126
votes
Accepted
Why do US police use handcuffs in otherwise calm, non-violent circumstances?
Why do US police use handcuffs in otherwise calm, non-violent circumstances?
Because they have cause to fear escalation and because their training encourages it.
Since the question mentions UK ...
- 9,051
113
votes
Why is there a broad pattern of excessive force by police towards protestors in spite of international focus on this use of force?
One data point seems to be the 75 year old who was seriously injured when he was knocked backwards by police. When the policemen who did this were suspended the entire squad resigned from the ...
- 20.7k
85
votes
Accepted
Would it save lives in London to arm every individual police officer?
A lot of the opposition to arming the London Police seems to be due to the Police themselves. The BBC explored this in 2012
A 2006 survey of 47,328 Police Federation members found 82% did not want ...
- 45.6k
84
votes
Are police in Western European countries right-wing or left-wing?
Speaking for Germany, officially they are bound to be neutral. Practically, they lean (heavily) right.
Looking at the anti-lockdown protests (which are indeed right to far-right), the police has been ...
- 36k
74
votes
Can the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" in Seattle be treated as an insurrection against the Federal Government?
I'm a local, I've been in the zone the last couple days. I'm not qualified to give a legal or historical answer, but I want to make a few points about the nature of the zone, that hopefully can inform ...
- 1,142
74
votes
Accepted
What is the origin of the fears of racism associated with facial recognition technology?
People often have the mistaken belief that computers are inherently objective and unbiased – and while they may not hold prejudices themselves, the results that they produce reflect the biases and ...
- 25.9k
66
votes
Is defunding the police compatible with a libertarian mindset?
To summarize the Defund the police position, it starts with observing that the (US) police is designed and trained to employ violence, and that a majority of situations where currently the police ...
- 12.7k
65
votes
How do progressive US political thinkers explain anti-black police discrimination in cities where the population and government are majority black?
Let's start with the understanding that in the USA — at least for the moment — political power is distributed, not centralized. This is a feature of our system of governance, not a bug. The Founders ...
- 67.7k
61
votes
Are police in Western European countries right-wing or left-wing?
For France, the topic has covered been by a fact-checking article of a (left-leaning) newspaper, called Libération, published in 2018.
If you can read French, and if you know who the main figures of ...
- 1,091
55
votes
Why is there a broad pattern of excessive force by police towards protestors in spite of international focus on this use of force?
Did you ever watch the TV show "Cops?" I watched a lot of it. My take-away was that even in non-high-stress situations, cops have little tolerance for anything from "perps," except "yes, officer," "no,...
- 541
53
votes
Accepted
Can the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" in Seattle be treated as an insurrection against the Federal Government?
In strictly rational terms, it would be difficult to call this an act of insurrection. There has been no armed conflict, no declarations of independence or sovereignty, no expressed intention of ...
- 67.7k
45
votes
Accepted
Can the police unions be dissolved?
Technically speaking, any union can be dissolved if the people on the other side of the table are willing to cope with the consequences. A union is merely a collective bargaining structure that ...
- 67.7k
45
votes
How do progressive US political thinkers explain anti-black police discrimination in cities where the population and government are majority black?
Systemic racism is a problem wider than any city or department and not the result of personal prejudice or "bad apples". It's far beyond the scope of an answer to explain or debate the ...
- 2,756
44
votes
Accepted
What could the US federal government do to reform the police?
How much influence can the federal executive and legislature have on the way in which local policing is done in the USA?
The federal government can influence state and local police agencies in the ...
- 12.6k
44
votes
Why is the Capitol Police expanding nationally, when we already have the FBI?
According to the United States Capitol Police, they are setting up these regional field offices as part of their response to the Jan 6th attack on the Capitol, to help investigate threats to members ...
- 10.2k
43
votes
Why is there a broad pattern of excessive force by police towards protestors in spite of international focus on this use of force?
The answer to this question is more a matter of psychology than policy. There are a few psychological factors to keep in mind:
Police officers (and protesters as well) are enmeshed in a tense ...
- 67.7k
42
votes
Would it save lives in London to arm every individual police officer?
But what are the arguments for and against the arming of every constable ?
Cost - it costs money to train, equip and maintain levels of competence.
Overkill (no pun intended) - most crime does not ...
- 2,995
41
votes
Is defunding the police compatible with a libertarian mindset?
Police and Marxism
The idea of Marxism is is not inherently anti-Police. In fact it is hard to fathom how a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" could be successful in the long-term without ...
- 74.7k
40
votes
Can the so-called "Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone" in Seattle be treated as an insurrection against the Federal Government?
It is the President who gets to decide. 10 U.S. Code §252 "Use of militia and armed forces to enforce Federal authority" says:
Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, ...
- 115k
39
votes
Accepted
Why do US police treat using counterfeit money as an emergency?
The case of George Floyd is that he was accused of passing a counterfeit $20
Floyd allegedly used a counterfeit bill to buy cigarettes at the convenience store last week. The clerk reported it to ...
- 45.6k
39
votes
What is the origin of the fears of racism associated with facial recognition technology?
Let me set aside, for the moment, the question of whether current facial recognition technology (FRT) accurately distinguishes the facial features of non-whites. There is some evidence that it does ...
- 67.7k
39
votes
Accepted
Why is the amount of training for police officers in the United States so low compared to other developed countries?
A large part of the reason that training in the US is so short compared to other developed countries appears to be that the training in the US seems to focus more on the practical aspects of the job, ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
37
votes
Why do BLM protestors continue after all four police involved in the killing of George Floyd are facing charges?
Do you really think the problem is limited to those 4? Why on earth would someone sit on a handcuffed person's neck for 9 minutes, 3 of which that person having no pulse? with 3 colleagues watching? ...
37
votes
Do people in countries besides the US react negatively to "militarized police"?
There is a lot of confusion regarding the French Gendarmerie, fueled by descriptions like “military police” or “military force with law enforcement duty” which are technically correct but do not fully ...
- 30.5k
36
votes
Can society (under state rule) function without police?
The Minneapolis police department was founded in 1867 (and is still the second-oldest department in Minnesota).
More generally, police in its modern form was only invented in the early 1800s and mid-...
- 36k
36
votes
Are police in Western European countries right-wing or left-wing?
It seems obvious that armed forces (police, military, special services) attract more likely people who:
Do not mind carrying and potentially using weapons;
like to tell other people what to do;
don't ...
- 9,363
33
votes
How and why has the UK been arresting anti-monarchy protestors?
I think it's important to be clear that the police have not been arresting protestors "for being anti-monarchy in public". While calling for the abolition of the monarchy is technically ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
32
votes
Accepted
Who are the police in Hong Kong?
The police force in Hong Kong is drawn exclusively from people residing in Hong Kong. From the entry requirements page of the recruitment section of the HK police force's website:
If you wish to ...
- 10.2k
30
votes
Would it save lives in London to arm every individual police officer?
It is interesting to note that that kind of terrorism is about the only case where widespread armed response makes any kind of sense at all.
The normal UK police (And I wish more politicians would ...
- 549
30
votes
Accepted
Is it normal for the German government to only release a partial name?
Yes, this is normal for the German media. The German justice system uses the concept of presumption of innocence. A suspect is just that - a suspect. They are not considered guilty until a court of ...
- 74.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible