this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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 2 years ago
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[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 79 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

If a person impersonating a cop spouted out some random digits when I asked for their badge and serial number, I doubt I would be able to tell the difference.

[–] Djinn_Indigo@lemm.ee 36 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

That's what the call is for- you ask the local office if they can confirm that that officer is actually on patrol, exists, etc. Idk how that would work for ICE though; I don't think you can just call up the federal ICE headquarters.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 36 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

That's not what the post says. It says call 911 if they refuse. It gives no guidance on what to do if they respond.

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 7 points 4 hours ago

At least with 911 on the phone you can ask to be connected somewhere who can verify

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[–] MetalMachine@feddit.nl 49 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

This always makes me think, if you resist an "ice agent" because they have not identified themselves, your not liable right? Like if you go infront of a court wouldn't you have a good case to say, "they didn't identify themselves, I thought I might be assaulted or kidnapped by someone"

[–] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 36 points 4 hours ago

Except you won't go to a court. You'll go to a camp.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 56 points 6 hours ago

Your first mistake was assuming you would be allowed to see a court.

[–] Akrenion@slrpnk.net 66 points 7 hours ago

There is a reason why they suspend due process.

You are being kidnapped.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 42 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Next protest literally everyone should dress up in the same outfit the ICE officers dress in. Who would they arrest?

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 20 points 8 hours ago

I was in autopilot reading this like don't dress like cops then I remembered the cops aren't dressing like cops. (I'm very sleepy.)

[–] Corn@lemmy.ml 9 points 7 hours ago (4 children)

Impersonation a federal agent is a felony.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 5 points 54 minutes ago (1 children)

Should remind them of that.

[–] Corn@lemmy.ml 1 points 48 minutes ago* (last edited 38 minutes ago) (1 children)

ICE is under a federal agency, isnt it?

[–] frezik@midwest.social 5 points 32 minutes ago

They're identifying themselves as ICE. Who they actually are is up for debate. They seemed to have rushed this so bad that they don't have proper identification at all and do not care to.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 3 points 37 minutes ago

Don't put ICE plastered on the front just dress up in black with a helmet and face mask and vest. When there's 1000 it's close enough

[–] insaneinthemembrane@lemmy.world 15 points 5 hours ago

I think it's just wearing clothes not a uniform though and not stating you're an agent, so I don't think it's impersonation.

However I think it's dangerous to do this. We're better off when we can identify the enemy.

[–] untorquer@lemmy.world 9 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

And yet there are no laws against expersonating.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 hour ago
[–] sudo@programming.dev 180 points 12 hours ago (10 children)

Utterly delusional to think any of that would work. At every step you would just get your face beaten in. When the cops come they too will just beat your face in.

Thinking you can castle doctrine a squad of ICE agents is equally delusional. You could probably take a couple out but you'd still die in the end and be risking the lives of anyone that lives with you.

The only solution is well known and already in practice in places like LA: have an active community response force that will show up and intimidate and harass the ICE agents. All of the previous delusions assume you, alone, can stop an ICE with just your privledge.

[–] sxan@midwest.social 5 points 1 hour ago

It happened at one of the protests. Someone asked one of the officers for their badge number and got their head battered.

[–] AntiBullyRanger@ani.social 15 points 5 hours ago

Folks also need to be tearing down the local deathcamps, and rescuing the people still alive in them.

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.world 65 points 10 hours ago (5 children)

No badges, no uniforms, driving unmarked cars and wearing masks? I think any person could successfully argue in court that they thought they were being kidnapped by criminals.

[–] CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml 4 points 52 minutes ago

You're still thinking as if due process and legality matters

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 98 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

You never get to court, that's the point the previous comment is making.

As an individual trying to stand up to them you're somewhere between being either completely ineffectual or making the situation worse. Having the law on your side doesn't matter because it's impossible for you to summon the enforcement of it fast enough to help you, assuming they even would.

A local community response that will mobilize and appear in your neighborhood in seconds is basically the only way to respond quickly with enough force for them to care about.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 9 points 4 hours ago

The people in LA Matt have been tracking and following the ice vehicles to some extent. We need that everywhere.

[–] sudo@programming.dev 14 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

If ICE is coming for you, then you're not seeing court. If you're some interfering bystander then maybe you will. But then you're plan to lie to the judge and say you didn't know? The judge will see through you're bullshit immediately.

Like that could only work if you actually were ignorant and even then you'd have a long up hill legal battle to establish the precedent that its sometimes OK to shoot law enforcement. IANAL but I think thats a liberty the state has never been conceded.

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago

If you live in a society where masked gunmen, who are answerable to NO ONE can black-bag and kidnap you off the street, then it's time for folks to have an honest talk with themselves about what kind of society they really live in.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 7 points 8 hours ago
[–] lovely_reader@lemmy.world 22 points 10 hours ago

You're probably right, but you'd have to make it to court. Not everyone does..

[–] TachyonTele@piefed.social 24 points 10 hours ago

There were posters stapled to phone polls in my area with what to do when ice is around. Demand id, demand a warrent etc etc.

The next day there were news stories of ice not even caring about any of that.

They do not care about the law. Lock your door and hide. If you're a neighbor tell them no one's home. That's about as much as you can do as an individual.

[–] blazeknave@lemmy.world 13 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Tbh this is my plan if I see them, but starting with the calling 911 about the masked gunmen abducting my neighbor.

[–] sudo@programming.dev 7 points 8 hours ago

You know the cops watch the news too and will immediately guess what your up to. At best this is just trolling the cops. At worst you're calling back for ICE.

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[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 52 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Skip straight to step 3. Just call 911. These guys aren't fucking around, and neither should you.

[–] Robust_Mirror@aussie.zone 21 points 9 hours ago

Exactly what I thought. If their intent is to kill you they aren't going to mess around while you ask several times threatening to call the police.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 60 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

No. When an armed, masked man with no ID assaults you, you fucking shoot him dead, or do your damnedest.

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[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 148 points 14 hours ago (8 children)

Ideally while having someone who isn't you record the interaction, so when they drop you to the pavement and your phone 'regrettably' gets smashed to pieces, there's still some external record of what went down.

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[–] grue@lemmy.world 56 points 12 hours ago

Don't even engage; just call 911 immediately. If they're not proactively proving their legitimacy they're already guilty.

[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 108 points 14 hours ago (5 children)

They wear the masks so they can’t be identified. They don’t want their kids friends and school friends to know that what they do.

[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 35 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I don't think they care what their family thinks of them .... I think they care about how angry democratically minded citizens see them as unidentified fascists hiding behind masks

If what you are doing is legal, legitimate and moral ... then you never have to mask your name or hide your face

If what you are doing is illegal, immoral and highly dangerous to everyone including you and your family and you know it .. then you are more apt to want to hide your identity and avoid having to deal with the repercussions of what you know is wrong

[–] porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 16 points 9 hours ago

If what you are doing is legal, legitimate and moral ... then you never have to mask your name or hide your face

Disregard this, hide your face at protests people

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[–] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 44 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

Except HSI and ICE don’t have badge numbers, so you’d say, “What’s your name and call sign?” The call sign is most commonly a letter followed by 3 digits. ex: A-123

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Customs_and_Border_Protection

[–] asg101@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 11 hours ago (1 children)
[–] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 17 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Tell that to their handcuffs and guns.

[–] asg101@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 11 hours ago

I guess I should have said "No legitimacy".

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