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Policing in the UK is based on the principle of public trust and approval. i.e Peelian principles. That doesn’t mean there aren’t terrible racist cops or thugs in the ranks because there are, but generally it means cops aren’t on power trips, recognise they are the public and there to serve the public, not just arrest people, and they also exercise discretion and common sense. Again, not perfect and there are rotten apples, but there is that ethos in policing.
I think that is lacking in US forces. They’re more like a civil military, separate from the public in mentality and adversarial. That said, I think US cops are also burdened with societal problems that shouldn’t be theirs to deal with - mentally ill, homeless, addiction, guns. I’ve seen enough “officer involved shootings” to realise most were justified in the moment. More than half are straight up felons getting into gun fights with cops. Others are gray though - e.g. a crazy homeless dude pulls a knife and charges a cop and of course they shoot the guy - which is justified - but why did society care so little that it came to this? Money spent on programs for addiction, homelessness and mentally ill would pay off in terms of less criminality and less shootings. As would changing policing to be more Peelian in nature.
Policing in the UK is based on the principle of public trust and approval. i.e Peelian principles. That doesn’t mean there aren’t terrible racist cops or thugs in the ranks because there are, but generally it means cops aren’t on power trips, recognise they are the public and there to serve the public, not just arrest people, and they also exercise discretion and common sense. Again, not perfect and there are rotten apples, but there is that ethos in policing.
I think that is lacking in US forces. They’re more like a civil military, separate from the public in mentality and adversarial. That said, I think US cops are also burdened with societal problems that shouldn’t be theirs to deal with - mentally ill, homeless, addiction, guns. I’ve seen enough “officer involved shootings” to realise most were justified in the moment. More than half are straight up felons getting into gun fights with cops. Others are gray though - e.g. a crazy homeless dude pulls a knife and charges a cop and of course they shoot the guy - which is justified - but why did society care so little that it came to this? Money spent on programs for addiction, homelessness and mentally ill would pay off in terms of less criminality and less shootings. As would changing policing to be more Peelian in nature.