Questions tagged [police]
Questions related to the civil force of a state, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order.
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Why is the amount of training for police officers in the United States so low compared to other developed countries?
In the wake of current events the U.S. police have once again come under immense public scrutiny, putting the focus on various aspects such as police brutality, racial discrimination, qualified ...
75
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8answers
12k views
Why do US police use handcuffs in otherwise calm, non-violent circumstances?
When the Atlanta police recently discovered that a driver, who was otherwise calm and cooperative was "over the alcohol limit" after a long and largely fruitless conversation (during which ...
40
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7answers
7k views
What is the origin of the fears of racism associated with facial recognition technology?
If one pays attention to technology-based news all the big players in facial recognition technology are now refusing to provide this technology to the US government and/or police. When news reports ...
11
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2answers
2k views
Is the death rate due to police violence between men and women proportional?
According to https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/a/47814/25402 1 in 2000 men's cause of death is police violence while the corresponding number for women is 1 in 33 000.
Risk is highest for black ...
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0answers
45 views
What are the pros and cons of unionized vs non-unionized police force [duplicate]
My question is what are the advantages and disadvantages of unionized vs non-unionized police force.
This was one of the demands which was put forward by the Black Lives Movement. Below is an article ...
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1answer
283 views
What are the pros and cons of having police unions?
This is a follow up question which I asked here. There were a lot of great answers, the consensus seems to be that police unions could be outright dissolved or a new version of unions could form where ...
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2answers
120 views
Can the US President implement restrictions on Police Unionization
One potential for helping solve the problem of police brutality, as discussed in this question is to curb the power that police unions currently hold.
As it stands, disciplinary measures are subject ...
24
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5answers
5k views
Can the police unions be dissolved?
One of the demands of Black Lives Matter (BLM) is to de-fund the police. At the center of it are the police unions, since the contracts are negotiated through the police unions. My question is as ...
35
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4answers
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Can the so-called “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” in Seattle be treated as an insurrection against the Federal Government?
According to latest news from Seattle, protesters now are controlling some parts of the city, preventing police from entering.
Can it be treated as insurrection against Federal Government, according ...
18
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2answers
837 views
Why do police unions support police officers that have committed gross misconduct, given that they tarnish the reputation of all officers?
In many fields, professional bodies will vocally condemn members who commit misconduct. For example, medical associations, learned societies or unions will seek to end the careers of members who ...
4
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0answers
95 views
Is there a pattern in the US of “abusive” police officers moving around to escape accountability?
This recent PBS story gobsmacked me:
San Francisco may stop hiring cops with records of misconduct
The demand to reform police departments is causing some local governments to look at new regulations ...
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0answers
66 views
Has anyone proposed using QR codes to identify public servants in order to promote accountability? [closed]
To foster trust in the community, police workers and other public servants could choose to allow their professional records to be open for public scrutiny.
An appropriately-sized QR code sewn on to ...
3
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1answer
173 views
How would a police-free city or state work? [duplicate]
With the recent news around the abolishing of the Minneapolis police department, I wonder what the alternatives are and how they work? Is there any example anywhere on earth currently? I didn't find ...
4
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0answers
99 views
Did the US Floyd protests actually result in charges against the police officers involved
As of late, I have seen many arguing that the protests and riots in the US about the killing of George Floyd have been directly responsible for the increased charges against Derek Chauvin, and the new ...
78
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7answers
11k views
Why is there a broad pattern of excessive force by police towards protestors in spite of international focus on this use of force?
Right now (June 2020), sparked by the murder of George Floyd, there have been a wave of protests against police brutality towards black Americans. In these very protests, there has also been a massive ...
12
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1answer
681 views
What proposals exist for a large city disbanding and reconstituting its police force?
Minneapolis has voted to disband its police
The Minneapolis city council has pledged to disband the city’s police department and replace it with a new system of public safety, a historic move that ...
4
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1answer
473 views
To what extent do police departments in the US reflect in numerical terms the proportions of each race in the communities they serve?
