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In a Free Society, Police are Civilians Too
Looking beyond the slogans, is there room for a liberal reset of the role of police and citizens in society?
This is part one in a multi-part series on reevaluating the role of police and their relationship with citizens in a free society.
Over the last few years there is no doubt that many people have reevaluated their relationship with the police.
This has led to some takes that range from silly sloganeering from the left such as “abolish the police” and “all cops are bastards” and from the police and their conservative backers such as “blue lives matter” as well as a rapid increase in “thin blue line” and “Punisher” fashion statements. To hear these groups battle it out, one might think you either have to worship the police or you have to be completely against them.
Caught in the middle are the rest of us. We recognize that there will always be a need for some sort of police force and system of criminal justice. Most of the cops we know aren’t bastards. But we certainly support a reevaluation and reform of policing, because what we have come to is not sustainable in a free society. And militant police worship, the symbols that go along with it and…
