- End the War on Drugs and other victimless crimes
The simplest way to reduce police brutality is to reduce the frequency with which a cop interacts with a civilian. And the best way to reduce that frequency is to repeal all laws that create victimless “crimes”. The greatest example of this is the War on Drugs. Not only would ending the War on Drugs result in virtually no arrests, home or vehicle invasions, or shootings from police to civilians, it would also take power and profit away from drug cartels, including those who come across the Mexican border. Ending drug prohibition would tremendously reduce the massive amount of violence in the U.S. caused by drug cartels. Further, many people who end up in prison due to being caught using, selling, or possessing illegal drugs and are later released find it impossible to get a job or finish their higher education. Faced with a lifetime as a convicted felon with few prospects for success, many of them turn to violent crime to make ends meet. Thus, drug prohibition turns peaceful people into violent criminals, creating a cycle of violence in which crime and police aggression escalate endlessly unless prohibition ends. The same thing happened during the prohibition of alcohol. Organized crime arose due to the profit motive for selling alcohol, leading to deadly encounters between gangsters, police, and civilians. Only after Prohibition ended did violent crime decrease. The War on Drugs, the modern form of Prohibition, must also end, along with all other laws that create victimless crimes, so that violent crime can decrease once again. Less crime means fewer interactions between police and civilians, meaning fewer opportunities for brutality to occur. Further, police militarization has largely come about due to drug prohibition, making encounters between police and civilians more likely to end in a severe injury or fatality. The increase in body armor, weapons, and tactics used is not merely to confront violent cartels or gangs either, as far too many people have learned firsthand by having their doors kicked in late at night, flashbang grenades being thrown into playpens, and innocent people being shot. Even worse is the fact that many times, police committing these atrocities have arrived at the wrong houses; they thought they were at a drug dealer’s house when in reality they just terrorized an innocent family. Any person of conscience should call for an end to these horrific violations, and ending the War on Drugs is the first step in that direction.
