Like a
National ID card, some items common to other Western democracies seem problematic to American exceptionalists, but given the rise in regional and local police violence against unarmed citizens with accompanying militarization, perhaps it is now time to discuss more uniform processes, practices, and procedures applied with civil liberties protected. "Supporting one's local police" now seems more dangerous than ever in a country with a fragmented PIC consisting of a public/private prison system
Four Countries That Show The Danger Of Militarized Police Forces
When community policing seems to be an anachronistic oxymoron and displays itself recently as an occupying force no different than urban counterinsurgency more common to post 2003 Iraq, it may still be possible to have a kinder, gentler set of community police services. It will take a generation to implement since there are far too many current police officers and departments too accustomed to a recent culture of post-military service that treats communities like post-colonial enclaves, whether inner cities or modest sprawl suburbs.
Demilitarization could take place not under Posse comitatus but under more uniform constitutional rules of engagement guidelines backed up by the court systems, DoJ, and incentivized by the levels of access to federal information and cooperation from DHS. Noting of course that all state constitutions however different still conform ultimately to the national constitution, tenthers nothwthstanding
Western continental Europe favours the centralized model of policing, as do Russia and other eastern European countries. However, there is considerable variation among the centralized police organizations of western European countries.
Most fall under one of four categories:
(1) complete centralization in one police force;
(2) high centralization, with a small number of national police forces;
(3) regional centralization under federal authority; and
(4) decentralized local policing, with a strong national agency.
Other commonalities among European police systems are a strong domestic security arm that is integrated partly or wholly into the police apparatus and unarmed municipal police forces that enforce various local bylaws and regulate traffic....
The existing American police structure to some extent reflects public opposition to any concentration of police power. It has been argued that the nation would suffer, and local governments would be enfeebled, should all offenses become federal offenses and all police power be transferred to Washington, D.C. Local problems require local remedies, according to this view. On the other hand, it also has been argued that the integration and consolidation of police forces would reduce costs and increase efficiency. As this debate continues, many small municipalities in the United States have chosen to maintain their own police forces, while others have joined together to form regional police departments.
Other countries with federal political structures have federal police forces as well as state forces that operate on the same principles as those observed in the United States. In Australia, for example, each of the six states has its own police force and its own laws but does not legislate in matters pertaining to federal organizations and cannot pass laws at variance with those of the commonwealth. Yet even countries like Australia have attempted to move away from the fragmentation that is characteristic of American policing. The model that many countries have adopted blends strong central leadership with a limited number of regional police forces, as in the United Kingdom.
The Alex Jones's more paranoid take in 2011
The United States is probably the only nation that does not have national police. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) was created to achieve this goal. A counter move by concerned citizens was the “support your local police and keep them independent” movement. Older citizens may recall seeing bumper stickers and other advertising to that effect.
The LEAA was abolished in 1982. Today, a new movement is afoot to nationalize our local police by stealth. In the [2009] campaign,Barack Obama advocated “a civilian police to match the size and power of our armed forces.” More recently, Obama advocated enlarging the U.S. Marshal’s Service into a “stability police.” He is being assisted by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group has convinced many local police and sheriff’s officials that conservatives are the enemy. – CJOnline