We won't be better without the police, not having police won't solve our violence or our crime rate. Having better social programs, and better investment in education will.

[–] Tyfud@lemmy.world 19 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

The origin of the police in the US was a group hired in a state by the governor to return slaves to their slave owners.

Then they were contracted to protect the properties of the wealthy slave owners when there was a revolt about capturing slaves (some who were "free men"),and they put down that revolt with violence.

Since then, police have been conscripted to protect wealth from the lower class, by the wealthy. That was, and has been their main purpose in the US. It is not to protect and serve, that's just a slogan they made up out of thin air and has no legal backing or requirement.

They exist for the wealthy, to stay wealthy and protect their interests/property.

Before the police, we had US Marshals, and that worked great. But they wouldn't go after slaves for slave owners, so they invented the police.

Edit: I'll include an article that talks about some of this.

[–] TotallynotJessica@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Police are the knights of the capitalist era, both in function and how we foolishly valorize them.

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