There are two main styles of effective policing, with variations within each style. The first relies on trust and voluntary cooperation. The second relies on distrust and fear. There is no effective middle ground between these two. People who neither trust nor fear the police have little incentive to get involved, and without public assistance the police are ineffective.
I recently read that only around 40% of homicides are “resolved” by police, with a much smaller proportion resulting in convictions. Resolution on property crimes is even lower. I doubt anyone has reliable statistics on drug-crime resolution, but it must be less than 0.1% considering the widespread, relatively open, use of illegal drugs in our society.
Defense attorneys routinely advise clients not to talk to police. Don’t talk if you are innocent. Don’t talk if you are guilty. Don’t talk if you are a bystander. Just don’t talk. This is because no one trusts our police anymore. Police are trained to lie to citizens in order to get them to talk. Why would anyone trust the police?
Totalitarian regimes utilize secret police, monitoring, and informants to keep the population in a state of fear. In the U.S. these techniques have recently been used effectively by the Justice Department against their political opponents, but most political subdivisions in this country have neither the resources nor the desire to terrorize the populace.
The number of laws and regulations have grown exponentially over the past few decades and most Americans have no way to know whether or not they are violating a law. Prosecutors and police cannot keep up with the onslaught of laws, so they have to pick and choose which ones to investigate and enforce. Many of these laws are so vague that even those familiar with the law cannot be sure whether or not they are in compliance. Prosecutors and enforcement agencies often turn to politics to determine whether a law has been violated and to establish enforcement priorities.
It is no wonder our police cannot solve crimes. No one trusts the police, prosecutors, or enforcement agencies, and everyone knows the risk of getting caught and prosecuted is very low and largely based on politics. Those who cooperate with authorities have nothing to gain and risk retaliation from the perpetrators.
So what can we do?
I would start by repealing at least 80% of our laws, though 95% might be a better goal. Government employees who lie to the public should face the exact same punishment at members of the public who lie to government employees; after all, the government exists to serve the people, not the other way around. With fewer laws, I would push police and prosecutors to investigate all violations, considering that the remaining laws would be the most-important ones. These items will help restore public trust in our authorities.
The U.S. Constitution requires jury trials for all felony convictions and prohibits plea bargaining. We should start enforcing the constitution and ban prosecutors and judges who violate it from holding public office.
After we do that we can relax and take a deep breath before evaluating what else needs done.
Posted 2023/05/11