this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
29 points (73.8% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

2462 readers
312 users here now

    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 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 10 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] r_13@lemmy.world 29 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Clickbait title. It's $175,000.

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Clickbaity writing, but also kind of a softball. "Annoy" doesn't really cover my emotional reaction to this.

At the very least he should be getting 50 years of federal minimum wage equivalent that he could have earned if he weren't wrongfully imprisoned. If we do this the simplest possible way, $7.25/hr x 40 hr/wk x 52 wk/yr x 50 yr, that would be $754,000.

Still not compensation for having your life stolen.

[–] usualsuspect191@lemmy.ca 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Plus some extra for ruining his life. To be somewhat fair it should be like at least triple that.

I'm not sure I'd give up 50 years of my life even for a few million dollars...

[–] Gamoc@lemmy.world 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Not as much as your shit clickbait headline it won't.

[–] smooth_tea@lemmy.world -5 points 10 months ago

Don't cry when you reach the end of the title!

[–] solariplex 11 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

Shouldn't it at least be (potential yearly wage*50 + potential pension) adjusted for inflation?

My shitty napkin calculations puts that at about 750k, which still isn't a lot, but a helluva lot more than he actually got.

$7.5 * 40h * 45weeks * 50years = lost wages = 675k Wages * 0.1 = pension = 67.5k

[–] Twentytwodividedby7@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think most states have a set compensation outlined by law. However, he can sue for damages in a civil trial and win a more appropriate amount.

[–] solariplex 1 points 10 months ago

I see, makes some sense

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

Just adding insult to the injuries. Does anyone have an idea how they calculated this number? Or is this just a "maximum payout for this kind of things" in Oklahoma?

[–] Transporter_Room_3@startrek.website 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Annoyed? Is that the word? I used to get annoyed. When I got a flat tire, when a plane was delayed. I used to get annoyed when the Yankees won the series. So if that's what annoyed means, what am I feeling now?

If you know the word, tell me because I don't.

I can't even imagine how that would feel.