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
view the rest of the comments
Do you really want a police officer that looks like a gang member?
They are in Los Angeles, the third largest PD in the US, according to the Special Counsel to the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission. It is patently impossible to believe that other departments of the general size (and smaller) do not engage in the same sorts of behavior. ACAB
Let's not stigmatize people who get a lot of ink. And I say that as someone who has no tattoos.
It's not about the fact that he has tattoos or even that he has tattoos that you think make him look like a gang member.
It's about what those tattoos show about him. Tattoos are an expensive and painful form of expression. You generally don't get them unless it's something important to you. Tattoos that say things like "punish the deserving" are going to look really fucking bad when you're a cop that committed murder.
I'm covered in tattoos, do you really want me administrating your server?
Dunno. Do you look like a mixture between a gulag inmate and a member of Mara Salvatrucha?
Yes actually
Well I am #OpenToWork right now
There's actually a large portion of really good officers that are all tatted up. It all depends on the content, how they get presented, and how the person carries themselves.
They could be from from the military and the officer is an experienced veteran. Law enforcement tends to be a common occupation after discharge, especially as they're usually immune to acorns.
They could also be someone who grew up on the "wrong" side and eventually found their way out. Now, they want to improve their old stomping grounds and help other at-risk kids find their own path.
Found their way out to... What, a more official gang? He's not doing anything good here. None of them are.
So, what you are implying is that anyone who was ever affiliated with gang activity is a lost cause. And, who could never provide invaluable moral guidance to help improve a city in a much less aggressive, mentor-like capacity.
Do you also think that the idea of reform while under lock up (where the majority of tattooing comes from) isn't possible? Maybe we should execute all criminals, right?
Sounds like you've lived a very sheltered life and have no idea what really goes on, aside from what is on the news. Sometimes people get involved with gangs (incl. in incarceration) as it may be one of the only methods of survival available to them. You just can't judge by appearance alone.
Oh, and heads up. The comment about tattoos was indeed what Maggoty mentioned, and about the generality of them, and not specifically about the guy from the OP.
No, I'm saying the police are no better, arguably worse, than a gang. They're pretty much a state run gang. They left a life of being a gangster, to be a state run gangster.
It never ceases to amaze me what kind of mental contortions people will perform to rationalize obvious malfeasance. Do you think the job of the police is to punish people?
I think they're just talking about tattoos in general though?
I died at "immune to acorns".
But seriously, we aren't super human. And police departments are very oppressive with their expected outcomes. I knew guys that came back to the military because police departments fired them for de-escalation. I also knew guys that got fired for using their weapons too much. Veterans run the gamut and there's plenty who are happy to settle right into a bad department.