this post was submitted on 06 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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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.

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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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[–] Jaysyn@kbin.social 31 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Having a bodycam off should be a 3rd degree felony & grounds for termination.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I once got downvoted to oblivion on Reddit for saying I'd rather some person have to see a cops dick out when they piss (through video) than see another case where a cop turns his bodycam off during an encounter.

They should never be turned off and I agree it should be instant prison time no questions asked.

[–] bl4ckblooc@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Nothing should be instant prison time no questions asked. That’s not justice that’s vengeance.

[–] GreenMario@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Cops should be held to a higher standard.

[–] bl4ckblooc@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That doesn’t mean having no trial

[–] spaduf 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

The people they shoot don't get a trial

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

Even the very worst bad guys, even if they're cops, deserve a fair trial, and a safe stay at a non-barbarous prison with a chance for rehabilitation.

[–] bl4ckblooc@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you want to improve things, or just get vengeance? Your mindset is the same mindset that got us in this situation, it’s the same mindset that has been used to allow things like that to happen.

[–] Nutteman@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Incorrect and wrong and also I am stronger than you and could beat you in a fight

[–] bl4ckblooc@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

My dads stronger than your dad

[–] Nutteman@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

I think our dad's should kiss

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

My grandpa's been dead for decades and he could still beat your dad and everyone else in this thread and their dads too.

I think the latter comments in this thread are satire, but I wanted to defend dad and gramps. :)

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

If you look at my comment history it's mostly dumb satire that sometimes lands and often doesn't lmao

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

Your batting average is better than mine.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

See the difference is we're supposed to hold these people to higher standards. If they fuck up the punishment should be more extreme and their actions should be heavily scrutinized. If they can kill someone with little to no evidence they should be just as susceptible to losing everything with even the slightest fuck up.

[–] bl4ckblooc@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

You have to take the emotion out of it when making decisions like that. If you don’t, you end up in the exact same spot

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As long as there is a 3rd party review process to filter out background people in restrooms and other sensitive areas to avoid getting random people in trouble because a cop was present with a camera on.

You know, like a 10 year old using a urinal.

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That shouldn't be hard to achieve

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

It's very, very hard to achieve something they're trying not to.

[–] JokeDeity@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

Off or purposely blocked by their hand for more time than can be considered a reasonable accident should be a crime and immediate ban from law enforcement for life.

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

I believe CO already requires juries to assume malfeasance if the body cam's off