Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

2old4badbeer t1_j208yai wrote

Reply to comment by Yak_Rodeo in Globe Editorial Board: Boston police union needs to accept new realities of policing by GlobeOpinion

There’s benefits for sure, but Boston has become so unaffordable that it’s pushing most people out. Only the very rich and very poor can stay. There’s a shrinking middle class. Nearly all civil service jobs require residency at time of taking the exam, but very few have such a strict residency rule. Plus many officers prefer to live outside where they work. Nobody wants to pick up their kid at school standing next to the guy he locked up last week.

3

jgghn t1_j21q10i wrote

> Nobody wants to pick up their kid at school standing next to the guy he locked up last week.

This is literally one of the reasons for residency requirements for police officers. They should be comfortable in their neighborhood and know the people they're policing. Otherwise it sets up a "The Others" situation for the officers, and they dehumanize the people they're policing.

3

2old4badbeer t1_j23hoym wrote

I mentioned this in another comment. Some criminals take their arrest personal no matter the circumstances and seek confrontation. It’s not always ideal. If we make police live directly with people they arrest, why aren’t judges required to live amongst the people they sentence?

1

jgghn t1_j23z37m wrote

Good point. Perhaps they should as well?

I don't think the problem with judges is quite as top level. We're all very familiar with how abusive police departments are to the people under their watch. A bad judge can have just as, if not more, of a profound impact on a person's life, but there's a reason why we see "ACAB" and not "AJAB".

0

2old4badbeer t1_j242uac wrote

I think it’s anti-police rhetoric that is the root of this “work where you live” thing. Let’s just call it what it is. A cop can make a bad arrest, the prosecutor can pursue and win the case, but a judge decides how long you go to jail and somehow the cops the only bad guy? We don’t hear “AJAB” because judges in Massachusetts are appointed by the governor. How do they get appointed? Well, look at their political donations. It’s an easy line to draw. Massachusetts governors, particularly in recent history, prefer judges who defer criminals from jail for better or worse. Judges are often a last hope for a defendant and they usually deliver. But that’s beside the point. I concede there are probably benefits to cops living where they work, but it’s not always practical and should be a choice. But to expect one group of city employees to and not others is unfair, unless there’s hard evidence that proves a benefit to everyone.

1

Yak_Rodeo t1_j20f18c wrote

i agree, but thats more of an issue with the city itself. i think the city could do some unique things to remedy it like significant homebuyer rebates for city workers who sign an agreement to stay for a period of time or some variation of that

we are kind of at a perfect storm with the city becoming prohibitively expensive for middle class workers while also national opinion is steering potentially good candidates away from police as a career. the days of the civil service exams having lines out the door for the cop test are long gone

1

SkiingAway t1_j215fdz wrote

Realistically, that's just pushing deck chairs around on the Titanic. The city can either build a fuckton more housing, or the city can cripple itself by pricing workers out of the area and coming up with increasingly absurd methods of trying to privilege certain groups of workers over others.

Beyond this, I'm not particularly convinced that someone living in West Roxbury has a better grasp of the issues facing East Boston than someone in Chelsea does.

3