this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
305 points (95.8% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

2403 readers
22 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

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

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
 

You can debate the need to arrest, but creating a ruse that ends up with the man being shot several times?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Birdlaw@lemmy.world -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This whole story seems like an outlier there aren't homeless people living in campers all over the US. It does seem sketchy about being plain clothes and the ruse they used. The largest factor though is as many people have pointed out on both sides, is he pulled and pointed a gun. You can argue all day that he didn't shoot and he was just defending his brother. Any person with any firearms training knows you don't point a gun unless you are willing to fire at whoever or whatever that is. A gun is a deadly weapon so as soon as someone points a gun at a person then they are threatening them. End of debate about that. Like I said the lead up to it is questionable but he would not have been shot if he didn't pull a gun which would imply he intended to shoot them. Just like most "questionable" police shootings. Why did the person pull a gun? They intended to use it. I'm so sick of the police brutality speech. Are there incidents of police brutality yes. They are actually few and far between. The vast majority are people with criminal records and then they pull a weapon on the police. It's amazing this is actually a story since he's white. Every year there are more white people shot by police than any other race but funny enough you don't hear about that. This obviously wasn't about race it was just a series of mistakes. In conclusion if you pull a weapon on police let alone a gun then why are you surprised you got shot.

[–] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Had the police shown up in uniform and acted professionally this man wouldn’t have been shot.

The behavior of the police led to the shooting. The man thought he was in danger and pulled a firearm to protect his brother and himself.

This will take time but the cops will be charged over this.

[–] Birdlaw@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oregon you don't dispute the fact that he pulled his gun and that's why he got shot. So say the police already had their guns pulled then would he be justified if he had shot them? I already acknowledged the whole set up with the plain clothes thing was sketch. It doesn't matter if you are in a uniform or you are in a shirt and shorts. If you pull a gun on someone the intention is that you are going to use it so that's that.

[–] wintermute_oregon@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

He could have legally shot the cops. They are lucky he didn’t.

[–] DougHolland@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Rule 2 reminder: If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.

[–] Birdlaw@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Doug Holland so supporting the police is trolling? Are you one of those genius defund the police folks. That has worked out so well. It's really amazing and I'm still trying to figure it out. So when there are less police then there is more crime. It's a really puzzling phenomenon.

[–] DougHolland@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Rule 2: If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.

Banned.