this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2025
1466 points (99.0% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

3318 readers
1938 users here now

    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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

RULES

Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.

If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.

Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

ALLIES

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

r/ACAB

r/BadCopNoDonut/

Randy Balko

The Civil Rights Lawyer

The Honest Courtesan

Identity Project

MirandaWarning.org

♦ ♦ ♦

INFO

A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions

Adultification

Cops aren't supposed to be smart

Don't talk to the police.

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

So you wanna be a cop?

When the police knock on your door

♦ ♦ ♦

ORGANIZATIONS

Black Lives Matter

Campaign Zero

Innocence Project

The Marshall Project

Movement Law Lab

NAACP

National Police Accountability Project

Say Their Names

Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration

 

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I guess ICE wins then. Yayyyyy.

[–] walktheplank@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Sure are and will continue to do so because of ignorance and inaction.

[–] Crikeste@lemm.ee -3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (3 children)

Would you consider ICE losing being -1 officers and you in prison or dead? Like I said, I don’t disagree with the sentiment, I’m just being realistic.

Let me put it this way: If people start killing ICE officers, they will be rolling up with every resource they have to kidnap whoever they are looking for.

Is that a better situation?

Killing officers is not the end, it’s the beginning.

[–] Crankenstein@lemmy.world 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Then the people need to organize and be ready to fight back and defend themselves against state oppression. We know it is going to happen if we stand up for ourselves, so we might as well be prepared instead of letting it deter us from doing what is right.

You act like they aren't already rolling in and kidnapping whoever they desire. So the threat of them doing it "harder" is moot.

[–] Crikeste@lemm.ee 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I mentioned people organizing and fighting back in my earlier comment. I absolutely support it. But the main point is the organization.

And I really don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that, while sure they are doing whatever the fuck they want now, they have far more gross tools they can use. I think what we’re seeing right now is Trump trying to normalize the military protecting ICE.

[–] Crankenstein@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago

Yea, no shit. Still doesn't change anything about my point.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 6 points 3 days ago

The more officers they have to send to a kidnapping, the fewer kidnappings they can perform.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 days ago

I'm more inclined to think that unidentified ICE officers kidnapping random folk without any warrant or due process is the beginning, citizens defending themselves from the gestapo is the only appropriate response. To be realistic, they're already rolling up with every resource they have to kidnap whoever they are looking for, it's already reached that point. Who do you think would back down first? Who do you think should back down first?