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I'm from the government, and I'm here to help!

Take over some things cops do
  (+6, -1)
(+6, -1)
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A police officer stopped me yesterday to ask if I needed assistance. Apparently someone told them I might. It happened I did not. But even if I did need help I would have done precisely the same thing, to wit saying I didn't need help. This is because police are not a friend in my country. Law enforcement should not be saddled with the responsibility to also help in non-law-enforcement areas.

It got me thinking. There are probably thousands of cases daily of people needing help that could be provided by police but unwilling to accept the risks that go along with that. People suffering drug withdrawal can't discuss their illegal activities. Illegal immigrants. Domestic abuse victims who don't want their partners arrested. Homeless people who don't trust police. Past victims of police brutality. People who have been in accidents but don't want insurance to get involved. These people need a different organization.

This organization would send people out equipped with boxes of food, first aid kits, locally applicable requirements, lists of charity organizations and food banks, and a lot of compassion. The would be trained in all the aspects of police work that involve helping people but not in arresting them. Also in first aid, treating withdrawal symptoms, immigration law, and other commonly needed knowledge. They would have no authority beyond what any every day citizen has. The police could call a car out, they could be dispatched by national emergency lines, and they would have their own phone numbers.
Voice, May 07 2022

https://dontcallthepolice.com/about [a1, May 07 2022]

Highest and lowest suicide rates by profession. https://www.huffpos...s-by-job_n_16543360
[doctorremulac3, May 09 2022]

https://www.urbandi...php?term=bureaucrap [a1, May 09 2022]


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Annotation:







       Are you living in the Congo? Ali, Bomaye?
4and20, May 07 2022
  

       I'm going to have to leave that unanswered for privacy purposes, [4]
Voice, May 07 2022
  

       + I like the idea, but not the government involvement. Maybe this can be done another way. We know a thrift shop owner who helps the homeless etc. and we donate money to his cause.   

       Now, currently the homeless know of him and go to him for help.
xandram, May 07 2022
  

       Yes, nice. Independent, like a mesh network of trusted individuals out in the field, that get a license and badge, backed resources, and can support each other.
wjt, May 07 2022
  

       This is exactly what was proposed in many of the cities that debated defunding their police departments.
21 Quest, May 08 2022
  

       Until I am elected Benevolent Planetary Sovereign, the word 'govern' is just a code-name for the word 'subjugate'.   

       A vote for me... is a vote for you.   

       just sayin   

       Is this not just policing reform? In my opinion all these nice roles you describe are exactly what the police should be doing.
pocmloc, May 08 2022
  

       I think this is essentially what people are getting at when they call to 'defund the police'.
tatterdemalion, May 08 2022
  

       I'm not calling for defunding the police. (not that I would be opposed if this were to reduce the number needed) Also I think police should be enforcing the laws, not performing public welfare.
Voice, May 08 2022
  

       Agreed.   

       I've mentioned, I've done ride-alongs with my son who's a police officer in a major US city and as part of his patrols done welfare checks on homeless camps. Just walking through and asking if everybody's okay, if they need anything, if anybody needs to go to the hospital etc. Unfortunately, also looking for the occasional dead body.   

       You'd be surprised how happy some of them are to see us, nervous because many of them have drugs on them, but when it's made clear that this is simply a welfare check there's a somewhat moving appreciation they show that there’s at least somebody out there who cares about them.   

       I fully support establishment of auxiliary government, private or volunteer organizations to take some of the burden off of our overworked police, but I also think those who call for defunding the police should show us how it's done by making it clear they don't want any police protection. Start with those politicians getting a hundred grand a year worth of private security while saying the regular citizen should fend for themselves. We don't get police protection, you don't get police protection.
doctorremulac3, May 08 2022
  

       You, too, can have all the private security you can afford. The law and its majestic equality.
Voice, May 08 2022
  

       There is a Youtube video of some jerk who hired 50 security agents (7X more than the president of the U.S.) to lead him towards to a restaurant which only takes bookings from A-list people.   

