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by zwieback 1672 days ago
It goes like this: police violence leads to increased scrutiny, city and police leaders decrease direct engagement, opportunistic low-level criminals become more active. This has definitely been happening in Portland, OR, not sure if the SF cases follow a similar pattern.

There's no question police need to be reformed, also no question there are a ton of criminals exploiting the situation. Prediction: it gets even worse for minorities and other overpoliced groups.
2 comments
AnimalMuppet 1672 days ago
Why does it get worse for minorities and overpoliced groups? Because there's a backlash, and police need to "prove a point" or "demonstrate that they're in control"? Or because the police remain nerfed, and the majority population classifies every minority as a criminal, and conducts themselves accordingly?
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ryandrake 1672 days ago
If you simply assume as a given that "violence against minorities" is inextricably baked into the culture of policing in general in the USA, then it makes obvious sense that as you ramp up police activity, you therefore also ramp up violence against minorities. Whether or not that assumption is true is up for debate, but if it is, it simplifies the equation.
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zwieback 1672 days ago
Not sure I parsed your question exactly but I think it'll get worse because police will back off in minority neighborhoods except for the most extreme cases. That puts the average inhabitant of those neighborhoods at greater risk and gang violence will increase.
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Miner49er 1672 days ago
Is there actually evidence of this though? Is crime actually increasing in places where police are decreasing direct engagement or are people just paying more attention?
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zwieback 1672 days ago
Just anecdotal for me. During the protest phase and after we had a bunch of breakins at our and neighboring condo buildings, which was very unusual in the past. It was impossible to get the cops interested. These types of crimes probably don't even show up in statistics. I think Portland might be an extreme example because it's a very liberal city with lots of protesting and a poor police track record and now the situation has deteriorated a lot, lots of attrition and low morale.
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