In recent years Londoners have got used to the arrival of larger numbers of black and ethnic police men and women. It has involved a change in uniform for some, such as the now many Sikh officers in ...
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4answers
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Can society (under state rule) function without police?
Minneapolis has voted to disband its police department. This is in response to the BLM protests.
Every developed society in the world has police forces. The police are one of the state's institutions ...
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3answers
547 views
Does the death of George Floyd represent the oppression of black people, or that of poor people generally?
The question mostly applies to America, but my own experience is with the UK.
In Britain it is often said that a black person is twice as likely to die in police custody as a white person.
That ...
4
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0answers
178 views
Do American cops shoot black people more than white people in similar cases? [closed]
I want to know if the US police is really prejudiced against black people.
I would most like statistics that answer the question: Do American cops shoot black people more than white people in ...
3
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3answers
358 views
Why might the military be more useful in controlling the masses than the police?
In reading Dictators and Dictatorship: Understanding Authoritarian Regimes and Their Leaders, I came across this paragraph :
the Cold War period was particularly amenable to military dictatorship “...
64
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3answers
6k views
Why do US police treat using counterfeit money as an emergency?
One thing that surprises me about the George Floyd incident is that the police would treat the passing of a counterfeit $20 in a corner shop as some kind of an emergency.
If someone called the ...
7
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3answers
980 views
Why do BLM protestors continue after all four police involved in the killing of George Floyd are facing charges?
Why do BLM protestors continue to protest now that all four police involved in the killing of George Floyd are facing charges and police around the country are being held accountable (e.g. the 6 ...
9
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3answers
493 views
What are the responses to the police assaulting journalists during the 2020 protests in the US?
Countless* members of the press have been targeted and assaulted by the police for covering the current protests in the US.
Has president Trump or his administration responded to these attacks? Have ...
10
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3answers
787 views
Who polices the police in the USA?
Who polices the police in the USA? Is there anyone a police officer has to answer to for committing racist acts, abusing their power, or committing other crimes unnecessarily?
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2answers
464 views
What does it mean when the US cops wear the badges or T-shirts saying “I am the kneeling officer”?
What does it mean when the US police officers or other people wear the badges or T-shirts saying "I am the kneeling officer"? What about the collective kneeling actions?
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4answers
594 views
How can police brutality be prevented through policy?
Police Brutality (defined as a civil rights violation where officers exercise undue or excessive force against a civilian) is not equally prevalent in all governments and all places, which indicates ...
12
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3answers
1k views
What is the “appropriate” civilian response to police abusing their power? [closed]
Police are tear-gassing civilians during a pandemic that exasperates respiratory conditions while there is a shortage of ventilators and hospital beds.
How/why is this allowed?
What is the “...
10
votes
2answers
714 views
Is there pervasive racial bias in United States policing?
Twitter user Leonydus Johnson posted the following statistics acquired from the FBI UCR Program website and the Washington Post:
For every 10,000 black people arrested for violent crime, 3 are killed
...
1
vote
1answer
155 views
Is there a list of human rights organizations monitoring the current use of force by police in the US?
During the law enforcing in the US, more press attacks happen:
DW group shot at Minnesota
CNN reporter was arrested
Reuters crew hit with rubber bullets
According to that obvious excessive use of ...
1
vote
1answer
88 views
Has Johnson's spokesman explained why he believes the Arcuri investigation was “a waste of police time”?
A report by the Independent Office for Police Conduct has found no evidence that Boris Johnson's relationship with Jennifer Arcuri caused him to influence the payment of any sponsorship monies to Ms ...
4
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1answer
87 views
Have the police forces in other countries besides India dressed in coronavirus costumes as an awareness campaign?
CNN etc. have pictures of Indian police forces in coronavirus costumes, as part of an awareness campaign
Have other countries used similar in-person costumes for awareness campaigns?
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0answers
234 views
Which EU country has the most violent police force?
I hope this is the right sub to post this in.
I am looking for a peer-reviewed study which compares the number of violent incidences committed by police officers against civilians in different EU ...
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0answers
88 views
How many people were sanctioned in Spain for criticizing the police, under Spain's 2015 “citizens security law”?