       I'm not at all religious, but churches usually pick up the slack where governments stop helping. Religion or government, although many people choose neither?
4and20, May 08 2022
  

       Reasonably good 24/7 private security will set you back about $900. (Ammo and trips to the range not included.)
doctorremulac3, May 08 2022
  

       In Israel the welfare do that with the homeless. Every day they do "rounds", talking to each and every one of the homeless and help them out with whatever is needed. When a homeless man was found dead after a recent storm, the woman from welfare who had met him a day earlier spoke on the radio about the difficulties that she experienced with these people, and explained why she could not force him into a shelter, and what went wrong.
pashute, May 09 2022
  

       The trick is that this might take all of the 'good' moments of being a police officer and fill their day with just the bad / dangerous / crime dealing stuff.
RayfordSteele, May 09 2022
  

       Hmm. Interesting point. Being a police officer is already extremely hard, their suicide rate is the third highest of any profession.   

       Bit of a tangent, looking it up I was kind of blown away by the others, you will be too.   

       JOBS WITH HIGHEST SUICIDE RATES:   

       1. Medical Doctors 2. Dentists 3. Police Officers 4. Veterinarians 5. Financial Services 6. Real Estate Agents 7. Electricians 8. Lawyers 9. Farmers 10. Pharmacists   

       I can see doctors and police officers but the others are pretty surprising. Electricians?
doctorremulac3, May 09 2022
  

       A shocking statistic.
pocmloc, May 09 2022
  

       maybe they misread some accidental electrocutions?
theircompetitor, May 09 2022
  

       Just for balance, see lowest and highest suicide rates by profession. (link)   

       Seems like tedious jobs are the worst, I'd suggest looking into a program to have these workers listen to podcasts or other mentally stimulating stuff while working the tedious assembly line.
doctorremulac3, May 09 2022
  

       Looks like a list of people that deal with a neverending cascade of fixing other people's problems and bad news.
RayfordSteele, May 09 2022
  

       Hmm. Good point. Nobody's ever said "Call 911, get the police here to deal with the situation and get this person to a hospital, he's just having a really nice day."   

       And listening to interesting podcasts probably wouldn't a be good solution to the stresses of being a first responder. I could never do it.   

       We had just got a call over the radio about a wellness check for an elderly person that was found to have passed away. The family couldn't get in touch with their parent and the police had to break in and find the dead body and notify the relatives. Then just a few minutes after hearing about this we got a call, a family couldn't get in touch with their dad. As I stood there with my boy knocking on the door I remember my heart sinking as the minutes ticked by, some neighbors had come to see why two police cars were parked on their street. Then when the elderly gentleman opened the door I actually said "YES!" and made a fist pump. I think the neighbors thought I was a plain clothes detective or something and looked at me like "Hmm, doesn't seem like appropriate CSI behavior.".   

       He was having his house worked on and the phone was temporarily disconnected.
doctorremulac3, May 09 2022
  

       Farmers and Real Estate agents jump out as not quite from the same issues; isolation and constant weather and equipment breakage for the first and maybe weird working hours, nightmarish paperwork and bureaucrap for the second I guess.   

       Back to the idea, maybe this type of work could be on a rotating sabbatical of some kind for the stressor jobs.
RayfordSteele, May 09 2022
  

       //bureaucrap//   

       Please tell me you made that term up. I'll be using it a lot.
doctorremulac3, May 09 2022
  

       I'm afraid that to use it you're going to need to fill out this stack of forms, and seek approval from the Commission on Linguistic Affairs, which is down the hall. Stewart, the Linguistic Affairs Officer, however, is on extended administrative leave, and his replacement works in office on the first and third Tuesdays in June.
RayfordSteele, May 09 2022
  

       Unless I have connections in high office or am a hefty contributor to various agencies.   

       Which I don't and am not.
doctorremulac3, May 09 2022
  

       //Real Estate Agents//
Most real estate agents seem to be a particular "type" of personality. So (not being a psychiatrist or anything...) I suspect it's more "people prone to suicidal thoughts are also frequently real estate agents"; not so much one causes the other, just overlap due to personality type.
neutrinos_shadow, May 09 2022
  

       I just bought a property and I wouldn't blame my agent for killing himself.   

       "It's that doctorremulac3 guy, he changed his mind again! Not palatial enough, looks like hillbillies would live here, if I get a helicopter, where would I put the helipad?" "Are you getting a helicopter?" "No, those are really expensive but you never know."
doctorremulac3, May 09 2022
  

       I have heard that Stewart's replacement is highly fond of a particular brand of dark chocolate. And tickets to cock- fighting events...
RayfordSteele, May 10 2022
  


 

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