Hmmmm
They are an arm of state power
And in reality they are often ineffective in protecting individual citizens and their property
They have no incentive to provide a good or efficient service to the public, and often don’t
But I still believe they are needed to more broadly maintain public order
Which is their main purpose
However I’d like to see a parallel system of private police, where businesses or communities can hire their own police officers, that are fully certified and still have to work within the bounds of the law
You’d get a lot better service and way more accountability that way
If a cop sucked at their job or abused the public, you’d just be able to fire them
Not have them sheltered by police unions and a code of silence.
I think most police services could be privatized in this manner, but I still see the need for a public force to provide services to those too poor to hire their own officers, and to deal with major public order issues or threats, like riots, terrorist attacks, active shooters
A system like this worked for years in San Francisco, but the city police eventually put the brakes on it
