this post was submitted on 02 Aug 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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ALLIES

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

r/ACAB

r/BadCopNoDonut/

Randy Balko

The Civil Rights Lawyer

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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

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At around 6 a.m. on July 4, John Sexton was walking with his 6-year-old son, who has autism. He was stopped by two officers for suspicious activity before being thrown to the ground and briefly detained.

"We've had over 200 phone calls this weekend," Daugherty said.

While it isn't his department, the sheriff called for both officers involved to be taken off of the streets while OSBI works the case.

"I can understand why they feel the way that they do, because of hearing that child scream is one of the hardest things," Daugherty said.

That officer has a history of other complaints, including from his former colleagues, according to the sheriff.

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[–] ByteOnBikes 220 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I read this in another comment about how news always protects the officer's names, while sharing the name of the victim.

Voice your complaint for Officer Monty Goodwin and Officer Joaquin Montoya at the Watonga Oklahoma police department, phone number 580-623-7355

[–] EtherWhack@lemmy.world 53 points 3 months ago

There should also be no real basis for blurring a public official's face while they are supposed to be "on duty"

[–] c0smokram3r@midwest.social 47 points 3 months ago

Yr da best fr this 🫡 Name and shame those pigs, ACAB 1️⃣3️⃣1️⃣2️⃣

[–] tdawg@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

Shoulda guessed it was Oklahoma

[–] c0smokram3r@midwest.social 65 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

But what was the suspicious activity???

Also:

“Easton offered insight into the case, as he was also a police chief in California. Many times, he said law enforcement officers bounce between departments because complaints are harder to track down even though there is a database for them.”

Seems like there’s an urgent, justifiable need for a database, or am I missing something? 🤷🏼‍♀️

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 38 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (3 children)

The suspicious activity was being non-white.

Many times, he said law enforcement officers bounce between departments because complaints are harder to track down even though there is a database for them.”

Seems like there’s an urgent, justifiable need for a database, or am I missing something? 🤷🏼‍♀️

Well, per your quote there is a database, but it isn't used in a way that is effective. Most likely the database exists because of a requirement, but it was done in the cheapest way possible and nobody uses it so it is like not having one at all while being able to tell the public it exists.

I work with systems that track people who move around and getting quality data that you can do anything with is a lot of work beyond just the technical complexities. Police agencies who don't want it to work can just put in typos or even refuse to use it because they are "too busy" if there is no oversight.

[–] pearable@lemmy.ml 5 points 3 months ago

Frequently the databases are impossible to properly search because the data being added is not normalized

[–] Sarmyth@lemmy.world 4 points 3 months ago

What I think would be a funny "get fucked" move would be to revoke their baton license when they get in trouble for anything like this. I only learned it was a thing when I worked security for a short bit. It could prevent them from being a beat cop without "infringing or their 2nd amendment rights".

[–] YarrMatey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 3 months ago

The video in the article showed what looked like a white guy being slammed.

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 28 points 3 months ago

Make cops carry malpractice insurance as part of employment. I’m sure the insurance companies will keep records.

[–] ByteOnBikes 59 points 3 months ago (1 children)

It's as if when a cop gets a complaint, nothing happens. And they wonder why we say ACAB?

[–] finley@lemm.ee 24 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Oh, something happened all right. He gets a paid vacation, the asshole.

#ACAB

[–] Isoprenoid@programming.dev 58 points 3 months ago

That officer has a history of other complaints, including from his former colleagues, according to the sheriff.

"There was no way that we could have prevented this."

[–] Aussiemandeus@aussie.zone 39 points 3 months ago

Book holiday, request time off, boss refuses. Commit crime, placed on paid leave.

Big brain moves here

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

Dude was demoted, then put on desk duty away from the public at his previous job.

All he had to do what get hired next door and he was back on the hunt.

[–] MermaidsGarden@lemmy.world 30 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Wow, someone actually got slammed for once

[–] Orbituary@lemmy.world 8 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 3 months ago

Eh I like to slam, and welcome to the jam.

[–] YeetPics@mander.xyz 24 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Instead of placing that blue cuck on leave we should place his head on a fucking pike.

[–] Facebones@reddthat.com 1 points 3 months ago

Before somebody comes and says that violence isnt the answer, I'd like to invite anybody who feels that way to direct said energy at the police who get paid vacation for their violence.

[–] Avatar_of_Self@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago

The article says that the OSBI is investigating the use of force but what about the 4th amendment violation?

Will this be another ranking cop involved fired; the other suspended and then the cops move to a new department with a clean record? If a private citizen did this, they'd be charged for the crimes that they committed.

If they go to court, you know they're going to defend themselves with qualified immunity with the age old "I didn't know the law, so I can't be held accountable" even though that does not work for regular private citizens.

The sheer lack of accountability for police officers in the US is abhorrent. We all though 'finally' when most police officers had to wear body cameras so that when they are caught maliciously committing crimes, lying and at best, being incompetent that things were going to change. But they haven't. It is still too rare for police officers to be held to any sort of accountability and for departments with horrible trends to be reorganized.