It’s increasingly clear that we both ask too much of the police and fail to hold them to account when they exceed the limits of their authority as a result of our unreasonable expectations. We need to replace many of the tasks that currently bring the police into contact with the public with other more specific solutions. Police are not social workers or marriage counselors. We should house the homeless. Treat the mentally ill and those addicted to drugs. Marshal protests so they don’t become riots. Implement more automated traffic enforcement. Educate people who need education. Make trade agreements of mutual benefit that help improve standards of living in other countries so people don’t need to immigrate to the US to survive or in search of a better life. We cannot law enforce our social problems away. How long have we tried and failed to do that? We should start by working to make the very concept of qualified immunity obsolete. Then, either vastly narrow its scope or eliminate it because it will be unnecessary to put police in situations where qualified immunity would be legitimately needed for them to do their jobs.
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