this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2025
804 points (97.7% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

3372 readers
796 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
 

Are they cops?

Are the ICE?

Are they cosplayers?

Source: https://redlib.northboot.xyz/r/LosAngeles/comments/1lfe5gb/ice_brandishing_silencers/

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 57 points 18 hours ago (3 children)

The far better question is why they need assault rifles?

A suppressor is actually a good thing to put on any weapon. That's why they're becoming standard in the military. Guns are unbelievably loud, to the point that they can cause serious and permanent hearing damage to people around you when you fire them. If you're accepting the premise that an armed police force is a good thing (I disagree, but that's a separate discussion) it at least makes sense to minimize collateral damage. The sound of gunfire is especially dangerous indoors; if an officer was forced to fire their weapon in an environment like they could actually seriously injure innocent bystanders just from the noise alone.

On the other hand, collateral damage is exactly why a 5.56mm carbine makes no sense as a police weapon. Those rounds will go straight through a human body, straight through a brick wall, and still be lethal. You could end up killing someone you can't even see. It used to be that when law enforcement wanted extra firepower, they used submachine guns and shotguns, weapons with very little potential for overpenetration. But then police forces all started freaking out about the idea that every criminal was going to be wearing level 3 body armour and demanding to use the same guns soldiers use (not helped by the fact that cops in the US are allowed to buy surplus military equipment at knockdown prices).

This doesn't come from an operational need, it comes from the fact that every cop wants to cosplay at being military, but without all the hardships that actually come with that. That's why you see federal agents and SWAT all running around in multicam and other military camo patterns, despite the fact that those patterns really don't do much of anything in an urban environment. It's all just dress up to make their peepees feel bigger.

[–] modus@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Well said. If you've ever been next to someone at an indoor range firing large caliber rounds without a suppressor, it's very unpleasant to be near them if you're plinking 9mm or 22lr.

I support taking supressors off the NFA (and also abolishing the NFA altogether, but that's another argument). Calling them silencers is incorrect. They're safety devices. Some states don't even classify them as firearms. Any supersonic round is still loud enough to require ear protection.

[–] timmy_dean_sausage@lemmy.world 7 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

YES. That is the most annoying shit ever. I'm just tryna have a good time practicing good technique with a handgun and I have to sit and listen to some moron spray hundreds of dollars worth of ammo away so they can feel like they're the coolest dude at the range. Then they leave and we all look around at each other like "thank fuck that asshole is finally gone eye roll emoji"

[–] modus@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Hey! I used to be that asshole!

[–] timmy_dean_sausage@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

I'm glad you got it out of your system lol

[–] Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 1 points 10 hours ago

Those rounds will go straight through a human body, straight through a brick wall, and still be lethal.

This is incorrect. The 5.56 / .223 cartridge is not like in the movies. The nose of the bullet deforms on impact by design.

There are precious few cartridges that will "go through a brick wall". There are even fewer that would be lethal on the other side of that wall.

My thought is that these rifles have no business being leveraged for this application.

[–] F_OFF_Reddit@lemmy.world 2 points 13 hours ago

well I mean... armed? yes! to the damn teeth like these dudes with tankettes and shit? damn no