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Badges & Boundaries: A U.S. Policing Quiz

How do you feel about community policing?

  • wcarll
    10/25/2023

    Higher recruiting standards, better training and higher pay are necessary to improve policing results. 

  • Rick
    Voted Excited
    10/25/2023

    All citizens expect and deserve protection from those who would steal or harm us - a wide range of nefarious activities - examples include illicit drugs, car jacking, and yes - even shoplifting.

    How can we expect a business to invest in a store, distributor, or manufacturer if there is no safety?  I don't want or need every business or house of worship to require hiring their own private security force.  To me, that will lead to some amount of chaos.

    As I understand community policing it means placing police/puiblic safety assets in or near communities - all of them - and getting to know these local persons and businesses.  It should engender more trust by all citizens - and result in less criminal activity.

  • Manny
    Voted Happy
    10/25/2023

    Ever wonder why Gaza's hospitals are running out of fuel but Hamas has plenty of fuel for firing rockets at Israel?  Hamas would rather kill Israelis then provide proper health care for Gazans

  • Eric
    Voted Apathetic
    10/26/2023

    While the quoted study in the community policing quiz indicates that increasing the number of police reduces crime, this has not been the case where I live in Chicago. Chicago has signifiantly more police versus its population than any city in America and yet has similar crime rates. While more and better training of police will help, I think focusing only on police and prison to reduce crime is not working. I do not believe in defunding the police but we need to look for additional ways to reduce crime. 

  • Steven
    Voted Sad
    10/27/2023

    Community policing isn't necessary because it lets cops harass law abiding citizens because somebody thought they were suspicious for exercising in their neighborhood. Or the good old you match the description etc. that cops use to harass and fish for things while they violate your rights for just walking in your neighborhood. 
    Officer safety is cowardice #endqualifiedimmunity

  • Ron
    Voted Excited
    10/25/2023

    When officers connect with the citizens they are sworn to protect it allows for open dialogue and respect.

  • Fraser
    10/25/2023

    Law enforcement agencies, like all successful organizations, must focus on recruiting AND retaining good employees. Each state should have agency like the Florida Dept. of Law Enforcement with a Professional Compliance Process that oversees the certification, employment, training, and conduct of its law enforcement, corrections and correctional probation officers. All law enforcement agencies within the should be required to follow that process and be audited for compliance. All law enfocement agencies should be reviewed by the elected body responsible for funding the agencies' budgets. These audits and reviews should be available for public, and press, review.

    Each law enforcement agency should have a citizen review board with the power to compel testimony by law enforcement officers. While that board my conduct their review behind closed doors, they should be required to produce a wriiten report for each case and the law enforcement agency head must be required to provide a written response to each case. The review process and reports should be audited by, among others, the elected body responsible for funding the agency's budget. These audits and reviews should be available for public, and press, review.

    The US Dept. of Justice should develop a uniform set of performance evaluation guidelines for law enforcement agencies throughout the country and issue annual reports on how well each agency is meeting the acceptable levels fo service. Once again, the evaluation process and reports should be reviewed by, among others, the US Congress when passing appropriations for law enforcement. These evaluations and reviews should be available for public, and press, review.

    Each of these steps is designed to enable We the People to exercise our consent to be governed under reasonable standards for law enforcement.

  • James
    Voted Apathetic
    10/25/2023

    My local precinct is very responsive, but I am less confident to assume good protection when traveling, particularly to major cities.  our travel plans are definitely different than in past years as a direct consequence.   

  • Trollhunter_Fam
    Voted Happy
    10/26/2023

    So many topics that tie into policing each with their own solutions. Mental health, poverty, gun violence, drug addictions, housing, militarization of the police, racism. I have a family member that is a former officer. I have several friends that are officers. It's a tough line of work regardless of what community they serve. And that's where I think the majority of decisions on policing should be made, at the community level. Decisions on bias training, mental health training, and militarization should be shaped by the communities they serve.

    That said I do struggle with the idea of blanket qualified immunity. In some departments it's been used as cover for doing atrocious things. There should be limitations and each state should be allowed to make their own decision on qualified immunity, not the federal govt. 

  • Kay
    Voted Apathetic
    10/29/2023

    I feel thankful for our police force.  They do a difficult job and risk their lives for our safety. 

    However I think SOME police officers are motivated to become police for the POWER not the SERVICE.  We need a better way to weed this small minority out of police forces. 

