This Needs Fixin'

Police organization in the U.S. are no more democratic than the military.

Which is to say: not democratic at all.

Officers are trained to obey, and to have no role in choosing their leaders (and no role in interpreting the law and how it applies to their orders). And, in California at least, having been successfully trained this way is a prerequisite for even elected police leadership positions.

They are also trained to view the citizens as the enemy in a war. Seriously, “thin blue line” and “warrior cop” rhetoric is ubiquitous among U.S. police.

And you can’t expect cops to be big supporters of democracy when they spend their entire working lives taking orders.

Sure, #NotAllCops, but definitely most.

And definitely all police organizations.

And, as we saw last week, definitely the D.C. police.

Which sucks, because where they stand is uniquely important since they’re the local police in the capital city where the main federal offices are.

And last week they sided with the coup over the law.

Which is sad, but not at all surprising.

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