There have been some [2015] Spanish media reports that after the adoption of the 2015 Citizens Security Law (Ley Orgánica 4/2015), which among other things
forbids "the unauthorized use of images ...
2
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1answer
104 views
Does any other Latin American country have a justice system in which the security forces can only be prosecuted by military courts?
According to a 2016 Amnesty article, the Chile justice system encourages brutality from the security forces because
Chile’s military courts, which deal with cases of human rights violations committed ...
2
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0answers
73 views
Was Ecuador govenrment already warned about inadmissibility of force using agains protesters?
As heard today, there is a civil standoff between military/police and protesters in Ecuador(some sources : 1, 2). Origin of protests(possibly) was implementing IMF economic recommendations, including ...
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0answers
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Political barriers to UNPOL activities?
It seems that many UN member countries would benefit from a increased police support force. For example, Honduras is notorious for its high crime rates.
This is ostensibly the role that UNPOL is ...
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4answers
5k views
Who are the police in Hong Kong?
The current protests in Hong Kong have set me wondering where the police force are recruited from. Are they people who grew up in HK, or have they been bought in from mainland China?
I ask because a ...
2
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0answers
216 views
Enforcement of “anti-sodomy” laws in Qatar
Qatar has some "anti-sodomy" laws on the books, but the Wikipedia page on the topic gives the impression they were seldom enforced in the past couple of decades:
In 1998 an American citizen ...
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2answers
273 views
Is the there a term for state (or local) officers not caring about enforcing federal law?
I think it's generally accepted that in the US:
state officers cannot be compelled to enforce federal law.
For more details as to why that is accepted:
In Printz v. United States, 521 U.S. 898, ...
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1answer
635 views
Is there an international consensus about Privacy vs Security (How Much Data Should We Collect?)
On the one hand, privacy gives people leeway for free thought, freedom of expression, and criticism without fear of personal consequences.
On the other hand, security ensures the structural integrity ...
4
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1answer
191 views
Autonomy of Delhi Police
What kind of control does the Delhi government have over the Delhi Police? I just read an NDTV news report that a Delhi MP slapped a police officer in uniform in front of a crowd:
Was Pushed, Says ...
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1answer
319 views
Why do nations tend to mandate that police hires be personally more scrupulous than average?
Often the main thing with a job is that it be done well, and the practical distinction between the quality of separate workers is how well they do a job.
For example, given a choice between hiring ...
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1answer
366 views
Do police really care about drug dealers? [closed]
If we are to believe the statistics, a lot of young people take drugs or have "experimented in college" with or without inhaling.
Now some of these people will end up in the police force tasked with ...
3
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2answers
287 views
What prevents states and counties in the US from combining drivers license and registration data?
When stopped for a traffic infraction in the United States most (all?) officers ask for license and registration. They are legally allowed to demand this information on request as a condition of ...
4
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3answers
276 views
Political distinction between Surveillance and Wiretapping?
In a recent comment Kdog alludes to:
...those guys that think electronic surveillance and wiretapping semantic differences are somehow important.
In the US, is this distinction procedurally ...
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1answer
285 views
Off-duty policewoman shoots armed robber [closed]
Recently in Brazil, an armed thief tried to robber several mothers and children at the exit of a school during Mother's day. However, an off-duty policewoman shoot three times in his chest and he died ...
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1answer
2k views
Is it normal for the German government to only release a partial name?
The name of the dead suspect for the Münster attack is “Jens R.”, according to ZDF.
Is it normal for the German government to only release a partial name for a crime as serious as this? (Assuming ...
12
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2answers
386 views
Pickpockets in St Peter's Square
I read that the Lateran Treaty (which created the Vatican City State) specifically allows Italian police to patrol St. Peter's Square, even though the square is within Vatican City. Practically, what ...
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2answers
8k views
What is the difference between the Guardia Civil and the Policia Nacional in Spain?
It seems that in Spain there are two separate police forces under the authority of Madrid: the Guardia Civil and the Policia Nacional. Why is that? And what is the difference between the two?
