To an outsider it can look a little baffling. You have police, state troopers, sheriffs....

But there's also the situation of having state laws and federal laws that don't always match. I remember watching something about the weed shops a few years ago that were operating legally within their state, but then they would get raided because it was still illegal to sell weed at the federal level. Absolute insanity.


I guess I'm interested in how Americans view it all, because having grown up with it to some extent it will just seem normal, but you will also have seen it more acutely and likely have perspectives an outsider wouldn't see.

Yeah, on a day-to-day basis, it is sort of normalized… “that’s how it is”… etc. Though in many ways it REALLY sucks right now. The constitution, combined with those interpreting it, aren’t doing their jobs fairly.

If one stays put, and they like where they are at (particularly the laws), it may not be that big of a deal. If one travels, or moves, or actually cares about Americans in other states, it’s a problem.

My kids (one daughter, one non-binary) both have some desire to move away from Illinois, but are sticking around for the time being, primarily because of issues pertaining to reproductive and trans rights. One has her eye on the Pacific Northwest, and the other has their eye on Minnesota, assuming it stays blue. Red states are out.

There are so many other issues of concern - weed, guns, etc. - that definitely make local and state laws a consideration even when planning a vacation.

On a non-personal level, things are so messy that most big companies have to pour considerable resources into navigating all of the federal, state, and local laws.

I can only imagine it’s extremely confusing for visitors.

Curry Pervert wrote: Sat May 10, 2025 5:32 pm To an outsider it can look a little baffling. You have police, state troopers, sheriffs....

But there's also the situation of having state laws and federal laws that don't always match. I remember watching something about the weed shops a few years ago that were operating legally within their state, but then they would get raided because it was still illegal to sell weed at the federal level. Absolute insanity.


I guess I'm interested in how Americans view it all, because having grown up with it to some extent it will just seem normal, but you will also have seen it more acutely and likely have perspectives an outsider wouldn't see.

Marijuana is illegal in the USA. Full stop. Many states have chosen to legalize it despite its status as a Schedule 1 drug. The federal government has chosen not to enforce the law. Not sure how this dance plays out in Washington DC. Congress needs to just legalize it, but since they can't seem to do anything these days...

In the US generally police are for cities (incorporated), sheriffs for counties/parishes (thought some smaller cities contract with sheriffs), highway patrol for highways (though some communities contract with them for local law enforcement), state troopers are another name for highway patrol. The federal government has police for just about every agency, I'm not familiar with many besides the ones in the Justice Dept.

Where are you and how many police orgs do you have? Italy has a bunch of em, too. I don't know if criminal laws differ state by state in Italy though.

In the USA we have 50 states with 50 sets of laws. I think that's the most baffling thing for you maybe? Abortion, weed, sodomy (still officially illegal in California, fellatio too I think). But the laws cannot be enforced because SCOTUS ruled them unconstitutional at some point. How fucking lazy is it that our governments don't change the laws?

enframed wrote: Sun May 11, 2025 10:49 am In the USA we have 50 states with 50 sets of laws. I think that's the most baffling thing for you maybe? Abortion, weed, sodomy (still officially illegal in California, fellatio too I think). But the laws cannot be enforced because SCOTUS ruled them unconstitutional at some point. How fucking lazy is it that our governments don't change the laws?

+1

This is super baffling and frustrating, agreed. It’s like someone, somewhere in those state governments is working to prevent the state law from being changed because they are thinking, “ooh, I can’t wait for SCOTUS to rule against giving blowjobs so I can have my wife arrested!”

enframed wrote: Sun May 11, 2025 10:49 am In the USA we have 50 states with 50 sets of laws. I think that's the most baffling thing for you maybe? Abortion, weed, sodomy (still officially illegal in California, fellatio too I think). But the laws cannot be enforced because SCOTUS ruled them unconstitutional at some point. How fucking lazy is it that our governments don't change the laws?

Our legal mechanisms (all legal systems?) have a way of snowballing law and rarely shedding it. I heard a pitch that AI will be useful to navigate byzantine legal code in order to allow government to help people without regulatory snares. We're talking criminal law but it's a similar dynamic; legislature has to work so hard to pass anything that cleaning up old uneforcable junk has no bandwidth. The only time I see the chance to vote on cleaning up anachronisms and obsolete stuff is occasionally on city, county , municipal stuff.

jfv wrote: Sun May 11, 2025 9:47 am There are so many other issues of concern - weed, guns, etc. - that definitely make local and state laws a consideration even when planning a vacation.

Yeah that's gotta be a ball ache. It's almost like you're travelling to a different country and have to research it before travelling.

enframed wrote: Sun May 11, 2025 10:49 am In the US generally police are for cities (incorporated), sheriffs for counties/parishes (thought some smaller cities contract with sheriffs), highway patrol for highways (though some communities contract with them for local law enforcement), state troopers are another name for highway patrol.

That helps a bit. What you describe is kinda how I imagined from stuff I've seen, though I didn't realise state troopers were just basically highway patrol.

enframed wrote: Sun May 11, 2025 10:49 am Where are you and how many police orgs do you have? Italy has a bunch of em, too. I don't know if criminal laws differ state by state in Italy though.

UK. We have them for each county but it's almost just one homogenous force. 'Highway patrol' would just be a division of each particular force.
We then have CID (criminal investigation dept.) which are basically detectives. These are the guys that wear a suit instead of a uniform to work.
But that's mostly it.

As far as laws go, it's pretty much the law of the land throughout. Though there are apparently some things still on the books from hundreds of years ago that nobody takes seriously or bothers to remove. Like, it's illegal to enter the houses of parliament wearing a suit of armour.

enframed wrote: Sun May 11, 2025 10:49 am In the USA we have 50 states with 50 sets of laws. I think that's the most baffling thing for you maybe?

Yeah that's pretty crazy really.

It’s no different to the UK or Canada…and I suspect a lot of places. Certainly navigating laws across the EU is more complex, except those explicitly meant for the whole territory.

Same in Brazil. Feds, State, local military police and local civilian police. It’s all broken down by authorities from Federal to local.

Cops in Brazil… especially the local Military Police are… not great.

It is funny though, because age of consent is one of those things that differs across states. There is just an assumption that it is 18 everywhere (probably from adult media, where they are forced to comply with federal statutes to not get in trouble), whereas the vast majority of the US states it is actually 17 or below. So a pedo is NOT a pedo the next town over, as long as they don't cross that pesky state line. If I lived in Gary, IN, I could have a 16 year old girlfriend. CREEPY!

Also WI used to have 18 as the legal drinking age, but they had to walk that back when all the FIBs drove over to party and then drove into a ditch on the way home. At least I can still buy fireworks in both IN and WI.