Readers Write: Police and white supremacist affiliation, crowd-control chemicals, police deaths, wokeness Beware this seeming solution. Text size Copy shortlink:
I am concerned with the push to prohibit police officers from affiliating with white supremacist groups. While it is easy to agree with the thought behind this proposal, the devil is in the details.
First and foremost is, who will decide what a white supremacist group is? While there are groups most people and political factions would probably agree on, it is disingenuous to claim such a label will be easy to apply in all cases. What about groups that claim to be religious organizations? Can we ban a person from being a police officer because of their religion? Can we ban people because they are members of a legal political party that espouses views that some, or even most, people find repugnant? Will the definitions change every time political power changes hands?