this post was submitted on 24 Jul 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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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

 

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[–] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 194 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (6 children)

Found the article.

It's so incredibly stupid how he takes himself so seriously; he's like if Poirot had a satchel of lead beads he would stick up his nose occasionally.

And then like a coward he won't elaborate on his master plan of making education and edification punishable by law.

He wasted important people's time and then just fucked off, pretending it never happened.

What a dunce; no wonder he became a cop.

[–] c0smokram3r@midwest.social 126 points 3 months ago (4 children)

TY for sharing the article!

“London, who has ties to the anti-government constitutional sheriff’s movement and tried to launch a local chapter of the far-right Oath Keepers militia in 2020, did not respond to questions.” No surprises here.

Also, homeschooling parents complaining @ a school board meeting? Wtf?? 🤔

[–] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 76 points 3 months ago

Also, homeschooling parents complaining @ a school board meeting? Wtf?? 🤔

Reactionary entitlement knows no bounds.

[–] modifier@lemmy.ca 36 points 3 months ago (3 children)

Speaking as someone who was homeschooled by people like this K-12, it's all about control. They only home school because it's the only way to control what their children learn, but if they can control what all children learn, well, that will do just fine.

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[–] VerdantSporeSeasoning@lemmy.ca 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

I was reading another article about this same town (Granbury, Texas), discussing a massive bitcoin mining operation literally giving the people & animals there sonic damage. Anyhow, the cop there trying to make things better is also noted as a former Oathkeeper. So... I guess that's part of the local 'culture' 🤦‍♀️

Also, if you want to hear more in-depth coverage of Texas school district fuckery, one of the authors of the above articles, Mike Hixenbaum, has two podcasts and a book about it: Southlake (2021-2022), Grapevine (2023), and They Came for the Schools (2024). I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them.

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[–] KevonLooney@lemm.ee 46 points 3 months ago (1 children)

So this guy went around reading books found in a children's library that he thought were disgusting. Then he looked up the names of the children who checked them out?

That sounds like something a pervert would do.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 21 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This is one reason why most libraries don’t keep records of individual’s past checkouts.

[–] themeatbridge@lemmy.world 36 points 3 months ago

You know, my kid's kindergarten librarian would say "anything that gets them reading is progress." So maybe we should be encouraging more dipshits to be checking out more books.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago

The targets of the investigation? Three school librarians in Granbury, Texas. The allegation? They had allowed children to access literature — such as “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison — that the officer, Scott London, a chief deputy constable, had deemed obscene.

Summary of The Bluest Eye from Wikipedia:

The novel takes place in Lorain, Ohio (Morrison's hometown), and tells the story of a young African-American girl named Pecola who grew up following the Great Depression. Set in 1941, the story is about how she is consistently regarded as "ugly" due to her mannerisms and dark skin. As a result, she develops an inferiority complex, which fuels her desire for the blue eyes she equates with "whiteness".

The novel is told mostly from Claudia MacTeer's point of view. Claudia is the daughter of Pecola's temporary foster parents. There is also some omniscient third-person narration. The book's controversial topics of racism, incest, and child molestation have led to numerous attempts to ban the novel from schools and libraries in the United States.[1]

Now, if he read the book, like he claims to have read it, he would know that the only obscene thing in the book is that it shows why things like racism and incest are, themselves, obscene. And that sounds like something kids should learn.

Unless, of course, this cop doesn't find one or both of those things obscene and rather finds the obscene thing to be telling people racism and/or incest is wrong...

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[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 151 points 3 months ago (2 children)

From the article:

Paul Hyde, a Granbury attorney who served on the volunteer committee tasked with reviewing dozens of school library books, said he informally advised two of the accused librarians early in London’s investigation and saw the toll it has taken on them.

“These women, that are amazing educators and librarians, have been terrified for over two years now that they’re going to get arrested, hauled off to jail on a felony charge of providing pornography to minors,” Hyde said, noting that one of the librarians left the district as a result.

“We lost a great librarian,” he said.

Anyone who thinks it's a non-issue because charges weren't filed should understand that intimidation is the point. It looks like the intimidation worked.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 25 points 3 months ago

Pigfucker County: Everyone Left?

[–] baltakatei@sopuli.xyz 17 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Drive out enough librarians and eventually youʼll find yourself needing to drive 4 hours to get a tool pulled or a melanoma whacked off since good dentists and doctors usually want decent schools with libraries for their kids.

[–] Rev3rze@feddit.nl 15 points 3 months ago

needing to drive 4 hours to get a tool pulled

This is why you should always use tools with a flared base.

[–] stevedidwhat_infosec@infosec.pub 142 points 3 months ago (1 children)

You know who else did this shit?

