this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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THE POLICE PROBLEM

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    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

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.

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ALLIES

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

r/ACAB

r/BadCopNoDonut/

Randy Balko

The Civil Rights Lawyer

The Honest Courtesan

Identity Project

MirandaWarning.org

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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

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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

 

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[–] drdabbles@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yes. Gladly. This disgusting cop tortured and killed a deer, which has some real serial killer vibes. I pointed out that it blows my mind that this story, which is obviously sick, gets headlines and traction faster than stories of cops killing innocent people. Because we're so numb to them killing people.

Apparently this has upset people somehow? Pointing out how this sicko is on leave for torturing and killing an animal while cops go back to their jobs regularly after savagely killing people. Not really sure how else to point out how repulsive the situation has become, but clearly people must have thought I was attempting to dismiss the severity of repugnant behavior? Who knows. People are weird.

Okay thanks I understand now, I really was struggling to understand your point. My brain could not make the connection that your list was things cops have killed for and not a list of petty crimes you find more important than this lmao.

[–] thrawn@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Honestly it’s likely just human nature. No one likes to hear “this is bad, but can you think about this worse thing that happens more?” Especially when we hear about that worse thing about every day, the story on the killing of a falsely convicted man after release just happened. Regardless of whether that was intentional, it’s the primary takeaway as you can recognize.

Like, you’re 100% right, but nobody here gained anything from it. The few people who haven’t noticed the same phenomenon after years of brutal police headlines are unlikely to walk away from that feeling like it was a useful comment. It sounded judgmental and preachy, reminded people of terrible things they already knew about, and altogether probably just made people feel worse. There are more productive times and ways to express this sentiment.

Btw I’m not judging you or saying that was your intent, we’ve all been here. I interpreted “people are weird” as some desire for explanation and I believe this to be the most likely scenario. I’m not trying to be negative about it or anything.

[–] drdabbles@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Nobody was supposed to gain anything from my comment, it was a conversational piece. A comment about the story, and the police problem as a whole. Which is, after all, what this entire sub is about.

I didn't hear about anybody being killed just after release, which sort of proves the point I was making in the first place. And to be frank with you, people should feel worse about the situation we find ourselves in with police all around the US and the world generally. Maybe if people felt worse we'd get back to demanding change.

[–] DougHolland@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago

Upvotes, downvotes, and karma mean nothing.