At this risk of posting something, too long, too complex, and too nuanced for productive internet discussion I offer the following.
A while back on HT someone posted a link to Eliezer Yudkowsky's very long list of things that should be included in the concept of police reform. My initial reaction was to dismiss it as too much, too far. But then I decided to edit to a place that I could conceivably agree to as an exercise of finding middle ground with an idea I struggled with. I deleted some, edited some, added some, but where I could potentially agree, I left Elierzer's original text. I am not saying I would go all the way on the following, but this is a list of changes that are at least worth serious consideration by reasonable people. Each point I believe addresses a small part of the current situation that results in a state of broad incarceration, anti-police sentiment, and hopelessness by many. Note that eliminating armed LEOs is not on the list.
Again, I am not saying I would vote for all of these, but at least they are worth considering, as underneath each is a real-world problem that needs a better solution than the status quo.
- De-militarization. No city or county may possess weapons above some level that stops well short of tanks. If the police need to use more force than this, they need to refer the operation to a specially authorized operation at the state level. "Program 1033" for reselling military equipment as police equipment is obviously shut down.
- Reset the tone back to community servants rather than modern rambo-swat approach. Train empathy and de-escalation, not high end combat techniques.
- Comprehensive de-forfeiture reform. Police departments, like every other aspect of government, must derive all of the budget from the general fund and relinquish all of their revenues without exception to the general fund. All fines, fees, and forfeitures imposed by any organization operating with the authority of government must be remitted directly to the state general fund of that government and may not be retained by the organization which has been delegated the authority to impose that fee, fine, or forfeiture.
- Comprehensive de-privatization of prisons and other corrections apparatus.
- Comprehensive de-criminalization. Possession and sale of recreational drugs in recreational amounts is decriminalized. Prostitution, both buying and selling, is decriminalized. "Vagrancy" is not a separate crime apart from particular harms. Detention for mis-demeanors need to be revisited.
- Delegalize police unions. Police unions cannot be recognized by the government, cannot be bargained with directly by the government, and have no recognized authority to extract union fees from the police. People authorized by the government to use deadly force must be ultimately supervised by elected authority; and the government may not by any route bargain away the authority of present or future elected officials to remove any person authorized by the government to use deadly force.
- Separate investigation. The body which is responsible for carrying out investigations of police misconduct must have separate management and budget from the police, and must report along separate lines leading to an elected official. All use of deadly force triggers an investigation by this separate body.
- Speedy trials. Other than murder, kidnapping, child abuse and rape, the system may not arrest or jail more people than it has resources to give a trial starting within 60 days of detaining that person. This period may be extended at the request of the defense, but not of the prosecution. Some levels of government may need to hire more judges, decrease the complexity of the law, or reduce the number of crimes, in order to give people speedy trials; this is a feature rather than bug. Expand the trial system first, rather than only expanding the also-expensive prison and punitive system.
- Outlaw plea-bargaining. Either the crime is committed and can be proved or it is not. The practice of over charging in order to get innocent people to plead to a lesser offense is being abused at all levels.
- Body cams with teeth. Any purported malfunction of a police cam is legal reason to discard the officer's testimony. A confession is not admissible evidence unless the entire interrogation procedure was recorded. Any citizen has the right to record interaction with the police or any other aspect of government. Any exception to this operation in the form of an undercover sting operation must be authorized similar to search warrants.
- Systematic selective enforcement of a law is grounds for Constitutional rejection of that law; it is contrary to the nature of a "law" that the government not enforce it equally or predicatably. Demonstrating that some people are routinely being allowed to use marijuana in practice, eg, they are using it on television and not being arrested, is legal as well as moral reason to challenge enforcement on the few. The Fourteenth Amendment may not be evaded by passing laws which supposedly apply to everyone but are actually being enforced only on a racial minority, or any kind of minority. And frankly, selective enforcement causes problems beyond mere racial disparities.
- No further fee or fine associated with court processes may be imposed on a person unless it has been explicitly incorporated into the total sentence for a crime of which they have been convicted. A parole agreement may not include paying for $10,000 classes unless a judge sentenced you to that (apparently this is a thing that happens). (This is trying to further reduce the 'predatory' nature of the current relationship between governments and some marginalized communities.)
- Driver's licenses should be suspended or revoked only for crimes directly related to bad driving. (Seems to be a big deal in practice when it comes to cascading problems between marginalized people and the government.)
- Qualified immunity is revised to encourage higher standards of conduct on police.
- Outlaw all mandatory minimum sentences at all levels of government except in the case of murder, kidnapping, child abuse and rape. They have proven to simply be a terrible idea in practice.
- All quotas for fines, arrests, prosecutions, or convictions, are outlawed at all levels of government.
- Do not use armed police to address minor issues like non-violent neighborhood complaints, vagrancy, homelessness, medical 911 calls, OD calls, etc, Use trained social workers/medical workers for this.
FWIW - here is the original link:
https://medium.com/@yudkowsky/a-comprehensive-reboot-of-law-enforcement-b76bfab850a3
we agree.
