this post was submitted on 01 Sep 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

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ALLIES

[email protected]

[email protected]

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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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Surprise. Not only does shooting a driver not stop a car, but the cop got out of the way after firing, rendering his actions unjustified.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

It's wild that American cops will actively put themselves in danger when there's no advantageous or logical need to do so, then cry that the reason they kill and maim so many people is because the job is dangerous.

[–] Treczoks 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If only American cops had proper education and training like policemen in other countries have. In some departments, the ability to shoot a gun seems to be the primary qualification for the job.

[–] totallynotarobot 5 points 1 year ago

Only a fevered desire to shoot guns is the qualification for getting the job. They don't seem to be required to know how to operate them properly.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Because it lets them murder people with no repercussions.

[–] Lydia_K 4 points 1 year ago

That's not true at all! Why just recently there was a very dangerous active shooter incident in a school, around the kindergarten area I believe, and the entire police force was very careful to stay far away from that area, or any other part of the school where children were cowering in fear for their lives, where they might have put themselves in danger. It was very responsible policing that kept every one of those officers out of the way of any potential harm.

[–] DougHolland 2 points 1 year ago

It's wild, yes, but remember, it's fake. The cop was in no danger, and from where he was standing, assuming he's in reasonable health, he could easily get out of the car's way if she gunned it. Instead he gunned her.

[–] DougHolland 5 points 1 year ago

As expected, the cop in front left himself ample time and space to be clear of the car, so it certainly wasn't about saving his life.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

When cops used TV and movies for their training...

[–] Treczoks 2 points 1 year ago

Well, if their department does not provide proper training...