely prevent the use of a camera they fight to make sure they’re the only ones with access to the footage. This is because they’re a street gang, they know it, they break the law on a regular basis and rely on one another to lie. That’s what the police do. They don’t prevent crime, or we’d see that more police would lead to less crime and vice versa. They don’t solve the vast majority of crimes. They give people an illusion of safety and order, and they apply violence indiscriminately to anything outside the normal order without regard to the law. They explicitly do not know the law, and thanks to qualified immunity they are simply not responsible for their actions. This is because the people who decide what the responsibilities of the police are know that they won’t be the ones pulled out of their cars and beaten to death in the middle of the street.
I’ve changed my opinion on police over the past few years. As someone who rides public transit a lot, I’m often scared. My city (Portland) wasn’t so dangerous in the past. I carry a gun now after some bad situations and I wish I didn’t feel the need to.
90% of my interactions with police around here have been positive and I’m disagreeing with you about adding cops not reducing crime.
1000% yes to body cams though.
I had a friend who lived in Portland who had a very different experience. He lived in the city center near where the protests were taking place and was constantly stopped and harassed by police to show ID just because he was walking to his apartment. I’m sure it may have something to do with the fact that he’s not white though.
https://6abc.com/where-police-departments-defunded-how-does-funding-impact-crime-defund-the-budgets/12324846/#:~:text=Police spending doesn’t drive crime numbers&text=An ABC OTV analysis of,results from 1960 to 2018.)
This isn’t a matter of agreement or disagreement, the numbers are there. The number of police, their training, and their equipment have nothing to do with crime rates whatsoever. Cutting police budgets doesn’t increase the crime rate. Getting more cops and giving them better toys doesn’t decrease the crime rate.
https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/us/or/portland/crime-rate-statistics#:~:text=Violent crimes are defined in,a 4.69%25 increase from 2016.
Interestingly enough, Portland was almost twice as violent 20 years ago as it is today. The violent crime rate has wiggled in the past few years, but mostly has leveled off after a steep plunge that began in 2004.