Last edited Fri Aug 30, 2013, 02:36 AM - Edit history (1)
A terrible law in my opinion.
Why?
Because it isolates enforcement agencies from the pain of low government revenue using conventional revenue methods. For example, it could make them less sympathetic to the call for higher taxes upon the wealthy if they do not directly feel the consequences of the lower tax revenue. Enforcement is less motivated to present an image worthy of tax payer investment like other government agencies are. They can simply rob more drug offenders to finance their operations and lose a needed dependence upon satisfying the taxpayer.
It is like paying mercenaries through the "spoils of war" method and creates a great deal of temptation to focus on revenue creation at the expense of crime prevention. With such a reward system in place, there is a powerful, perpetual political movement to maintain the criminalization of drug offenders as opposed to the treatment of drug offenders. If you wonder why we incarcerate more people than any other Western nation, I just laid it out to you. Our enforcement agencies are dependent upon non violent crime for a sizeable chunk of revenue.
I also fear this "spoils of war" conditioning as it presents a force more easily coopted by powers other than local taxpayers. This goes for the "federalization" of forces as well. I want local police departments to report to, be accountable to, and paid for by the citizens they directly serve. The further detached they are, the less dependent for revenue they are, the more susceptible they are to not feeling accountable to the citizens they directly serve.
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