The worst part is, I'm far less anti-cop than most Lemmy users, probably. I'm convinced that there are a great many good cops and good departments, despite the decay of responsibility of the American police (and their often-unsavory origins as strikebreakers). I also believe that professional policing forces, while not technically vital, are an extremely useful service that should attract men of honor and be regarded as such.

But repeating copaganda is not the way to empower the good cops out there. The way you empower good cops is by making more good cops - and you make more good cops by creating strong institutions of accountability and using them. Empowering cops without accountability is not a way to make good enforcers of the law - it's a way to make thugs out of ordinary men.