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Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

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Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#81

Post by ceilingcorner »

jeffdavis wrote: post #63

Are we saying that: (a) police are a net good, but slack is aiding/encouraging particular bad behaviors; or (b) police are a net bad and we should just deny them anything that enables them to do their jobs; or (c) police are a net good, but it's bad PR to associate with them

It's a witch-hunt, plain and simple. Of course the police needs reform, demilitarization, higher standards, more accountability, and better educational requirements.

How you get any of those things by demonizing the police and making it a left-vs-right political issue is beyond me.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#82

Post by throwaway894345 »

jeffdavis wrote: post #63

Are we saying that: (a) police are a net good, but slack is aiding/encouraging particular bad behaviors; or (b) police are a net bad and we should just deny them anything that enables them to do their jobs; or (c) police are a net good, but it's bad PR to associate with them

I do wish these broader debates were clearer and more nuanced. I get the strong impression that certain participants are not only deliberately trying to prevent this sort of nuance altogether. I'm not sure why anyone with a genuine interest in solving these problems would behave this way.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#83

Post by freeone3000 »

kevsim wrote: post #73
jeffdavis wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your city had a ballot initiative to defund and disband the police department, would you vote for it? EDIT: I'm a little confused about the downvotes. If the answer is "no", then what's the problem with police using slack? Isn't it just a basic tool for communication? Is selling them radios also bad? I should also say that my answer in my city would be "no".

I'm not sure I've seen a single person suggesting that. People want change not an abolishment of policing as a concept.

Minneapolis city Council has a current measure to disband the police department, and do new departments to carry the duties of the police - social workers for health and wellness checks, security for events, animal handling... And to only use the armed response units when life or property is at risk and deadly force may be required.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#84

Post by xwowsersx »

sbilstein wrote: post #2

Former Slack employee here... This blog post/case study was published a few years ago by Slack's marketing team and led to a firestorm of controversy within the company. Many employees of all backgrounds spoke up about how upset they were that Slack would use a police department as marketing. Eventually the decision was made to keep it up which certainly frustrated a lot of people. I guess now the leaders have decide…

Why though? Is there not a legitimate role for policing in a civil society? And if there is, don't they need to coordinate and collaborate just like any other organization?

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#85

Post by JakeTheAndroid »

jeffdavis wrote: post #65
ardy42 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don’t get it. Are we now advocating that police is overall more of a force of evil than good? Legitimate question. Police, in the abstract, are still a force for good. But it's becoming clear to more and more people that the police we actually have commit an intolerable quantity of evil acts.

If your city had a ballot initiative to defund and disband the police department, would you vote for it? EDIT: I'm a little confused about the downvotes. If the answer is "no", then what's the problem with police using slack? Isn't it just a basic tool for communication? Is selling them radios also bad? I should also say that my answer in my city would be "no".

As someone that lives in Oakland, I don't see much of a difference in terms of quality of life between when the police were beating people or killing people at BART stations compared to the extended amount of time we've lacked a police chief and the police as a whole basically disappeared.

I'm white, so the interaction with society during the completely corrupt OPD wasn't really ever a concern for me. I expect plenty of black residents are much happier now than they were then. I don't see MORE crime now than before, and I don't expect the police to ever show up if I call.

So, disbanding the police force isn't necessarily going to equate to complete and total anarchy. Most people don't break the law because we want to exist within the social contract that's established. Police can help enforce that contract, but they're not strictly required.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#86

Post by blattimwind »

netsharc wrote: post #27
_bxg1 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few years ago I would've thought thought that was an overreaction (assuming police were just using it as customers, and not something like surveillance). This week, I no longer feel that way.

Honest foreigner question: are all US police that "stinky" that any association with them is now bad, or is it an overreaction? Surely there are good police departments, ones that work with the community and not against them? But maybe I'm not seeing it from the perspective of those black employees...

A look into American popular culture is rather revealing in this aspect. Consider the currently running series "SWAT", which portrays the rise of a good-cop SWAT leader. That's the lead "good character" of the series, and he and his team are brutalizing suspects, some instances of which may actually be torture, commit various felonies on a "dime a dozen" basis, constantly abuse police powers, lie to superior officers, frequently recklessly endanger civilians and commit morally despicable acts like blatant entrapment and much more.

Those figures are the good cops in media. This is the popular media idea of "policing done right" in the US. While just one particular example, but if you look around in American media the "good cops" exhibit at least some of these aspects the grand majority of the time.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#87

Post by bradly »

ceilingcorner wrote: post #81
jeffdavis wrote: post #63

Are we saying that: (a) police are a net good, but slack is aiding/encouraging particular bad behaviors; or (b) police are a net bad and we should just deny them anything that enables them to do their jobs; or (c) police are a net good, but it's bad PR to associate with them

It's a witch-hunt, plain and simple. Of course the police needs reform, demilitarization, higher standards, more accountability, and better educational requirements. How you get any of those things by demonizing the police and making it a left-vs-right political issue is beyond me.

> How you get any of those things by demonizing the police and making it a left-vs-right political issue is beyond me.

If not this way the, how do you get it? It's been hundreds of years. The U.S. is not immune to revolutions and revolutions have changed corrupt states for a very long time.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#88

Post by catalogia »

DanHulton wrote: post #16
_bxg1 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is what's becoming apparent right now, yes. I was more of an "a few bad apples" person until this week. But they're making it extremely clear that as a faction they have no regard for anything or anyone but their own power and bravado.

I mean "a few bad apples spoil the bunch" is the full phrase, so... I guess that's what we're all seeing.

Incidentally this is literally true. Spoiling apples release ethylene gas, a plant hormone which functions as a ripening agent, accelerating the breakdown of other nearby apples.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#89

Post by revscat »

xwowsersx wrote: post #84
sbilstein wrote: post #2

Former Slack employee here... This blog post/case study was published a few years ago by Slack's marketing team and led to a firestorm of controversy within the company. Many employees of all backgrounds spoke up about how upset they were that Slack would use a police department as marketing. Eventually the decision was made to keep it up which certainly frustrated a lot of people. I guess now the leaders have decide…

Why though? Is there not a legitimate role for policing in a civil society? And if there is, don't they need to coordinate and collaborate just like any other organization?

In the abstract police are necessary. In today’s America, with the police as they actually exist today, they are very much not necessary, and are a drain on public safety, social order, and personal liberty.

Re: Slack Removed a Blog Post Showing How Police Use Its Tech

#90

Post by nkozyra »

xwowsersx wrote: post #84
sbilstein wrote: post #2

Former Slack employee here... This blog post/case study was published a few years ago by Slack's marketing team and led to a firestorm of controversy within the company. Many employees of all backgrounds spoke up about how upset they were that Slack would use a police department as marketing. Eventually the decision was made to keep it up which certainly frustrated a lot of people. I guess now the leaders have decide…

Why though? Is there not a legitimate role for policing in a civil society? And if there is, don't they need to coordinate and collaborate just like any other organization?

Because there is a great deal of sentiment that the approaches used in the United States are excessively militarized, racially unjust and insufficiently transparent.

Using a problematic customer like that as a marketing highlight is just not a great idea.

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