Policing the Police Act of 2014 (Redraft passed)

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

Senators have 24 hours to object.

I do not object. There is a broad consensus for this as it stands.

[Cranberry]

Yes, a vote seems appropriate for me as well.

[Adam Griffin]

It's quite shameful to see the Senate remove most of the teeth from this piece of legislation as police engage in outright repression in Baltimore.

I believe these events in Baltimore occured just in a parallel universe hosting a country called "America", I have not heard anything from the GM saying otherwise.

GM policy works the other way around: unless the GM specifies otherwise or there is in-game policy that explicitly makes it impossible to occur here, everything occurring in real-life is assumed to have happened in Atlasia.

Also, yes: deeply disturbing and very disappointing, but also very predictable. Not a goddamn thing of relevance in here other than badge cameras. The rest is either suggestive or more tax dollars/handouts to reinforce a police state- laughable, if not so pathetic.

[Cranberry]

It's quite shameful to see the Senate remove most of the teeth from this piece of legislation as police engage in outright repression in Baltimore.

I believe these events in Baltimore occured just in a parallel universe hosting a country called "America", I have not heard anything from the GM saying otherwise.

GM policy works the other way around: unless the GM specifies otherwise or there is in-game policy that explicitly makes it impossible to occur here, everything occurring in real-life is assumed to have happened in Atlasia.

I see. Thank you for the clarification.

[Blair]

what's the progress on this?

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

what's the progress on this?

I believe there was a call for a final vote, which I supported.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

It's quite shameful to see the Senate remove most of the teeth from this piece of legislation as police engage in outright repression in Baltimore.

I believe these events in Baltimore occured just in a parallel universe hosting a country called "America", I have not heard anything from the GM saying otherwise.

GM policy works the other way around: unless the GM specifies otherwise or there is in-game policy that explicitly makes it impossible to occur here, everything occurring in real-life is assumed to have happened in Atlasia.

I see. Thank you for the clarification.

For the record, this has never been how I interpreted events.

[Cranberry]

It's quite shameful to see the Senate remove most of the teeth from this piece of legislation as police engage in outright repression in Baltimore.

I believe these events in Baltimore occured just in a parallel universe hosting a country called "America", I have not heard anything from the GM saying otherwise.

GM policy works the other way around: unless the GM specifies otherwise or there is in-game policy that explicitly makes it impossible to occur here, everything occurring in real-life is assumed to have happened in Atlasia.

I see. Thank you for the clarification.

For the record, this has never been how I interpreted events.

I was under a different impression as well, but what do I know? There certainly has to be a law or anything dealing with this? (Yankee? Nix? Griffin?)

[Blair]

I assumed that it worked as Griffin said, because simply the GM doesn't have enough time to say what happened, rather than what didn't happen

[windjammer]

Well,
Senators hace 24 hours to object about the final vote.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

It's quite shameful to see the Senate remove most of the teeth from this piece of legislation as police engage in outright repression in Baltimore.

I believe these events in Baltimore occured just in a parallel universe hosting a country called "America", I have not heard anything from the GM saying otherwise.

GM policy works the other way around: unless the GM specifies otherwise or there is in-game policy that explicitly makes it impossible to occur here, everything occurring in real-life is assumed to have happened in Atlasia.

I see. Thank you for the clarification.

For the record, this has never been how I interpreted events.

I was under a different impression as well, but what do I know? There certainly has to be a law or anything dealing with this? (Yankee? Nix? Griffin?)

Most GMs have generally held that real life events do occur in game unless such is not possible or the GM says it doesn't.

[Cranberry]

^ Thanks, Yankee

Final vote sounds good to me

[bore]

Of course holding that real life events do happen in atlasia runs into difficulties for political events, seeing as we have been on a completely different track for 10 years now. It's certainly a very knotty issue. That said, while I'm agnostic about whether an event like Baltimore could happen in Baltimore, it's impossible that we have reformed humanity, of which police officers are a subset, to be able to be a law unto themselves.

[windjammer]

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A final vote is now open. Please, vote Aye, NAY or Abstain.

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

AYE

[Blair]

Aye

[Cranberry]

AYE

[windjammer]

Aye

[Talleyrand]

AYE

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Nay

I see a number of issues in the bill that make me uneasy. In general, I support the spirit of the work unions do in protecting employees from unjust termination of employment; this bill does not engage them whatsoever. I am nervous of the authority we will be giving potentially uneducated, untrained civilians over police officers. The members of these PICs could be completely unfamiliar with police work. Plus, the intent of the PICs is not exactly ambiguous: These are the bodies that will be digging up dirt on officers. There's nothing about when an investigation would be appropriate and when one would not be. I am afraid that PICs would attract individuals who want to smear officers... and now they'd have the authority to do just that. It is true that the PICs only have the power to recommend persecution, but the ability to subpoena individuals and documents is quite a big muscle to be able to flex. A slanted investigation, which the PICs now have the ability to conduct (basically they're extra-judicial witch-hunt panels) could do serious damage to innocent officers.

Sometimes officers have to make hard decisions in the line of work that, when politicized and made the subject of sensational investigations, could be construed as criminal. In reality, the hard decisions they make are often necessary at the time. I have a hard time handing the power to condemn these individuals to popularly-elected anti-police activists. How can they know what a police officer should or shouldn't do when lives are at stake?

In fact, I believe we should look into passing a Good Samaritan Act that makes clear the protections first responders have in the line of work. If a firefighter breaks someone's ribs when saving them from a burning building, a lengthy trial, the possibility of being fired, and criminal proceedings aren't something that person should have to face.

Anyway, I digress. I urge my fellow senators to think more carefully about what this bill, particularly the establishment of PICs, would mean for our law enforcement.

[Lief 🗽]

Reluctant aye.

[windjammer]

This has enough votes to pass.
Senators have 24 hours to change their votes.

[TNF]

Nay

This doesn't go far enough.

[Senator Cris]

Nay

[windjammer]

The result of the vote:
Aye (6): Talleyrand, Lief, Windjammer, Polnut, Cranberry, Blair
Nay (3): Cris, TNF, Hagrid
Non voting: NC Yankee
This has passed and this is now sent to the president

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