• aesthelete@lemmy.world
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    7 hours ago

    Which, if anything, is evidence the police should have been fired and the whole system retooled a long time ago.

    Of course, but until qualified immunity is repealed, Democrats have plenty of (non-conspiratorial) motivation not to give police orders that they know the police won’t follow: it makes them look like weaklings.

    Both parties pretend that law enforcement is under democratic control. It is not.

    Republicans obtain the loyalty of law enforcement by catering to their demands, providing them moral support, taking their side in nearly all disputes, and telling them they can do “whatever the hell they want” to quote Trump. Republicans are less afraid of what the police might do when unleashed, and are reasonably certain that the police will follow their orders because of all of this.

    It also helps that what Republicans would order a LEO to do are the things they already want to do (i.e., harass, arrest, and even murder brown people, liberals, and anyone else who gives them lip).

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        I don’t think Americans are even willing to admit to themselves that law enforcement, even in ocean blue regions, are not under democratic control and the orders elected officials give them are mainly suggestions.

        I understand not wanting to believe this as it is deeply disturbing. But things cannot be changed until basic realities are understood.

        I would say that while neither group is under full democratic control, that local and state LEOs are at least hemmed in somewhat by often living amongst those they are policing and are usually experienced enough to know that following some of their most block-headed instincts (e.g., no knock, no announcement entries into residences) will earn you a bullet in the face as if you are a home invader, and that if the shooter survives the encounter, the system will likely let the person who put the bullet in you walk.

        ICE are brazen because while they are not a new force, they haven’t had significant enough field experience in America to know that rules of engagement aren’t followed solely to protect the people subject to your patrols.