Those who uphold the law should not be elected. Because the executive branch should be completely separate from the legislative branch.
In the U.S. sheriffs ARE elected and it’s a bit of a nightmare. They do not need to be qualified as long as people vote for them. They are not accountable to anyone but the majority of voters. They can violate rights, plant evidence, murder. It doesn’t matter if all those actions are public knowledge as long as people continue to vote for them. And that may sound absurd, but there are plenty of examples of sheriffs doing whatever the hell they want but continuing to get elected.
There are horror stories of child murdering serial killers going free for decades due the the incompetence of sheriffs.
It’s a lot harder to organize a recall election than to just fire a corrupt or incompetent law enforcement officials.
We should work on the “accountable to the people” part first. I don’t see that presumption reflected in reality where they are elected.
Elected sheriffs are the .most corrupt people you’ll ever meet. Total shit show.
The government has a monopoly on force. That force should be weilded by the fairest and most impartial people possible. Police, investigation agencies, etc., should be as free from bias as possible.
Now, you have multiple ways to get to that point, and people have different opinions on the purest way to achieve this. But, electing them doesn’t seem to be the way. Tyranny of the majority is too strong. And appointment by elected officials is equally problematic. So how then does a system establish that is not subject to abuse by those with power?
I would argue that the best system for appointing law enforcement seems to be via a benevolent dictator or monarch or their representatives. And it only works for their lifetime, unless the inertia of the benevolent institution can be sustained. Well, it’s a crapshoot but stable at least for the lifetime of the monarch or similar.
I’d also entertain citizen lotteries for these sorts of positions. But that’s a crapshoot on shorter timeframes.
They should be subject to a citizens police review board.
Like that’s ever going to happen.
