this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
266 points (98.5% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

2349 readers
99 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

[email protected]

[email protected]

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 27 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 70 points 8 months ago (1 children)

He is recruiting brown shirts.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 months ago

I’d argue he’s setting the stage for einsatzgruppen, like the infamous Reserve Police Battalion 101.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 8 months ago

Great. Literal license to kill.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 8 months ago

A lot people would vote for this without the tiniest understanding of what it means.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Hey Trump - you already had the cop vote.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

Oh he knows, this phase is part of the "owning the libs" macro strategy.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago

Sounds reasonable. No wait, the absolute opposite of that and then some.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 8 months ago (4 children)

What about if instead of giving police a free reign to commit brutality, he said something like "we're going to vastly increase the funding that goes towards quality training; we're going to reduce reliance on old military weapons and tactics; there will be less lawsuits because our police will be given a quality education."

How about wanting the police to be the best at their jobs, rather than the most brutal?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Trump wants violent and brainless brown shirts.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

A UPS army? Now I know what brown can do for me.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 8 months ago

The more black people killed the better his polling percentage is.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You mean, just like European police forces? Some of which don't even carry guns on the job?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I'm not sure which countries don't - the UK doesn't. Germany does.

But German police seem to be eminently better trained than the US cops.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

But German police seem to be eminently better trained than the US cops.

Well, it is not really difficult to have police that is better trained than in the US. Which is a big part of the problem.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

"are you suggesting our brave police are dumb?"

Then quickly pivot to "classic coastal academic elite, assuming everyone needs more education to work an honest job they already hold."

When they're about to blow hit em with "education? More like indoctrination "

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 months ago

This country is a steaming pile of shit and I'm so worried about my children's future here.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 8 months ago (5 children)

How are we in a timeline where the only alternative to a neolib shit stain like Joe Biden is a literal fascist?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago

They shot John, Bobby, Martin, and Malcolm. They probably would have shot Bernie too if he won the primary.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 8 months ago

First past the post voting systems make sure there are only two parties and two candidates. A third party doesn't stand a chance.

Of course neither party wants to change things because it works for them.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Overthrowing the whole broken system is also an alternative. The sheeple are too comfortable with their neolib and fascist overlords though.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

We did it once. We should do it again.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

It's the voting system

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago

Please lose

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

The party of small government

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Can the President overrule civil cases?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I'm sure a lot of potential cases would actually be filed in state courts where he would not have much power over, at least directly.

As far as civil vs. criminal, ianal, but

Under traditional English common laws, a doctrine called sovereign immunity prevented citizens from suing the king. Sovereign immunity was incorporated into American law as well, imposing limits on lawsuits against government agencies or employees. source: Forbes.com

So basically, the government has to grant you permission to sue it. If a president decrees that the government is immune in a civil case, there is little legal recourse. (Reminder: ianal, I want everyone to know ianal.)

But the big picture: regardless of whether efforts to interfere could be successful, this announcement will increase police brutality.