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this post was submitted on 03 Jan 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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RULES
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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
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
So the police have no agency? They are required to make no decisions on whether what they are doing is worth it?
What about if they just started shooting at the car and hitting bystanders? Would that be 100% the driver's fault, too?
Much like firing a weapon in a crowded area, a car chase is inherently dangerous and I would say any sane person in the vicinity of a cop trying to pull someone over for a broken tail light would prefer that person go free than to have their lives put in danger for a ticket for a broken tail light.
People often don't act in their best interest or the best interest of society.
I currently live in a US city where the police haven't enforced traffic laws since the mid 2010s. It has by far some of the highest accident rates in the country. Not just accidents, the "mad max" level shit that goes on like roving bands of dirt bikes is insane (like 20-30 together). It has become such a huge issue, it is destroying businesses, tourism, home ownership, etc, in the city.
To further expand, although you didn't mention it. People in this thread say just get them later... How exactly? Probably a 5th of the license plates in this same city are fake. People are literally just printing fake temporary tags.
And no I'm not exaggerating about my examples, if anything I'm understating the problem for this particular city.
An awful lot of vague bullshit in your claims. I'm not calling you a liar, but I require receipts. You sound exactly like every right-wing nutjob who insists BLM burned Portland to the ground, having never set foot on the west coast in their life.
You live in a US city where the police haven’t enforced traffic laws since the mid 2010s. And no, you're not exaggerating. Is the city Fast and Furious?
I live around Atlanta and it's extremely uncommon to see someone pulled over from a traffic violation. Almost literally everyone that drives on 75 or 85 in the city is doing 75+ in a 55 and I've seen cops drive by them. Yep, cops going by them even faster. Hell, you'd probably be at a bigger risk traveling the speed limit there.
Over here, on the civilized side of the Atlantic Ocean, you'll get a nice photo of yourself. Taken by a traffic camera and sent conveniently by mail. Along with a friendly note stating the amount that you owe the municipality. Having to stop a driver unless they pose an immediate risk seems ridiculous. This just doesn't happen here.
Most of us over here oppose those types of cameras. We're not so keen on government surveillance. I know it's ironic that we'll willingly let companies surveil us.
However, even with those,, things don't always happen around cameras. Especially when people know where they are. Don't know how common this is over there but we see the same effect when we know there is a cop sitting at a speed trap.
You don't have cops killing people for busted taillights? How quaint.