What Happens When the Police Stop Policing?
by Anthony Sibley (AJ) on Jan 11, 2015 | Views: 403 | Score: 0
2013 | 2014 | |
---|---|---|
Criminal Summons | 4077 | 347 |
Arrests | 5448 | 2401 |
Moving Violations | 9339 | 749 |
Week-to-Date Comparison
By Police Citywide, Same Week Each Year
There appears to be a coordinated 'slowdown' of policing activity throughout NYC, in response to Mayor de Blasio's supposed lack of support for the NYPD, following a series of high-profile, highly suspect police killings of unarmed Blacks, which culminated in thousands-person protests. Such a labor action might not solve wideranging problems within the police bureaucracy. Paradoxically though, against the backdrop of public outrage to police brutality and impunity, if crime doesn't increase as a result, the People may become too fond of a world with less suffocating protectors of peace.
While labor rights should certainly be respected, the safety of the people is not a political bargaining chip for the police to use. As you mentioned, if violent crime statistics were to rise in the wake of this trend of non-enforcement, the tactic may backfire entirely.
That's definitely a valid observation. It seems strange to consider police officers as 'wage laborers' just as everyone else, particularly when considering that their striking would endangers lives. At the same time, if there is pressing enough grievance, I suppose officers' well-being is substantially threatened, albeit not quite comparably.