Ferguson. In 2013 the town issued over 24,000 arrest warrants..

[freshwest]

58. Not if they do a hundred things a day. And I doubt if they think about it at all. They are

legally required to carry out court orders, enforce laws and keep everyone coloring within the lines.

I'm not a cop, nor do I have them in my family, we didn't need that kind of employment. This is what I've observed over the years, with good and bad cops, but won't go into the bad stuff here.

Cops have some leeway on how they do their jobs of observing, trying to resolve things and protect people or property. But not with court orders, which is what a warrant is and not all generated by their observations directly but many other events they are neither involved in nor initiate.

But the fact their revenue, thus their jobs, which may be some of the best paid in that impoverished area, would tend to make the department tell them to enforce 'infringements' of the law zealously. That is a form of corruption, such as towns that annex highways that skirt them to finance operations with speed traps. They don't maintain those roads but take advantage of the opportunity of those passing by, who are not living or engaging in crimes in their towns.

The major, often ignored problem in Ferguson is the same as in many black communities with these events going on, it's poverty. Since the more stressed one is in terms of finances, the more likely one is to 'color outside the lines' or disregard administrative orders. And not be able to pay promptly when a vehicle inspection, license plate renewal or taillight is not handled in a timely matter. It's not a matter of morals or not wanting to do the 'right thing.' There isn't enough money to keep up the pretense of being middle class.

Overt racism is just the visible part of underlying discimination. Now, if I was in charge, I'd do this:

Hire people from the community to go out and ask each household what their needs were. Health, mental health, quality of housing, employment, debts, addictions, legal troubles, whatever. Ask them to voluntarily cite what their problems are.

They are owed that, or reparations. Get it over with. I suspect poverty, debt, health, the quality of their housing, trouble with transportation, lack of employment, needed education impact all of the residents.

Offer the services without strings attached to make their lives work to become independent and free of the goat rope that is our current government assistance system except in catastrophes. Stop making their lives a man-made catastrophe.

Make a debt jubilee of those things they will never be able to pay to stop that cycle of poverty. This will occur as soon as we tax the 1% until they holler and government gets fully funded to get rid of poverty. Until then, we'll continue with the bread and circuses.

Just sayin'