Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

         On the heels of the recent shooting of Jawhari Smith by Austin Police, I've been lead to a very critical opinion of the Law Enforcement System of the US. This particular case is pretty straightforward, Smith was carrying a BB gun around and refused to put it down, but its seems to me, that every few weeks someone's getting searched, arrested or shot, solely because the people don't trust the police. Which brings to mind the old Latin maxim;

                              'Who will watch the Watchmen?'

      The first thing to consider when attempting to answer this question, is who the watchmen really are. Most of us will point fingers at the donut-munching, drug-planting, racial-profiling, speedtrap-setting coppers that we see in bad TV and movies from the early '80s. But the truth is just so unbearably mundane that it seems to fade from our memories again and again. The fact is, most of the men and women employed by the law enforcement industry are just regular people, the could be your neighbors or classmates, and the only thing that separates them from the rest of the crowd is that shiny little symbol and a gun. To be fair, there are plenty of terrible douche-bagel cops out there, but they are indisputably the minority. However, due to that phenomenal inability of the people to see past that badge, those few rotten apples are all that we remember.

     This totally biased slant against all these folks that are supposed to protect us is entirely disarming. Because without our trust, why should they trust us? And how can they protect us when they constantly have to safeguard themselves against us? How could we possibly be employing over a million people in an industry that is completely ineffective, paying salaries from taxes from people that hate police?
   
     David Brinn proposed a solution in his book The Transparent Society, back in '98. He argued that given the rate of advancement in surveillance technology, a physical police force will no longer be needed to keep tabs on the behavior of the public. The ease and affordability of this new 'Big Brother' technology could provide detailed records of any individuals actions, whether its their phone records or bank statements or just the bill from that adult video store, at a moment's notice, with the click of a button. The gazillions of little data points could effortlessly be stored in the cavernous internet, providing potential evidence decades after documentation.

      What's even better, is that this information could be available not only to prosecutors, but to also to the defendants. Alibis for years, no more hearsay, and above all accountability for both sides of that thin blue line. And I know the multitude of semantic, parking-ticket-ignoring criminals out there are raging about the invasion of privacy, and the NSA watching them pee, but the fact of the matter is that once 'they' see what the good, upstanding people are upto, they'll leave you alone. And hey, at least with this system you get to watch them too. And that's really what its all about, getting everyone to keep the lights on and make sure that whatever happens, it is seen and recognized. By someone, by anyone,by

                                                   Everyone.

       Which brings to mind a second point, why are the police the only ones upholding the laws? Surely as part of our 'upright citizenship', we ought to feel at least somewhat motivated to support those rules and systems we've chosen to be participate in. Strangely, the only place folks are willing to take a stand like that is on literal battlefronts, through the armed forces. Our citizens would rather leave their communities, to kill or be killed combating foreign hazards, to defend a dreamy ideal of what the nation 'should' be, rather than try and share the enormous burdens of our domestic turpitude.

         I would suggest a change in policy, to promote faith and commitment in our national ideals, by instituting a lottery, similar to that used to select potential jurors, to elect a Citizen's Guard to protect and police their community, for terms not exceeding one year. By eliminating the divide between civilians and law enforcement, we could encourage cooperation and rebuild that shattered trust. Though at the same time it will keep the population on their toes, as each individual will know the others are watching, and that each of them is expected to suppress dangerous or unreasonable behavior.

       Eventually, we, as a cooperative and responsible nation, may outgrow the need for the absurdly punitive system of law enforcement that we currently rely on. Though even switching the emphasis, just a little bit, towards deterring crimes, rather than just jailing folks after the fact, would be a huge improvement. It'll take a lot of doing, but there's a lot of us here to do it, and it definitely needs to be done.