Why you want a professional and proper local police department.
Your other choices are de facto uglier than the worst situations we have today.
I remember a few years back when two vacationing, off-duty, and unarmed Swedish officers kind of embarrassed our nation’s warriors-without-a-clue police. The Swedes were praised for their calm demeanor and excellent results. I linked one of the YouTube reaction videos, but numerous ones covered that incident.
Why were the Swedish officers so successful during this apprehension? Yes, any private person can make an arrest under U.S. laws, even foreign visitors. Allow me to list the reasons:
1) They remained calm, gave clear orders in a calm yet firm voice, and even reinforced they weren’t there to hurt anyone, just to stop the fight, by telling the restrained suspect he was going to be okay. That whole approach was excellent. This is proper de-escalation while maintaining control of the situation. Also, notice how the officers don’t yell conflicting orders or shout multiple orders at the same time. Their training is obviously effective. These are well-trained peace officers who responded correctly to the situation at hand.
2) The level of force being used by the officers physically restraining the suspect on the ground is completely appropriate, and lawful, and follows proper defensive tactics.
I was a certified police instructor with nunchucks (nunchaku), and I was avid in martial arts for many years. Most extensively in Aikido but I trained in everything from karate in my teens, to ninjitsu-style self-defense in paramilitary training. The ninjitsu stuff was all about weapons control and takeaways. Taught by a black belt in ninjitsu. It was interesting stuff, yet a little violent for everyday situations. I would only use those techniques during a worst-case scenario. I was also an ice hockey player in my younger years and had no problem with a hockey fight when needed and a five-minute major penalty. So, I am not a master or pro or anything, but I know what I am talking about, especially regarding physical tactics in law enforcement.
The physical restraint in the subway incident with the officers from Sweden was superb at a few levels. Notice how the pressure in the armbar holds it down towards the ground with the energy directed through the tricep and the elbow, NOT the head, throat, and especially not the larynx. The larynx is easy to identify, it holds the vocal cords and the airway. The lower arm of the suspect is restrained against the torso of the officer. This is a classic pin ‘em move used on patrol and it is a good one! Untrained fighters with mild-to-moderate resistance are fairly easy to pin with this method. A wrist lock can be easily added for those deciding to be a little more hostile. You can add non-lethal force with minimal injury risk to have nearly complete control of the suspect through restraint and if required, pain compliance. Notice how they asked the suspect to stay calm and they did not continuously apply more pressure to hold. More pressure when not required, of course, would probably create more resistance. If he calms down, ease up a bit, do not lose control, but also don’t start tearing tendons and wonder why you are getting further negative reactions and non-compliance. It requires you to know what you are doing and also to have good upper-body strength, but with a little training, even if the suspect outsizes you a tad, you can easily restrain someone safely. I have hauled my fair share of drunken and mad-as-hell bar fighters to jail. Been there, done that.
3) Not only were they actively trying to calm the suspect restrained on the floor of the subway, but they also consciously worked to keep the crowd on the train calm. That’s using high situational intelligence and good IPC (interpersonal communications). You have enough of a problem with the suspect, you don’t have to further create problems from within the crowd (a huge problem with large events where alcohol is served; some drunk always wants to get involved). Keep everyone calm at the scene to prevent bigger problems. That’s 101 law enforcement.
Now, sorry for being so upfront and even rudely direct, but do you freaking think Swedish passed a policy to defund the police and got that professional result?? Take a breath. Think about it. A young black guy made the reaction video and said they did a good job. And it was a good job and then some.
Not sorry: the proof is in the proper-training-and-discipline pudding folks.
There is and has been a major problem with the mistraining of entire agencies and of law enforcement at large. We can’t expect change without effort and expense. In government, effort equals funding. I want change, you want change. That costs money, yes, it all comes at taxpayer expense whether we like it or not.
Oh, cops, if you keep it up with the misconduct, many have already suggested you carry private insurance like an anesthesiologist. Can you even afford private insurance for such high-risk coverage?!? Some current officers may find that very hard to come by. Others are suggesting taking the liability costs out of the pension funds. The already underfunded pension funds. The real-time problem of criminality and misconduct within the ranks is that insurance collectives and insurers/re-insurers are starting to drop munis’ liability and other coverage. That should be a stark warning, but some departments simply ignore the red flag and look to create the next liability.
The alternatives to proper policing are nightmarish. Look at Haiti right now where the UN says they are on the verge of the abyss. No cops in sight. Utopia achieved?? Do YOU want to be in that hellhole right now?? I will stay in the Bay Area and demand change, thank you.
