THE POLICE PROBLEM
The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.
99.9999% of police brutality, corruption, and misconduct is never investigated, never punished, never makes the news, so it's not on this page.
When cops are caught breaking the law, they're investigated by other cops. Details are kept quiet, the officers' names are withheld from public knowledge, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release — often nothing at all.
When police are fired — which is all too rare — they leave with 'law enforcement experience' and can easily find work in another police department nearby. It's called "Wandering Cops."
When police testify under oath, they lie so frequently that cops themselves have a joking term for it: "testilying." Yet it's almost unheard of for police to be punished or prosecuted for perjury.
Cops can and do get away with lawlessness, because cops protect other cops. If they don't, they aren't cops for long.
The legal doctrine of "qualified immunity" renders police officers invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do. In practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so unlikely, it makes headlines when it happens.
All this is a path to a police state.
In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.
Police who break the law must be prosecuted like anyone else, promptly fired if guilty, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.
That's the solution.
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Our definition of ‘cops’ is broad, and includes prison guards, probation officers, shitty DAs and judges, etc — anyone who has the authority to fuck over people’s lives, with minimal or no oversight.
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RULES
① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.
② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.
③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.
④ Please don't dox or post calls for harassment, vigilantism, tar & feather attacks, etc.
Please also abide by the instance rules.
It you've been banned but don't know why, check the moderator's log. If you feel you didn't deserve it, hey, I'm new at this and maybe you're right. Send a cordial PM, for a second chance.
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ALLIES
• r/ACAB
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INFO
• A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions
• Cops aren't supposed to be smart
• Killings by law enforcement in Canada
• Killings by law enforcement in the United Kingdom
• Killings by law enforcement in the United States
• Know your rights: Filming the police
• Three words. 70 cases. The tragic history of 'I can’t breathe' (as of 2020)
• Police aren't primarily about helping you or solving crimes.
• Police lie under oath, a lot
• Police spin: An object lesson in Copspeak
• Police unions and arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street
• Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
• When the police knock on your door
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ORGANIZATIONS
• NAACP
• National Police Accountability Project
• Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration
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Bruh, it sounds like it was dumb luck.
They have chase for a the traffic violation, not for the drugs. They didn't know about the drugs.
Taking the article at face value, the cops didn't know about the drugs until the chase had ended in the crash they caused. All they knew, as the chase began, was that a driver hadn't stopped for an alleged but unspecified traffic violation — 30 in a 25, perhaps, or a rolling stop at a sign.
That's not enough, in my opinion, to merit a chase all across the county, onto the interstate, and a PIT-maneuver-induced crash. These cops inflicted a lot of danger on your home town over a traffic violation. Bad cops, absolutely.
Well, police shouldn't be engaging in car chases. This might not be a very egregious case, but police chases often end very poorly and result in dead cops, dead suspects, and/or dead civilians. Personal property for civilians also tend to get caught in the crossfire. Suspects of color also are treated more harshly, and often receive an extrajudicial death.
The bigger problem is police enforcing laws that criminalize rather than reduce harm. Drug trafficking is bad, but it's incentivized because users of illegal drugs get treated as criminals rather than people in need of medical treatment.
What should police do when someone chooses not to be pulled over?
Is it just an automatic give up because they happen to be in a car? They can do whatever they want and it's not worth trying to enforce anymore?
I agree high speed chases are terrible... but there is no other solution. Checking their plates only works if they aren't obscured, and if police weren't allowed to chase, there isn't much disincentive to obscure your plates and just refuse to pull over.
Mail them a ticket. That's it. Unless the person fleeing is KNOWN to be a serious danger to others, in the sense that they are likely to hurt or kill someone.
A chase is somewhat justified, for instance, in the situation of someone driving around in a completely maniacal way that is nearly certain to result in injury or death of a third party.
Mail them a ticket how? They would have no idea who they are with an obscured plate.
If someone decides to run, then no police should not take chase. If it's an infraction like speeding, the officer can record the plates and issue a fine for the infraction as well as evading police officers. You know, like what happens when police take chase.
How did the cops know that was in the car when they escalated a traffic stop for a traffic violation into a high speed chase?
This time their stupid driving did not cause much damage. Other times that manuever has caused loss of life for those involved and innocent bystanders. Police should not be using pit manuevers at all. They are dangerous even for trained professionals in a controlled environment.
The article is really short but I don’t see an issue with what happened here.
Sounds like the cops were reasonable since they didn’t pursue at all cost. That’s a large issue of mine. Often they pursue at all cost and that’s a no no.
“Ends justifies the means”? You’re saying the police risking lives and property over a traffic violation is ok because it worked, and they got lucky with what the guy was carrying?
Also, society has decided that these drugs are illegal to sell and told the police officers "catch criminals for us, we'll pay you".
The coppers did a good and lawful job on this one and are totally in the right to be proud of their work.
I personally disagree with the whole drug criminalization thing and I also totally think we should hold the police accountable when they abuse their powers.
But this ain't that.
The poster is an idiot or a bad faith actor.
It's not the drugs that are bad. It's what the dealers and organizations do to be able to keep selling them. Treat dealers and criminals like nazis and crooked cops/politicians/businessmen.
I guess you just disvovered that most of this super leftist community doesn't want to adress actual problems but instead jerk eachother off about how evil Police inherintly are. Welcome to lemmy