I sat and read through a short commentary by an American who wanted to suggest that fewer police would be the cure for ailments in America. His example to make the statement? Denmark, where they have fewer police officers per capital than the US, but with less crime and less violence. In simple terms, socialism would resolve our problems.
I sat over the idea for a while.
I've been to Denmark three times in my life.....two weeks on each trip....for beach-related vacations. I should note that I was very impressed with the beach 'cabin' deal, the simple landscape, clean beaches, friendly people, and the society. I should also note that I wasn't that impressed with Danish food (the most bland food of the world), or the serious taxation (on just about everything).
So to the topic of cops, Denmark and socialism curing the ills of America.
Well....here's the thing. Danes have a general expectation on respect. It's stressed in school, and they put internal pressure on you to not embarrass yourself or your family.
Dane cops? They usually travel in pairs on patrol (like in Germany). They spend a fair amount of time in the police academy, and are given serious time at handling conflict with argumentative people.
Drugs? You find it mostly around Copenhagen. The rest of the country is mostly about marijuana.
Back in 2017, they had a total of 54 murders in the entire country. In 2013, it was only 41 total murders. Violent tendencies from extreme drugs? They don't have it.
Socialism doing the job? I'd argue that Danes are fairly uncomplicated people and not engaged in crime efforts. Maybe around Copenhagen, you might have a few gangs, but in the rest of the country? No way.
To this whole discussion....if I took you to rural Iowa, and showed you the limited manpower sheets for some of these communities....it'd compare in ways to Denmark. They don't have the gangs, the violence, or the drugs.
But all of this discussion comes mostly from the idea 'think' they know something but have never really been there to discuss the whole landscape. I see that a lot with American journalists, and college kids. They think they know something.....when they don't.
4 comments:
It missed the point entirely. I think that when your society is so terrible that a vast amount of the populace are on medication to get by, there's going to be a lot of ancillary problems develop.
I can compare the German drug landscape over the 70s, 80s, 90, and past 20 years. Every decade, drug usage increases. I can take you into Berlin or Frankfurt...leading you to the right dealer for the right drug. No need to worry much about the cops....they rarely do a pony show, to arrest dealers.
Using your scenario, society has slipped so much, that medicating is the only logical thing to do. Tell a German this and they simply don't buy it.
Ease of dealing, lax enforcement, no political desire in getting involved, simple transport across borders, money laundering readily available in each community, and acceptance by the the public to just let 'them' go....are the lawyers that this built on.
I didn't really explain my point clearly.
I was more referring to the mass over prescription of ssri's and other mood 'stabilisers' in the states. Plus the fact that the generics have been exposed as rarely producing the equivalent effect ( often having really excessive side effects) leads to the amplification of social tensions.
George Floyd had methamphetamine and fentanyl in his system string his altercation with the police that led to his death. I think that surely that had an influence on the outcome of the whole situation.
I feel for the cops that have to show up when someone's off their head on drugs. I think that it's rarer here due to the reluctance of doctors to prescribe ssri's and other mind alerting drugs.
If you sit and think about it....tens of thousands per day go out and purchase their drug 'cocktail' from 'Larry', whose resume basically reads gas station clerk, carpet cleaner and small-time drug dealer. The minute you get into Fentanyl (an extreme drug which should only be given by some doctor at a hospital), you are trusting that Larry can dose up fentanyl correctly. This scenario simply makes you start laughing because there's always that 50-50 chance that Larry goofs up and you die from his 'cocktail'.
I feel sorry for Floyd, but he probably over the last decade....just got deeper into various drug 'cocktails' and never considered the trust of his dealer or what alternate events would wander into his use of drugs. Add to this....just in Minneapolis alone, there's probably 500 people like him...waiting for Larry to deliver, and some idiot cop to over-react.
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