This just goes to crime rankings by country. Also, looks like countries with strong civil liberties actually tend to have less crime (but that's just eyeballing the nations and combining with my impressions, while I was wondering about actual evidence showing that police aggression lowers crime or generally that there's a freedom/crime tradeoff). I'm gathering from your responses that you don't really get how evidence works (no offense). Thanks anyway.
Okay. You got me. I'm just talking out of my ass.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1745-9133.12172
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10940-015-9259-4
I wasn't really making a point that is particularly controversial. It only became controversial to you because given the specifics of the thread it felt like it had a partisan sort of feel to it, so you put your finger in air to see which way the left leaning wind was blowing, picked a side, and ran with it.
Somehow I doubt that you'd have taken the same stance if this was a thread about gun control... or the lack of police presence at the Capitol on January 6th... or the failure of police in Kenosha to stop Rittenhouse and check whether he really was qualified to open carry that night... or the enforcement of Covid laws and regulations. But maybe I'm wrong.
At any rate, I wasn't even taking a side. I certainly wasn't suggesting that the deterioration of civil liberties in the name of crime reduction was a fruitful or just path. Just pointing out that when the police are out and about, we speed a little less, wear our seatbelts a little more, and maybe wait for things to cool off a little or head over to a less policed town before we risk robbing the local grocer.
Nor was I suggesting that policing is the preferred pathway to crime reduction in any case. People who feel a sense of connection to their community, a sense of self worth, and have prospects and opportunities for leading meaningful lives with their needs met and what feels like their fair share of manageable struggles and occasional comforts are far, far less likely to commit crimes. People who are able to avoid undue trauma (and especially childhood trauma) and/or have access to tools and services that help them deal with that trauma, are also far, far less likely to commit crimes.
These remedies should absolutely be prioritized, and I've no doubt that working toward these goals would have better, more stable, and longer lasting outcomes than anything that law enforcement is equipped to do.
In the meantime, however, we have people with badges who carry guns who are tasked with the job of stopping, deterring, and processing criminal behaviour. I'd like to see them get better at their jobs as much as anyone else, but even as it stands, when they pull back, crime moves forward.
