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this post was submitted on 14 Aug 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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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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ALLIES
• r/ACAB
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INFO
• A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions
• Cops aren't supposed to be smart
• 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
• When the police knock on your door
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Non emergency needs are not an excuse for illegal behavior.
If it’s that critical that they remain close to their vehicle then they should plan better. I.e. a drive through, coffee shop with parking, thermos full of coffee, have two officers per vehicle and one stays with the car, etc.
Drive throughs are often against policy because if you get assigned an emergency call while in line, depending on the construction of the drive through and how close other vehicles are to you, you might not be able to leave immediately.
While that’s a fair point, it’s not the only example of planning ahead. I’m sure there’s plenty of other ways than the ones I came up with in a few seconds.
They could also pick a drive throughs that have enough room to leave the line. Less common in cities but they’re still there.
Edit: I’d also like to point out that their lights and sirens are designed specifically to get people’s attention and get them moved out of the way. More difficult if you’re trying to get a vehicle 10 cars up to move but it’s not like they’re stuck waiting like the rest of us would be.
Haha sorry I kind of latched on to one of your examples, you did give some other fair options. There were some exceptions made over COVID when dine in was closed but it's harder to make policies when some drive throughs are good and others aren't. And your view on efficacy of lights and sirens are a tad optimistic (including the P.A.)
That said, I do think that they could walk further and it's bad optics to be parked blocking anything but a fire route as an emergency vehicle. And I'm probably going to get roasted by the fire fighters for saying that. And I'm not apologizing for the pun.