    Also I think MANY police officers become jaded and biased due to the extreme conditions they face daily.  Its probably easy to start typecasting people on their circumstances, their location, or their appearance.  Perhaps training and ongoing counseling could help officers to remain more objective about the communities they serve and the people they encounter. 

    Finally I think adding more non-police personnel with mental & physical care training for onsite support during low-criminal situations could help to take some of the load and stress off of our officers. 

  • Mark
    Voted Excited
    10/28/2023

    I feel that Law enforcement should be out and active in the community in a positive way. Many of the interactions that law enforcement has are positive. But we are in a very negative environment in our country right now where everyone thinks they have the right opinion and are not willing to work with others. 

  • Lisa
    Voted Happy
    10/27/2023

    It's better for the community of residents know their local police & local police know their residents. It's good for the police to know if illegal behavior is a one off or repetitive. And it's important for residents to know they can trust their police officers to be there for them if there's a problem. But we also need social workers to pair with the officers. (Cops have enough responsibility without having to be psychologists)

  • Donny
    Voted Excited
    10/27/2023

    Love community policing

  • Topher0222
    10/27/2023

    The problem with most opinions about policing is that they center around Blue Lives Matter vs Black Lives Matter.  I can absolutely support the 80-95% of good officers while saying that we have a problem with 5-20% of officers needing to be retrained on how to work with people that are different from themselves, or that they need to be fired.  Both things can be true and more importantly ARE True.  Admit the problem, correct the problem and we all live in a more secure and harmonious society. 
       That's a common sense approach but it doesn't make headlines because it doesn't divide us.  I don't want division, I want unity and common sense. 

  • kcarpenter
    Voted Excited
    10/27/2023

    Police should not be the enemy...they should get to know the people in their neighborhoods that they are policing as much as they can. And the people need to feel they can trust the police and that they have their best interest in mind.

  • Maryann
    Voted Excited
    10/26/2023

    I think our police officers do a fabulous job!  They risk their lives daily, bravely handling situations that few of us ever have to consider.  While I understand that there may be a few that exceed the force they should, most of them are simply trying to serve and survive.  

  • Melanie
    Voted Happy
    10/26/2023

    In our city, especially in the area in which we live policing is equitable. On occasion we have police parking in front of our house.  I have offered them water which they tell me they cannot accept.  It feels good to know our neighborhood is watched from time to time.  We have an extremely low crime rate within our 10 mile radius. I receive a monthly crime report offered by the city.  In Polk county there is Grady Judd as sheriff and everyone loves him as he puts photos of criminals in their county on the news and makes disparaging remarks about what they have done.  He also arrests many drug dealing groups as well as prostitutes and child trafficking groups.  My county could do more of this.  We also don't need a permit to carry guns.  

  • Stones2Cut
    Voted Excited
    10/25/2023

    I guess my thought is this: we have laws, made by our legislators on behalf of voters - us. If we don't like the laws we have the right to vote them away via our legislators. So do we really want police defunded? Or do we wish for something different and hope that it will magically happen? Police de-escalation training works, training works to reduce crime and escalation. Police visible the community are a deterrent AND they help vulnerable populations.

     

    Uphold the existing laws as written and punish elected citizens (city councils and such) and particularly legislators for passively breaking laws by not enforcing them. If we want change you can darn-well legislate it, but I don't think we really want defunded police, do we?

     

    What I see is legislators equivocating, pandering to minority - Squad or Freedom Caucus - interests, and NOT LEGISLATING. It is hard, but we elected you for a hard job that you, ostensibly, wanted. You are being paid very well to do hard work, not drive Teslas and complain until the next election cycle and then lie about what you accomplished or, worse, claim to have worked to accomplish "good" when you have in fact neither worked nor accomplished anything but your salaries.

  • Kathy
    Voted Excited
    10/25/2023

    First of all I can't understand anyone wanting to be a cop in this day and time.  Defund the police--what bullshit!!! Have a bad apple--throw away the whole barrel. So I have great admiration for those who wish to serve their communities.  I was brought up to respect police officers and I brought up 3 sons the same way.  One of them got stopped several times as a teenager because he built a "Thumpmobile".  Along with the loud thumping , he put hydraulics on it.  He was always respectful with the cops and I was ever so gratefull when he outgrew this stage.  Today he has his doctorate in mechanical engineering.  But, I am heading off on a tangent.  I would hope neighborhood policing would send us back in time to establish the respect our police officiers deserve.

  • Roland
    Voted Excited
    10/25/2023

    It's critical for crime prevention to be effective that police and the community cooperate together.  That requires mutual respect and understanding,