this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2024
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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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Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.

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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

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

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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MODERATORS
 

Original link

Every police chase is a danger to innocent people's lives. Some chases are necessary, but a broken taillight is not worth that risk.

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[–] xor@sh.itjust.works 79 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (30 children)

it's really not worth it... they have the license plate and can just go to their house later...
the driver is still a piece of shit for also endangering people's lives (and the three year old)

[–] YonderCrawdad@lemmy.world -5 points 10 months ago (7 children)

So when someone is evasive to police we should just go to their house later? It's called probable cause and you don't know if the people in the car are dangerous. I'm not a great supporter of the police but the hot takes in this thread are disappointingly dumb.

[–] acutfjg@feddit.nl 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Yeah let's just make assumptions and put even more people's lives in danger

[–] YonderCrawdad@lemmy.world -3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So if you were pulling someone over for a valid reason and they fled, you would just be like oh well I guess they got away? interesting mental gymnastics going on here, why do people let their blind hatred of a group subvert common sense?

[–] 9bananas@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

"common sense"?

you do know that what you suggested ironically is literally what happens in sane countries, right?

you try to ignore the police because of a broken tail light? they'll just summon you to court, they have your plates. and you'll be fined for fleeing the police and probably lose your driver's license, at least temporarily and if it's a temporary revocation you'll definitely be required to attend further driver's training at your own expense before you're allowed to drive again.

you're not home or pretend not to be? they'll track you down and either deliver the summons directly or just arrest you.

that's normal. that's the normal thing to happen.

you know what's not normal? Killing people because they don't want to talk to you!

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