Or is Somalia more your style? Just fire the man and live in a failed state? No thanks. Maybe Afghanistan and the religious zealot police with AK-47s and complete authority, with absolutely no recourse, to beat, torture, or murder men, women, and children. That’s not a defect to them, that’s their laws of dogmatism and medieval ignorance. At least in some corners of America, we understand something is wrong and people should be held accountable for criminal behaviors. Executing a woman for exposing her ankle or reading a book is lawful and holy in Afghanistan. Again, I will stay here.
Maybe a military junta is more your style. Just have the military repress you instead? Well, you would not have to worry about criminal homicides by the police because the junta will execute you for jaywalking …or having any independent thoughts.
When you fire the real police and replace it with a gang and a junta, who are the murder police who will go to the river and investigate how a 14-year-old girl washed up dead? Is grandma’s Murder She Wrote club supposed to handle that? How about bank robberies in progress? Billy Joe Jim Bob, his brother Darryl, and his other brother Darryl are going to be on hot standby, except for bank holidays of course. Is a woman supposed to go to Amazon to order her own rape evidence collection kit after a sexual felony offense? She should have to go to 23 and me or similar to check if there were DNA matches in the evidence kit? I don’t think some folks have thought this completely through. How about responding at 0330h to a widow’s home with a burglar reported inside the house? Who does that or does grandma get sacrificed instead to bad ideology and worse practice?
Peace and prosperity are not just the government’s or law enforcement's deliverable, it is everyone’s responsibility. We, the public, demand change, and then, until very recently, had a terrible habit of either not voting at all or voting for the name that was recognized. The biggest accomplishment of the person you just voted for - again - was getting re-elected. Nothing much else. Then you wonder why change did not occur. I firmly believe in self-responsibility and people being accountable for their own actions (exactly why it was good news to everyone in an awful situation that the officers in Memphis were arrested and charged so quickly). But in America, most of us have been lazy. Demanding change and then doing literally nothing about it or simply taking to social media and following a trending hashtag without a bit of critical thinking. A hashtag frankly enables your elected official to ride the hashtag to the A-block cable or podcast interview. When the collective ADD trends to something else a few days later, it is all backburnered. We don’t do anything sustainable to effect the change and collect the precise data required to see if the change is happening and whether it is effective.
Maybe I have not done anything effectively either. I accept that. I do think that amends have been made. I have called for the end of the drug war for twenty+ years now. I have always said policing for profit is unethical, and it is somewhere between self-ingratiation and straight-up thievery, not law enforcement. Yeah, I say these things aloud, even when it would irritate the current audience. I argued against three strikes to a Republican candidate for state office at a police association meeting in uniform. Especially locally, I learn who the people are running for office in our area. Even if I don’t like all your positions (this happened last election), I simply will not vote for the it’s always been this way, so do nothing candidate just looking for re-election and nothing much else. I will vote for someone new, even though I find issues I don’t like on their platform. Stagnation is the worse form of government and politics. It is exactly why Congress (and probably SCOTUS) need term limits.
I did run for Mayor and vocally spoke out against the purchase of the tank knowing where the empty militarization would lead. I said to quietly armor up a few of the patrol sedans and an SUV and stay covert about it as we did in West Germany. Since the terrorism threat was quite high due to threats from the RAF and Action Direct, our generals and VIPs were moved inside armored sedans. From the outside, it looks like a normal car, but inside you notice the inches of thick bulletproof glass you can’t really see from the outside. A platoon with AKs could not harm you while you were in those specially-equipped sedans. I knew why the tank was so desired by the Chief. It was a symbol of control, and it was a promotion to the viceroy in some glorious battle. My plan would have worked better but I think the understanding of the word covert has been surgically removed from the broken Borg collective.
Being very outspoken made a lot of people unhappy in my town, some have not talked to me in years. Some even still scowl at me, for real. But I saw it coming… I am still glad I spoke out and ran for office because I did it on ethical and moral grounds. Oh, there was some self-interest too. I had traveled to East Germany while stationed in Europe. TL,DR: East Germany sucked. As I described in the last post, the Stasi was a worst-case scenario. Again, I prefer living in America, not East Germany. So I said something about it. I am not saying I am August Landmesser or anything but right is right, and wrong is wrong. Ethics, morals, and integrity matter. Outcomes matter. The law and the Constitution matter, it is all we got in the end or a junta just may take over. We already came very close to that on Jan. 6th. What do you really think Jan. 7th would have been like if they successfully took Congress and the Vice-President hostage and derailed the election??? American Mynammar would have been the most likely outcome.
But change is not going to happen because you wish or order it so. It will take time, effort, and funding to change training and change the results to less negative (read: less horrific) outcomes.