THE POLICE PROBLEM
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
① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.
② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.
③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.
④ 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.
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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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ORGANIZATIONS
• NAACP
• National Police Accountability Project
• Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration
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Here's the text:
Authorities have released the identity of a woman and her infant who were killed last week during an incident that led up to a shooting involving Independence, Missouri police.
Blue Springs Police Department Capt. Kyle Flowers confirmed Maria Pike, 34, and Destinii Hope, 2 months, were both killed in the incident at Oval Spring Apartments.
Flowers is heading up the eastern Jackson County Police Incident Investigation Team (PIIT), which is investigating the incident that involved multiple Independence police officers.
Flowers also provided an update on the investigation Tuesday, saying the PIIT has now reviewed the footage from body-worn cameras that captured the incident, and investigators will be interviewing people involved in the incident again Tuesday.
The goal, currently, is to turn over information on the investigation to the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office next week. However, there is no specific deadline for the case.
Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman said Friday the officer who opened fire followed training because Pike had a knife.
Several people have said they saw an Independence police officer running with the injured Destinii in his arms to his police cruiser to take her to the hospital because he didn’t want to wait for an ambulance.
Assistant Property Manager Gavin Delaney helped the two police officers get inside the apartment.
After he was told to leave the apartment, Delaney heard gunshots and then saw the officer with the baby.
He’s already spoken to a counselor.
"It's obviously very tragic and traumatic and everybody has their different ways of processing. But, you know, my intention is not to make it seem like I'm the only person that was involved in this. I want to be able to push the resources to the family or to the people who really need them," Delaney said.
To that end, Property Manager Carrie Lufkin reached out to nearby Comprehensive Mental Health Services to provide free counseling at the Oval Spring clubhouse Monday and Tuesday.
"It was a horrific, tragic event that ended awful. And I want to do everything that I can do to help our community move forward," Lufkin said.
"Our staff are available to check in with everyone, see how they're doing, help, talk them through whatever they experienced, whatever they're feeling now," said Julie Pratt, Kansas City Region president, Comprehensive Mental Health Services. "I know we try to talk to people about trying to keep a normal routine.
Keep your daily day-to-day routine as you normally would. Pay attention to your sleeping patterns, your eating patterns. But just trying to be available for the community here in this apartment complex," she said.
Destinii’s grandparents, Brian and Talisa Coombs, said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker called them and told them she’d pay for their counseling if they want it.
They also said Baker told them her office is conducting its own investigation.
Destinii's aunt, Felisha Holder, has put together a GoFundMe page with a goal of $7,000 for the infant’s funeral.
There are also plans for a candlelight vigil outside the apartment building where the incident took place, scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m.
A purple and white balloon release will be held as part of the vigil.