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by BigW1lly 1854 days ago
You live in Seattle, there's your main problem. The local government keeps the police department hogtied, cops can't do much outside of their narrow rules of engagement. On top of that, the city's residents don't seem too enthusiastic about the 2nd Amendment either. So who or what is going to protect the flock?? Nothing it seems.
3 comments
vgel 1854 days ago
SPD is infamously brutal [1]. They just don't give a f** about actually helping people, just destroying homeless encampments and covering their badges at protests.

Source: Lived here for 5 years and have never seen an SPD officer do anything helpful or solve any crime, but have seen them be brutal at multiple protests. My wife literally saw someone be set on fire at a local park, but I never saw a cop there until they decided to sweep a homeless encampment a year and a half later.

[1]

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/crime/article/12000-complain...

https://www.king5.com/article/news/what-the-federal-consent-...

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ALittleLight 1854 days ago
What are the police supposed to do in this situation? If you let them protest unconstrained they will vandalize and loot stores, not to mention block traffic. If you tell them to disperse, they won't. If you try to politely move them they will resist. Seems like tear gas and moderate physical force is completely warranted.

I agree with you that the police are useless in terms of stopping or punishing most crime though.

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AlexandrB 1854 days ago
What has "hogtied" the police is 30 years of the war on drugs. The framing of citizens as "the flock" is also needlessly condescending. Police are, first and foremost, public servants - not a domestic security force. Following up on the crimes listed in the parent doesn't require guns, SWAT teams, or no-knock warrants. Just phone calls and paperwork. Unfortunately individuals who think they're "sheep dogs" find that shit boring.
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hef19898 1854 days ago
Vigilantism gets innocent people killed. Cops not showing up, and not investigating, has nothing to do with "rules of engagement," (law enforcement is not working in a war zone), but is just plain incompetence or refusal to do ones job on behalf of the SPD. That being said, the picture non-US residents get from US law enforcement is basically incompetent neglect of duty anyway.
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