Gallacher later told 404 Media that the email was something of “a joke,” but reaffirmed the agency’s wish to obtain a Cybertruck before other agencies, even if more for “community engagement” than using it as a patrol vehicle.
In other words, we have too much money.
and this is why defund the police was such a hot topic. To those on the other side, they think we mean “Get rid of all police, zero funding, go away”
When in reality it’s “Uh, they literally have too much money, they’re buying literal tanks. What if we took some of that tank/cybertruck money and gave it to trained professionals who could help in conflict situations?”
Honestly? Considering how little the police actually do to help anyone, versus the huge amount of harm they cause, I’m not entirely convinced that “Get rid of all police” wouldn’t be a good idea, even if they got replaced with basically nothing. And I’ve seen a lot of leftists who felt similarly. So “those on the other side” aren’t entirely wrong; they just don’t understand how incredibly bad police are.
This doesn’t mean we should replace the police with literally nothing — obviously things investing in social services and crisis intervention would be great. It’s just that I find it hard to do worse than what currently exists.
The problem is that to argue this point, you have to start going through all of the facts like case conversion rates, the domestic abuse rates, the rates of racist attacks by law enforcement, and the membership overlap between law enforcement and white supremacist groups. Once you start bringing up that many numbers, the idiots get confused and their eyes roll out of their skull, whereas the centrists get too scared realizing that basically no cop is actually trying to keep the U.S. safe and try to shutdown the conversation.
The modern concept of police is relatively recent, it was invented during the industrial revolution. In Rojava they replaced the police with community patrols whose members are elected and accountable for their actions. Different ways are possible.
Municipal police mostly came from the great railroad strike of 1871.
I’m not a fan of all or nothing, I think there’s a place for a well trained police force. Look at Europe and the UK, they aren’t armed, but they have power still. Someone has to take care of the person who stole a car and is speeding down the freeway going 100+, crisis councilors aren’t going to be driving trying to perform a PIT maneuver.
I think it’s a blend, in my example the police would bring them into custody, and then trained people work with them after that working out what happened and working with the justice department. There are many things that police aren’t needed at, like domestic issues, but there are plenty we do need them at too. (However, reforming the police needs to happen, I’m not saying they are perfect right now.)
European police is very much armed. Also the UK has armed units even if your usual beat cop is limited to pepper spray and a baton or whatnot.
Elsewhere police regularly carry pistols, but are also trained in how to not use them. In my state there’s even an assault rifle (actual one) in every police car. Decades pass without anyone getting shot.
I think it’s a blend, in my example the police would bring them into custody, and then trained people work with them after that working out what happened and working with the justice department.
Nope. Police is not trained to deal with e.g. a psychotic person seeing zombies, if they try to take them into custody they’re only going to make things worse. It’s fine if police are first to the scene, but they should be trained enough to a) recognise that the person is psychotic, not actually threatening anyone b) call for backup from the people in white coats with haloperidol shots and c) shoo away bystanders. Perimeter duty. Yes, after 2 1/2 years training you’re on perimeter duty get used to it that’s your job.
There are many things that police aren’t needed at, like domestic issues, but there are plenty we do need them at too.
That’s probably the bulk of what beat cops are doing over here, short of investigating noise complaints on behest of the municipality and documenting traffic accidents, car thefts, maybe a break-in, whatever. Which is also why they always, and I mean always, come in male/female pairs.
The core problem is that there are so many things that can help prevent the problems from arising to begin with that need to be done before policing is even considered. Better healthcare, housing, education, etc. Police are, at best, a last resort solution to desperate cases, and they tend to be hammers looking for nails as a result. It might be possible to do it well, yes, but it’s very hard, and you should really be looking for a less antagonistic solution first.
To take your idea of “speeding at 100+” as an example: This could be solved by replacing cars with public transport, such that people don’t really have so many opportunities to go 100+ to begin with, or by using traffic calming techniques to make it feel too unsafe for anyone to want to try, or using alternative road layouts to make it significantly harder to pull off at all (e.g. roundabouts). There are many options, almost all of which are better – and less punitive – than the police.
Also, tangential, but…
crisis councilors aren’t going to be driving trying to perform a PIT maneuver.
Of course not; PIT maneuvers would kill people.
To those on the other side, they think we mean “Get rid of all police, zero funding, go away”
It was literally “abolish the police”, but the shitlibs watered it down to nothing as usual.
Or better training, so people don’t hat them. Though, there is laws too.
I know in a good chunk of rural US training is a checkbox, something that just gets done. It’s the good ol’ boys who get into those positions, friends and family
Well I’ve heard Cybertrucks are getting cheap because not many people want them.
well, intelligence is not a requirement. it tracks.
Anyone who doesn’t think that the end goal for the Cybertruck isn’t military/police contracts hasn’t really been paying attention to how tech firms grow.
I’m mostly surprised that no US police departments have any of them yet.
Overpriced and underperforming, so definitely military-grade.
Anything to justify running over even more pedestrians than they already do…
Then they could do so with fewer emissions!
I don’t think that PS1 model of a car will ever look acceptable to me. It’s not a design that grows on you or you get accustomed to. It’s just bad.
Fascists buying crap from an oligarch.
Probably need them for off-roading on rural gravel roads.
I think you might be being sarcastic, but in Anaheim? That is where Disneyland is located. Not much rural there.
It was more a joke about the people who keep uploading videos of them “offroading” in their cybertrucks (trying to justify their purchase) and it’s really no different than a whole lot of actual rural roads that people drive on daily with their 20 year old two wheel drives sedans.
Got ya. I figured it was something like that
I am not even sure you could find an unpaved road in Anaheim unless it is part of a park.
I think they have speed bumps, don’t they? I know there are curbs just waiting to be run over.
Probably voids the warranty, though
Hot take, but this police cybertruck looks pretty rad tbh, putting the obvious real life issues aside tho.
Looks like what “the future” looked like in the 80s and early 90s. Like Total Recall or BttF Pt. 2
Elon basically saw the Robocop action toys from the ‘90s and thought “Yes, I want that to be real”.
Eh. Looks like a generic sci-fi movie reject.
