Fundamental Policing

Law Enforcement? Handcuffs and a gun?

By Grant Davies

The chaos that has engulfed the USA in recent days has put the "Virus Panic of 2020" on the back burner for a time.

The panic chaos will have to wait for the country to stop burning before bringing it back to a boil as soon as the media needs to cover up for their political buddies again. I predict it won't take long. There is a lot to cover up for.

In the meantime, the video of a man who had been arrested being murdered by a cop while other police looked on, has temporarily drowned out the calls for political heads to roll on the virus response.

Just in the nick of time for out-of-their depth politicians who have caused the deaths of thousands of people with their proclamations and edicts. Gretchen Whitmer and Andrew Cuomo may think that they have escaped the elder death toll they caused in the nursing homes they infected. We shall see.

So right now the focus is on the police mayhem. It is caused by the few bad actors and those who cover for them. This problem has stubbornly refused to go away for many years now.

It's because no fundamental reforms have been made. The pack has been reshuffled more times than a blackjack deck but the cards always remain the same. A different king or queen comes to the top, (because they say "heads must roll when a bad cop acts out) but the cards are still the same and the dealing resumes as before.

There is no mistake that police officers are as human as all the rest of us. Most people try to do the right thing even if they fail sometimes. All of us fail sometimes. But some people never care about doing the right thing. They care about themselves. They are called sociopaths. And sometimes they are psychopaths as well. The police aren't the problem, bad people are the problem.

This is an opinion blog. I have an opinion about what is wrong with the police departments and an opinion concerning what to do about it. I also have an opinion about some of the things that have been proposed. Let's roll with the last one first.

Some have suggested dissolving the Minneapolis police department, for instance. They think it should be replaced with police who act as social workers and "community relations" officers. Those notions are preposterous. It's not their job.

"Hello? 911? Yes, someone is breaking into my garage. Would you send the police to convince him this is a bad idea?" Thanks, I'll hold on the line. Please hurry though, he has already pried the door open."

Others suggest fiddling with policies of policing. Like better training, or more police, or "sensitivity training." That is the wrong approach. They are conflating features with benefits. Features come later, benefits should be the focus. So likewise, I reject those "solutions" since they miss the fundamental point of policing. This blog is primarily about fundamental things. It's not usually about policy.

So let's define the purpose of government before we move on. We should have the discussion often among ourselves about the fundamental role of government in a free society. But for now, let's rely on an already accepted definition. It was defined by some pretty smart (but also human) guys a long time ago. Thomas Jefferson wrote it down for them in a document called The Declaration of Independence.

It's crystal clear what they decided upon even though it has been ignored for most of our history. The part that applies goes like this;

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men," (Bold is mine.)

The part in bold is the most overlooked phrase in the Declaration. And it is the answer to the question concerning what is wrong with the police departments and what to do about it.

Somewhere along the line our protectors became enforcers. They became known as, and identified as, LEOs. Law enforcement officers. Tax collectors, revenue producers, dispute resolution officers, and jailers. Enforcers for politicians. 

The police should be reorganized from top to bottom on every level, federal, state, and local. Their new instructions should be, "your job is to defend the rights of the people. Don't allow anyone to violate anyone else's rights. Not other citizens, not politicians, not governments, not businesses, not unions, nor any other organizations or players will be allowed to violate rights."

Everyone has individual rights, there is no such thing as group rights. If you hurt someone or take their stuff, you have violated their rights. And you should be dealt with. The police slogan shouldn't be "We serve and protect." It should be "Defending your rights."

Nothing is a silver bullet, but this is where we should fundamentally begin. So there are my opinions about what's fundamentally wrong and how to begin to fundamentally correct it. Your opinions are welcome below.