this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2024

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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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[Followup] Deputy charged with murdering Black woman allegedly told partner not to give aid (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/thepoliceproblem

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Prosecutors alleged that when Grayson and his partner responded to Massey’s home, Grayson allowed her to move a pot of water heating on the stove, but as she set it on a counter, Grayson then “aggressively yelled” at Massey over the pot and pulled his 9mm pistol.

Massey then asked what the deputies were doing, to which Grayson responded, “Getting away from your hot, steaming water.”

“I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” Massey said twice, according to the documents reviewed by NBC News.

Grayson responded, “I swear to God. I will shoot you right in your f------ face.”

When Grayson drew his service weapon and ordered her to drop the pot, she let go, then crouched below a line of cabinets, and declared “I’m sorry” before being shot in the face, prosecutors said.

Grayson did not render aid to Massey and discouraged his partner from getting his medical kit because he thought her injury was too severe, according to the court document filed in support of keeping Grayson in custody without bond.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 months ago (3 children)

The article says they are releasing the body cam video today, so that should be pretty condeming if this story is accurate.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

They've charged him with murder (as is also in this very headline), so it would be a little surprising if the cam showed anything else.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/sonya-massey-death-illinois-deputy-173536807.html

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

The article says they are releasing the body cam video today, so that should be pretty condeming if this story is accurate.

Sure is.

https://apnews.com/article/illinois-police-shooting-911-murder-7a1b433183933ca94f266c0f90753a33

The video from body cameras shows a tense moment in which former Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson yelled at 36-year-old Sonya Massey to set down a pot from the stove just seconds after she started pouring the water into the sink and the two giggled over her “hot steaming water.” He then threatens to shoot her, Massey ducks then briefly rises and Grayson fires his pistol at her three times.

Grayson tells her to give him her ID. Then he points to the kitchen for the other deputy to check on the stove. “We don’t need a fire while we’re here.”

Massey goes to the kitchen and after she and Grayson share a laugh, she says, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” and asks him a question.

“You better (expletive) not or I swear to God I’ll (expletive) shoot you in your (expletive) face.” He then pulls his 9mm pistol and says “Drop the (expletive) pot.”

Massey says, “OK, I’m sorry.” In Grayson’s bodycam footage, he pulls the gun and when she ducks, she raises her hands and it looks like she has the red pan in her hands. But Grayson is still in the living room, facing Massey, behind a counter dividing the living room and kitchen, 10 or 15 feet away.

The other deputy, who is not named, said “I’m gonna go get my kit.”

Grayson said, “No, it’s a headshot. She done. You can go get it, but that’s a headshot ... there’s nothing you can do, man.”

He added: “What else do we do? I’m not taking hot (expletive) boiling water to the (expletive) face”

Noting that Massey was still breathing despite losing a lot of blood, he relented and said he would get his kit too. The other deputy responded, “We can at least try to stop the bleeding.”

Speaking to responding police, Grayson told them “she had boiling water and came at me, with boiling water. ... She said she was going to rebuke me in the name of Jesus and came at with boiling water.”

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

that should be pretty condeming if this story is accurate.

Ah - yep.