Oversight needed dealing with police brutality & unethical law enforcement.
There should be an office/officer on every police force in an oversight position. For state police, this should be a federal position. For municipal police, this should be a state position- adding greater jurisdiction, weight, and authority over this role. There are good cops & police chiefs that want to do the right thing but don’t for fear of retribution and retaliation. Not excusing it but it’s a huge part of why police do not take action against their own — they don’t necessarily have a safe or effective method for doing so. The purpose of this oversight office would be
- to train police officers in ethical and legal enforcement
- to proactively vet candidates based on their history of behavior & to unearth any potential ties to white supremacist groups
- to enforce ethical and legal enforcement of the laws
- to discipline police officers who have violated ethical practices and codes of conduct without fear of retribution
Furthermore such an oversight office needs greater authority so that those in that position have greater protection and safety. Just as our laws provide for greater legal punishments when the police are harmed by citizens, there need to be greater legal punishments for harm towards oversight officers.
In the initial stages of such change, these officers would face great scrutiny & difficulty, but in time they could become normal.
And on top of all of this — such an oversight office would be profoundly Pro-Cop. Because only until the day such oversight exits — can police officers be the heroes they are capable of being.
Any police officer who got into the job to make the world a better place, would likely rather serve on an ethical, legal force that is as free of corruption as possible.
