We’ve heard “de-fund the police”, but what do you think of “decertify the police?”

13 comments

1. Lemme know how that goes lol I also couldn’t read past a couple lines unfortunately so idk what it’s all about

2. Love the word decertify, when it really means fire cops for wrongdoings, the same thing that happens with any other job.

   “California’s police standards commission is bracing to decertify or suspend 3,000 to 3,500 police officers each year for serious misconduct under a new state law…”

3. Fundamentally, I’m ok with it. Bad apples have to go, no matter the profession.

   Still, the article states that roughly 4% of California’s police fall into the category of wrongdoing that could result in decertification, and then someone comments that that number is “pretty staggering.”

   Is it, though? That seems pretty reasonable to me. I can’t think of any job category where I’d be willing to wager money that less than 4% of the members of that category were “bad” (however defined for that category).

4. Idk I’m old school and just like to say fuck the police

5. Bad cops are a danger to good cops, citizens, our taxes, and the institution.

   The more we allow bad cops to stay, the more the trust in police will go down.

   Cops are pretty necessary. But I wouldn’t call them for the majority of issues I might have, and that is from experience.

6. How’s all of this going for California?

   Lots of businesses have left.
   Which means jobs have been lost with in the state. Meaning that tax revenue is going to go down. Spoiler alert, it’s not the California GOP doing this.

7. I don’t have a subscription to the SF Chronicle, can someone give me the TLDR?

8. “Decertify” is just a back-end way to fire an officer without going through the usual fire process, which can get blocked by police unions. I am sure this will be challenged in court.

9. In Georgia, decertification is (compared to other states) frequently used in cases of misconduct

10. It’s sounds like defund with better PR

11. It says they can be decertified for excessive force or bias. Excessive force is a problem, and firing cups for that is a good thing. Bias? By what standard? By the current standard of someone who raises their eyebrow when they shouldn’t? No, that just means cops lose their union and become “at will” employees, which may not be the best for people working difficult jobs in a highly politicized environment.

12. Huh. I guess I do prefer that.

    I am a civil servant. If I engage in misconduct, especially in fulfilling my duties, I would expect reprimand up to and including termination. Public employee unions do sometimes deserve the critique that they protect bad employees, but insofar as that is a legitimate criticism it is especially legitimate when directed at police unions. Why so many Americans allow police to suckle at the public teat and call themselves heroes for doing so is beyond me.

    Make their unions merge with AFSCME, then we’ll see how tough they are.

13. In any other job you can get fired for misconduct. Police should be held to a higher standard, MINIMUM