Cops exist so that the law is more than just words on paper.
A civilian shooting another civilian because they say their rights were being violated by the other is just an argument. With guns.
When you get to a judge and they say that "yeah that guy is right", it means nothing if the judge just refers to the civilian to "take them away".
Make no mistake. Cops are the pointy end of the law. It's their job to implement consequences. It's the people's job to take tyrants off the seat of power.
I am not saying the police should be abolished or is redundant. I am merely saying that an increase of power to the police as silvershibe suggested is not the right solution - letting people arm themselves however is (or rather stopping to disarm them so vehemently). Self-defence and deterrence are two major factors than can solve crimes before and when they occur.
I really won't want to deal with police who can just conveniently shoot me if I run away from them. What if I have a morally good reason or if it's amoral to persecute me for something they want to? And what if they just lie about me running away? Power corrupts.
"There is nothing to fear if you are innocent" is very naive, and is exactly what lead tens of millions of people in the Soviet Union and China to be arrested by some type of police and inevitably get shipped to gulags. They even arrested innocent people in hand's reach because they had to fulfill arrest quotas. And the arrest -> incarceration rate was 100%.
I am all for executing criminal scum - even thieves. But NOT by empowering the hand of the government.
Cops exist so that the law is more than just words on paper.
A civilian shooting another civilian because they say their rights were being violated by the other is just an argument. With guns.
When you get to a judge and they say that "yeah that guy is right", it means nothing if the judge just refers to the civilian to "take them away".
Make no mistake. Cops are the pointy end of the law. It's their job to implement consequences. It's the people's job to take tyrants off the seat of power.
I am not saying the police should be abolished or is redundant. I am merely saying that an increase of power to the police as silvershibe suggested is not the right solution - letting people arm themselves however is (or rather stopping to disarm them so vehemently). Self-defence and deterrence are two major factors than can solve crimes before and when they occur.
I really won't want to deal with police who can just conveniently shoot me if I run away from them. What if I have a morally good reason or if it's amoral to persecute me for something they want to? And what if they just lie about me running away? Power corrupts.
"There is nothing to fear if you are innocent" is very naive, and is exactly what lead tens of millions of people in the Soviet Union and China to be arrested by some type of police and inevitably get shipped to gulags. They even arrested innocent people in hand's reach because they had to fulfill arrest quotas. And the arrest -> incarceration rate was 100%.
I am all for executing criminal scum - even thieves. But NOT by empowering the hand of the government.