i will give you a negative example, on boxing day last year i was out with two friends in central london having a drink. we were in a club and from out of nowhere and completely unprovoked soemone ran in and hit my friend.My friend called the police and met them outside, there was one police officer who kept pushing my friend (the one who was trying to report a crime). The cop was trying to get my friend to react, in the end my mate turned his back and still the cop kept pushing him, at this point i put my hand out between the two of them to stop the cop and i got arrested, my two friends were also arrested even though they were walking away as they saw the police were looking for any sort of reason to arrest them. We had caused no trouble and were looking simply to report a crime, this is an example of bad policing.

Amnesty International says more than 290 people in North America have died after Taser shocks since 2001. In November 2007, the UN Committee Against Torture released a statement saying "use of TaserX26 weapons, provoking extreme pain, constituted a form of torture, and that in certain cases it could also cause death."

Non-lethal, Edi?

I can say I would here in the UK rather be in the hands of the police than the criminals.

I find it funny that some people think that with out police we would all just run around raping and murdering at random. if there were no more police, would YOU kill and rape and steal and cause suffering?

I agree with mapleleaf regarding the Tasers. Tasers are far from non-lethal as the evidence shows. I wouldn't say that the cops are using them with intent to harm however...the issue seems to stem from the manufacturers of tasers.

As to the police as a whole...they have a tough, shitty job mostly. Everyday they deal with scummy, low-life people. In my experience, they do a good job and are worthy of praise.

But I can also see how some of the bad cops can blemish their reputation.

And finally, "They prevent people from murdering me". NO, they don't. Their presence prevents chaos in the streets (perhaps that's what you meant?), but only YOU prevent people from murdering you and NO ONE else. Period, end of story. If you are putting your life in the hands of anyone but yourself, you are being grossly irresponsible.

The cops will not save your ass from a home intruder intent on killing. They will clean up the bloody mess and write a report.

@Sicarius...I would not, no. But I'm willing to bet others would and the snowball effect from that would certainly not be good. If you are trying to make a case that cops should not exist, I'm not sure you will succeed. They serve a purpose and I think are needed in civilized society. Not all are good, but not all are bad either.

Mapleleaf - do you have the full document from the UN Committee on Torture? No Google search I've done can come up with anything other than the quote you mention. Given its phrasing ("constituted a form of torture", not "constituting a form of torture" and mention of a specific model) it sounds like this is an incitement of a particular instance of use of the Taser as a torture device, not a condemnation of the Taser in general.

In other words, an out of context citation used to support a point of view it was not intended to support. Household current could have been used for the same purpose of torture, the UN commission would reach the same conclusion, and you could not use that as a condemnation of the entire electrical grid.

Concrete example:

My friends got their bikes stolen one night. The police were called immediately; I tailed the thieves.

For an hour.

Without the cops ever actually showing.

They arrived when the thieves had just climbed over a fence, refused to make any sort of pursuit, stood around, took a few random notes, and left.

It was a complete waste of time to involve them.

I have a game that has empty spots to fill

I have an overall negative experience with police in Illinois...

I was stopped entering a bar which was having police check IDs due to recent underage drinking there, and was arrested on the spot. Turns out the officer working the door had about a dozen people he arrested hire my dad (a defense attorney) and none of them went to jail (I think he was 0-13). No charges ever got pressed, never received an explanation other than "taken in to sober up" despite the fact I hadn't had anything to drink yet. It was pretty awesome. My University mandates that any student who is arrested meet with Deans, do community service, etc etc. so I got to do that too.

I also volunteer heavily with a service that provides help and counseling to rape and sexual assault survivors. The police are not exactly the most delicate and calling the police usually ends up with the crying survivor either being unable to talk about it more or not remembering more and the police yelling at them that they're "impeding an investigation" or some line like that because they have questions they want answered.

I will say though that I was pulled over while in South Carolina and the officer could not have been any nicer.

I think it's more of a 'bad' institution, with a few scattered good apples rather than the reverse

Sicarius do you think we should get rid of police altogether?

yes.

at least in the form they exist in now

Of course he does. And we should all live on communes and practice free love and nature worship.

theres no 1 right way for people to live.

thats where modern society goes wrong

I am trying to imagine how this would work. Should they be disbanded immediately or would you prefer a gradual phase out of police?

the only realistic way would be a gradual fade out.

replaced by self policing . by which I mean community policing.
where veryone can trade off on the duties, and eveyone knows them they're not some faceless authority fugure.

theres alot of different theories for replacing police, and most of them are very good.

So you are not against the concept of police just the current system? Would that be right? Is it necessary to have some form of law enforcement?

I should expand on that. You community policing which, I gather means you and I would have to occasional part time police work. Would you still some full-time professional police?

typo... you *say community policing...

well I'm certainly against the current system.

is it necessary to have some form of law enforcement? yes and no.
peopel are always going to kill and steal and rape, it's silly to expect them not to, but I dont think we need "police"

if frank gets in a fight with his neighbor carl, the whole neighborhood can come together and decide what to do.

this si just an example, there are many different ways this can be handled, and one system will not work for everyone, communities need to implement the system that works best for them. and in some communites it might even be the system we have now.

another typo... Would you still need some full-time professional police?

"you and I would have to occasional part time police work. Would you still some full-time professional police?"

depends what the community decides is best. if everyone wants to pitch in for a few hours a week great. or if everyone just wants larry down the street to do it thats great too

"Would you still need some full-time professional police?"

thats situatuational

situational

What if Carl is less popular with the neighborhood than Frank. If they have a dispute will the neighborhood still be able to view the situation objectively? What if Carl is a member of a minority and his neighbors are biggots?

I see. In some situations full-time professional police might be necessary. Would you be referring to current high crime areas?

What if one of the neighbors is a criminal? This is the sort of system they had in Sicily. Now its called the Mafia. We need police.

if it doesnt work it needs to be replaced.
I'm not jesus i dont have all the answers.

It's just excruciatingly obvious that the system we have now is clearly not working