| > have undue control of local government and politics Now, some facts: In North Carolina at least, the Council-Manager form of government provides that the police chief is hired/fired by the city manager-- who is hired/fired by and reports directly to the city council. Depending on the city's charter, the manager may hire/fire the police chief with or without approval of the council. Apparently there are a few city councils who have a charter that requires the police chief to be hired/fired directly by the city council. This council-manager form is by far the most popular form of city government in NC. IIRC, there are only two other forms allowed by state law-- one is a city council without a professional manager (only an administrator with the elected council making all the important decisions), and one other one which I can't remember atm. So on the local level, local sheriffs are hired/fired by the local government-- either directly, or by a professional manager who reports directly to the council. County sheriffs are elected in NC. But the day to day goings on in a municipality-- i.e., any politics related to businesses hiring 'rent-a-cops'-- would be handled by local police officers. (Outside of perhaps one or two counties out of a 100, and unincorporated towns.) Apparently, the council-manager form of government comes from a template for local governments that is used by many other states in the U.S. The only way I can think of that NC is special is that there are no county roads-- only state and town (which, again, puts citizens in contact with local police way more often than county police). In conclusion, the very popular form of council-manager government is counter to your claim that local police have "undue control over local government and politics." > These are not polite people, and the way one 'deals' with them has far more in common with radical militias rather than state bureaucrats. If you haven't encountered that, you're just lucky enough to have never threatened their interests. I don't have the stats on radical militias. But I'd wager at least two orders of magnitude lower chance of being killed for threatening retaliation to a police officer in the U.S. than for threatening retaliation to a member of a radical militia. Edit: threatening retaliation, as in their job/livelihood, to fit with your general statement "threaten their interests." |
https://www.propublica.org/article/homicide-detective-st-lou...