this post was submitted on 01 Oct 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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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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A police union is asking a judge to require the Las Vegas Review-Journal to take down a video posted with a story about Henderson jail overtime and corrections officer failures, raising concerns about constitutional press freedom. ...

Here's the video.

The newspaper reported that taxpayers have paid millions of dollars to run the city’s understaffed detention center and that corrections officers sometimes made mistakes and violated policy, records show. The exclusive jail surveillance footage and photos were posted with the story.

The Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers union, on behalf of Henderson officers, filed the complaint Wednesday, claiming that the Review-Journal broke a state law that says images of officers in possession of a law enforcement agency are confidential.

The lawsuit comes days after the union sent the Review-Journal and city officials a letter demanding the newspaper remove the pictures and videos of officers attached to the story. The letter, written by executive director Andrew Regenbaum, also demanded the city open a criminal investigation into the source of the video. ...

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This state law is not constitutional.

The Nevada Association of Public Safety Officers union, on behalf of Henderson officers, filed the complaint Wednesday, claiming that the Review-Journal broke a state law that says images of officers in possession of a law enforcement agency are confidential.

This state law is not constitutional.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It might be constitutional, but "confidential" just means the state can punish any state employees who give the images to the general public.

Marking something "confidential" has no effect on the general public who receive the images, including any newspapers that ultimately publish them.

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

It might be constitutional how?

Read the language again.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I did read it.

The union lawsuit claims that the newspaper is legally required to remove or blur the images. But the newspaper responded that the union misunderstands the law and has no case:

The statute that the union is suing under does not put any restrictions on the public

If the law puts no restrictions on the public (just like most confidentiality laws), then it is likely to be constitutional.

It's not much different in that regard from HIPAA, which prevents health care providers from sharing health information to the public but does not prevent newspapers or the general public from publishing health information that is leaked to them.

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

Review-Journal broke a state law that says “images of officers in possession of a law enforcement agency are confidential”.

Read that language again.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes. An image in possession of a law enforcement officer is confidential. That means the law enforcement officer cannot share it.

Once the image is leaked, it is in possession of the newspaper. A newspaper can do whatever it wants with its images. Even if they are "confidential".

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Snowflakes, got it.

[–] PyroNeurosis 7 points 1 year ago

That police chief is the most rectangular person I've seen in a long time.