this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
223 points (96.3% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

2513 readers
516 users here now

    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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

ALLIES

[email protected]

[email protected]

r/ACAB

r/BadCopNoDonut/

Randy Balko

The Civil Rights Lawyer

The Honest Courtesan

Identity Project

MirandaWarning.org

♦ ♦ ♦

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

♦ ♦ ♦

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

 

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

    "While attempting to take the man into custody, he did not comply with multiple commands to stop, and he physically resisted when troopers tried to remove him from the car," a state police statement said.
    "Troopers shot the man when he continued to drive in a manner that placed officers in imminent danger," the statement continued.

    Why kill him, though? Why even try to pull him out of the car? Cops have the perp cornered in his car, so why didn't they let the air out of all four tires, and sit in the squad car eating doughnuts until he gets bored and gives up?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 63 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Cops have the perp cornered in his car, so why didn’t they let the air out of all four tires, and sit in the squad car eating doughnuts until he gets bored and gives up?

Because then they wouldn't get to kill someone and have that amazing post-murder sex.

American cops treat lethal force as the go-to, and wonder why so many people are ACAB...

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Defund the police all the way to $0

[–] Daisyifyoudo 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Nah, we still need police. But literally only a small fraction of what we have now. And a fraction of the budget allotted to them. And a MASSIVE retooling of the hiring process. We need to hire good, empathetic, smart people who want to serve and protect. Not these highschool C student bullies looking for everyone around them to respect their authoritah

[–] surewhynotlem 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Empathetic people would burn out from the exposure to the horrible parts of society. None of them would opt into this.

[–] Daisyifyoudo 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think your take on empathy is a bit oversimplified. Most people exhibit qualities of empathy. It's not just one size one shape.

load more comments (7 replies)
[–] Kbobabob 55 points 1 year ago

2 reasons they killed him

  1. They wanted to
  2. Qualified immunity
[–] GrammatonCleric 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Troopers shot the man when he continued to drive in a manner that placed officers in imminent danger"

Try to hit cops with your car? Believe it or not, straight to the afterlife.

[–] DougHolland 52 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Claiming "he was gonna run me down" is an excruciatingly common cop lie. I'll believe it when there's video that shows it.

[–] Juvyn00b 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"they're coming right at us" as seen in South Park

[–] Madison420 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Dumber, they first place themselves in the way or hop in their window because for police these are apparently intelligent choices.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Uh, if you have time to aim and shoot you have time to just fucking move? Like, just because you kill the driver doesn't mean the car doesn't stop moving.

[–] FlyingSquid 4 points 1 year ago

Didn't you know? Police roots are very deep.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The video of the woman getting shot. The cop purposefully stood in front of her PARKED car and shot her because he thi ks he can get away with saying "she was going to run me down." And the scary part is he might be right

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] negativeyoda 9 points 1 year ago

I literally thought this was the other story about them killing the pregnant woman. What's it say about the police and society in general that I'm like, oh, a different one from the same thing that happened last week

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Ok but is the property okay? Did anyone check on the stuff? I hope no items got hurt.

load more comments
view more: next ›