While there are some situations which call for police involvement, our society relies too much on the police as a solution for many issues. There is no reason why police need to respond to car accidents or minor traffic violations. These jobs can be done by either paramedics and firefighters or traffic enforcement. In many cases, there is no need for police to respond to mental health crises, these situations should be handled by social workers as much as possible. For the most part, and there are some exceptions, police should only be used to respond to threats of violence. Police are being used as a one-size-fits-all solution to all of society’s issues and that isn’t right and it isn’t the best way forward for our country. Police are also being used to coerce and force people into mental health “treatment” that they either don’t want or don’t need. Police are currently serving as the armed agents of the state who will force people to do things under the threat of force and violence. Nobody should be able to coerce other people in this way unless there is an imminent risk to life. For the most part, we shouldn’t be using the police to respond to calls for loud music, drug usage, homelessness, and other quality of life issues; these situations can be addressed using unarmed community workers. Sending people with guns to someone’s house or anywhere else just for quality of life issues is unnecessary and doing so can lead to the escalation of minor issues which could have been dealt with in a much better way. For too long police have played an overbearing role in society and many times they have been over the top in their actions. The current role of the police in society needs to end and we have to replace them with better alternatives. That is the best way forward.
Letter to the Editor: Alternatives needed for policing