Nazis.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 42 points 3 months ago (3 children)
[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 34 points 3 months ago

"German Nazis."

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[–] gdog05@lemmy.world 106 points 3 months ago (1 children)

The five year investigation concluded when he finished reading the three books.

[–] thesohoriots@lemmy.world 34 points 3 months ago (1 children)

“Green eggs? Implausible. AND ham? Elitist!

[–] HonkTonkWoman@lemm.ee 25 points 3 months ago (2 children)

PURPLE FISH ARE AN ABOMINATION NO MATTER HOW MANY

RED FISH & BLUE FISH DO NOT MIX

KEEP ICHTHYOLOGY PURE

LORAXES ARE FOR WIPING YOUR BUM & DO NOT GET TO NAME OUR TREES

[–] einlander@lemmy.world 9 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

In today's ~~works~~ world, the Lorax would get 5 years in jail for planning a protest.

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[–] cybersandwich@lemmy.world 92 points 3 months ago (2 children)

This reminds me of the south park sting episode where the cop is just blowing dudes (dressed up like a hooker) and yelling "busted!"

This guy's is just reading whatever smut he can find then yelling "busted"

Lmfao

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[–] Yawweee877h444@lemmy.world 91 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Let me guess, he's a "christian"?

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 56 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Dream job lol. Do whatever you want, no strings attached, no requerements, no responsibility, and you are entitled to a higher position in any dispute with civilians. They aren't a part of the working class, they are a class of their own, lapdogs of the ones in power. How could this happen?

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[–] BetaBlake@lemmy.world 51 points 3 months ago

These fascist snowflakes need to be marginalized in a strong way

[–] todd_bonzalez@lemm.ee 44 points 3 months ago (1 children)

But they distributed them to a adult man, not a minor.

I mean, I'm sure he has baby-brain, but that's not legally binding.

[–] Adalast@lemmy.world 37 points 3 months ago (3 children)

They didn't distribute them to him either, he fucking took pictures then went home and found PDFs or used police funds to purchase eBook copies.

[–] CrabAndBroom@lemmy.ml 14 points 3 months ago

Which I assume he didn't actually read, but rather just did a Ctrl+F and typed in as many rude words as he could think of.

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[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 41 points 3 months ago

Dead Uvalde children hate this one trick

[–] secret300@lemmy.sdf.org 39 points 3 months ago (1 children)

All these books he's read but I guess he still didn't pick up Fahrenheit 451 or 1984

[–] BigMacHole@lemm.ee 27 points 3 months ago

This is a MUCH BETTER use of Taxpayer Dollars then LITERALLY FEEDING STARVING CHILDREN IN AMERICA (which Republican States opted OUT OF because then they wouldn't have Tax Dollars to do THIS!)!

[–] TheTimeKnife@lemmy.world 24 points 3 months ago

The police are so absurdly radicalized in this country.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 22 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

The minor these materials were distributed to? The officer that was investigating the library. Cuz he's obviously a big fuckin' baby.

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[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 22 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Why don’t stores that sell books get the same amount of scrutiny? I see A Court of Thorns and Roses books everywhere.

[–] MajorHavoc@programming.dev 31 points 3 months ago (6 children)

Serious answer, probably because books from book stores aren't available to the poorest classes. Libraries are (and are meant to be!) a threat to every status quo.

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[–] bl_r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Say it with me now,

All cops are bastards!

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[–] SatansMaggotyCumFart@lemmy.world 19 points 3 months ago

This reminds me of the Chickenfucker South Park episode.

[–] drunkpostdisaster@lemmy.world 17 points 3 months ago

As if pigs can read.

[–] dumbass@leminal.space 16 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Cop: these books made me horny, you should be ashamed of yourself for allowing me to get turned on by a book, in fact I'm going to confiscate all of them so no one else has to be turned on by this filth.

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

cops will only read a book if it means they can put someone in jail

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[–] Lettuceeatlettuce@lemmy.ml 15 points 3 months ago

Oink oink! What a scumpig.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 15 points 3 months ago

Really going out of his way there to be offended.

[–] big_slap@lemmy.world 13 points 3 months ago (3 children)

did all the idiots just discover books??

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[–] nullpotential@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 3 months ago

They've been doing stuff like this for years. In 1990, a Florida judge ruled that an album by 2 Live Crew was obscene, and police officers went into stores and threatened to arrest anyone who sold copies of the album. The obscenity law specifically requires a "lack of serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" and they were able to get it appealed.

Reading the article it's actually more insane than it first appears. He's been doing it for two years. This wasn't an investigation ordered by a court, it was evidence he himself was compiling for his own legal complaint, which was dismissed when finally brought to the DA.

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