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Sheriff says he is ‘ashamed’ after five of his former deputies plead guilty to torture of two Black men (edition.cnn.com)

submitted 1 year ago by tabarnaski@sh.itjust.works to c/usa@lemmy.ml

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A Mississippi sheriff said he was “ashamed” and apologized after five of his former deputies pleaded guilty to charges related to the torture of two Black men.

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[–] thequickben@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I dislike the constant narrative that these types of actions are by select few. If so many cops can hide their misconduct over years, then others can too.

[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In this case, it's probably the department that has the issue, not a select few within the department. As in, the sheriff has constructed a culture where this kind of behavior is more than just tolerated.

In many other cases, the bad apples just change departments. If they get caught in one, they apply elsewhere and keep at it. That's a separate problem, and imo there should be permanent repercussions for bad officers. These can come from anywhere, but they'll likely concentrate at the departments where it's tolerated.

The solution imo is a systemic change in how we handle policing. Some ideas:

end qualified immunity - sure, courts should consider the line of work, but it shouldn't absolve you of charges
reduce the number of armed police, and have certain patrol vehicles that are clearly unarmed - if most interactions are with an officer that cannot shoot you, people will feel more comfortable
increase salaries of good officers, and fire bad officers - could require dismantling the police union, which may not be possible, but surely the union can get on board when it comes to public safety
increase standards for who we hire as police - I've heard we essentially target less intelligent people, we should change that; I want empathy to be a major trait in who we choose to handle policing

The last is only partially relevant here since it's talking about a sheriff (elected position) instead of a police chief (appointed position), but surely we can find some systemic changes that actually help. The first is my number one priority and absolutely would help here.