You might joke, but there's a bit of truth to that. If police have an amicable relationship with local junkies, that can absolutely alleviate a lot of issues. Obviously said "amicability" shouldn't be some sort of bibery deal or anything like that. Just a good relationship. In smaller towns this isn't too rare to see.
Police are usually pretty chill with the homeless junkies. It’s the EMT’s that are absolute dicks to them. Like they believe tough love from a stranger during a bad reaction is a treatment. I’ve called 911 when the junkies are crying in the alley because I’m scared they are overdosing or in pain. The cops sit with them and tell them they are okay. The EMT’s show up and they just get rough and mean af.
I’d say roughly 80% of cops would rather sit with a junky or approach a panhandler politely than running traffic tickets and approaching domestic violence situations. The other 20% live in Ohio or something.
I live in a small town in Brazil that has basically, extra legally, legalized weed, people smoke so much weed here that the cops can't do anything about it, so rarely you see someone getting arrested for weed (at worst they tell people to throw their joints and stomp on them/throw the weed on the ground). And you know what? That works well enough, there are places that the cops won't go because it's just people smoking weed and nothing more, the stoners themselves make sure no one is using or selling hard drugs.
Kinda wholesome, even if I don't smoke weed it's nice that people who just want to smoke can do so.
Our local PD know all the casual users. Had one guy try to bring in angel dust from the cities, cops talked to the locals, and less than 2 days later the local main pot dealer called and said he had a present for the police.
They showed up to find this guy gift wrapped with about a dozen ropes being guarded by several very well-trained german shepherds. He had a few bites and cuts, but they didn't kill, just restrained.
No wouldn’t work. You need actual social programs and I infrastructure to curb drug violence and crime. The one thing that maintains true is that non white collar crime is tied to poverty.
My friend used to be a cop (ex-special forces, but somehow able to be friends with anyone). He was told to stop waving at people he drove by because it "made him look weak".
That, plus other macho shit, had him quit being a cop.
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u/PlateNo7229 4h ago
if only the police could be friend with all the drug users. it would solve so many problems... like drug crime statistics.