RE: Let's Talk About Shutting Down Police Departments!
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Cops report to police chief who reports to city manager who reports to mayor.
Sheriff deputies report to sheriff who reports to county government. In Texas, we have county judge who runs the county.
State patrols report to state police director who reports to governor.
Federal agents report to their respective agency directors who report to President.
They’re all in parallel, not in series. City will enforce city, county, state, and federal laws. County will enforce county, state, and federal. And so on.
City police are often the starting point for many peace officers as these pay the least and have more job openings. Accomplished police will move to state or federal law enforcement where salaries and standards are higher. City police departments will have different standards and practices from one city to the next. Cultures will also be different from one department to another. Each police chief will set the direction of their department in their city.
It’s a gnarly problem with so much variation in how each individual city runs their department. A city of 1 million will have different challenges than a city of 300.
If we got rid of police, I think we would end up with citizen patrols. Good luck imposing standards on civilians. We don’t even want to wear masks and stay home, let alone follow best practices for policing.