HebrewHammer14 t1_j7u7x6x wrote on February 9, 2023 at 1:14 PM

Reply to comment by DUIguy87 in Exonerees in Mass. state drug lab scandal want their seized property and money back by ak47workaccnt

I think overall we are safer as a state. If not for the police , laws and rights we have which differ from state to state then why would you say we are safer per capita than 95% of the rest of the country? By the way, I believe the only states safer than us are Maine and Vermont if I’m not mistaken. So why is this region of the country leaps and bounds safer than the rest?

DUIguy87 t1_j7uilyl wrote on February 9, 2023 at 2:39 PM

We have reasonable support systems for low income families, reasonable infrastructure (deff room for improvement tho), a well educated population, support for drug addicts and generally a being wealthier state as a whole all help. Mass is also lacking the pure destitute poverty seen in other states, and people who have their basic needs meet are generally less likely to turn to crime.

In fact we manage to be one of the safest states while ranking 42nd in per capita spending on police. I think if you want to go down this road its on you to prove why more police power and funding is the answer.

HebrewHammer14 t1_j7ukzv4 wrote on February 9, 2023 at 2:56 PM

Well I guess my next question would be if we are so low in spending, then why isn’t their room for improvement in terms of spending on more police to patrol places that are known for high crime? with more emphasis on public spaces. I don’t disagree with much of anything you said.

Also maybe give more leeway to home and business owners to protect their property. Right now if someone breaks into my house or business and gets hurt while trespassing I get sued for something I had no control of. Meanwhile if they are their to attack, I’m suppose to runaway and am not allowed to protect myself. All the current system does in my eyes is incentivizes crime on personal property and places all the blame on the owner.

DUIguy87 t1_j7xbboh wrote on February 10, 2023 at 1:38 AM

I’m certainly not opposed to adjusting the self defense laws, but thats deff a complicated undertaking as most “castle doctrine” and “stand you ground” laws are treated as green lights for people to kill their fellow Americans. But that is a bit of a different conversation.

To the topic at hand I’d argue that since there is minimal return on investment from raising police budgets we are just wasting money in doing so. Government is inherently inefficient as sits, so I’m not sure why throwing money intentionally into bottomless pit should be considered.

At the end of the day police is just an investment in public safety and one that, even if it worked as claimed, at best will only suppress crime. If we instead used that money to build up and support communities there would be a better chance of that investment paying off. If we are in agreement that our safety is due more in part to how our state’s society is run, shoring up and expanding those programs certainly wouldn’t hurt. I’m by no means advocating removing the cops, more we are just at the point of diminishing returns with them and we need to look to other solutions.

HebrewHammer14 t1_j7yue13 wrote on February 10, 2023 at 11:26 AM

How would you invest in the community? Which communities are we speaking about? I agree that just throwing money at police isn’t necessarily the answer, especially considering that I’d be worried about where that money would be taken from. I’m not for bolstering police if it meant something like taking away social programs for kids. Maybe something they could do would be to invest more money in the schools. Pay the teachers better and just in general invest more money into the future generations.

DUIguy87 t1_j8090yp wrote on February 10, 2023 at 5:53 PM

Social programs for kids would be great. Community centers, local sports leagues, increased access to daycare. I’d go so far as to say more in the way of increased rent support or food subsidies for families in low income brackets, and smoothing the transition between income brackets and aid granted so there are no disincentives to advance professionally.

There is certainly a correlation between absent parents/broken families and crime. As such I feel that policies that help keep parents with their children are worth prioritizing, a parent working 70+hrs a week to support their family is still an absent parent despite how noble their cause is.