This sounds like a systemic problem, not a cop problem.
You dont think there’s anything wrong with enlisting to enforce this system? Would you do it? Knowing you’d be sending drug addicts to prison, destroying their life even further, when what they need is access to mental health care?
Being a cop is a decision like any other, and we can judge people for it like we judge any other set of actions.
It’s fair to judge someone for willfully enlisting if they were aware of their contribution to this system and wanted to further ingrain it, but dissuading those who want to do it for the right reasons will only skew the demographic towards those that don’t.
An optimistic kid deciding to be a cop when he grows up so he can help people shouldn’t be judged the same as an army reject enlisting because he got kicked out of the military for abusing his authority.
but dissuading those who want to do it for the right reasons will only skew the demographic towards those that don’t
The issue isn’t the individuals deciding to pursue a career as a cop, it’s that policing as an institution itself is broken. You don’t praise dictatorships just because you have a benevolent one right now. The problem isn’t who is in that position, it’s the position itself being vulnerable to (and inclined towards) violence and authoritarianism. If you think you can fix the institution just by filling it with the “right people” then you’ve missed the forest for the trees.
You dont think there’s anything wrong with enlisting to enforce this system? Would you do it? Knowing you’d be sending drug addicts to prison, destroying their life even further, when what they need is access to mental health care?
Being a cop is a decision like any other, and we can judge people for it like we judge any other set of actions.
It’s fair to judge someone for willfully enlisting if they were aware of their contribution to this system and wanted to further ingrain it, but dissuading those who want to do it for the right reasons will only skew the demographic towards those that don’t.
An optimistic kid deciding to be a cop when he grows up so he can help people shouldn’t be judged the same as an army reject enlisting because he got kicked out of the military for abusing his authority.
The issue isn’t the individuals deciding to pursue a career as a cop, it’s that policing as an institution itself is broken. You don’t praise dictatorships just because you have a benevolent one right now. The problem isn’t who is in that position, it’s the position itself being vulnerable to (and inclined towards) violence and authoritarianism. If you think you can fix the institution just by filling it with the “right people” then you’ve missed the forest for the trees.