368
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
368 points (100.0% liked)
THE POLICE PROBLEM
2547 readers
337 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
① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.
② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.
③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.
④ 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
• r/ACAB
♦ ♦ ♦
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
♦ ♦ ♦
ORGANIZATIONS
• NAACP
• National Police Accountability Project
• Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
What the fuck, why were the police involved at all?
Sincerely,
A paramedic
Edit: ahhh, read it again, she said he wasn't breathing, so the officer may have been intending to perform CPR until Fire/EMS arrival. Still don't understand how tf you bungle a situation like this so badly.
Step 1: Assume the person is intoxicated
Step 2: Do whatever you want because you're a cop and you don't consider drug users people/"something something fentanyl"
Read the article, sounds like he was combative post-ictal. I'm not excusing the officer; it's a thing, not the most common, but I've definitely had my share of dudes that would just hulk out after a seizure. There's no real reasoning or logic to it, they don't mean to be combative. I think it's down to the lights being on while monke brain is down for the count, so lizard brain senses all the hallmarks of a fight or flight situation in the wake of the seizure and decides "fuck it, we ball". This is definitely a situation that needed medical professionals. We've always managed these situations without bringing the patient to any harm, all while still protecting ourselves. Cops aren't taught those skills, especially not since the war on drugs and war on terror allowed them to tell themselves that they're the warriors on the Frontline, the thin blue line that seperates the good from the wicked, yadda, yadda, yadda. When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail, etc. The smart thing for the cop to have done would be to listen to the wife and remove himself from the situation until EMS arrived.
Gotta love warrior training tracing cops across the map to shoot before they’re even done assessing the situation. They got rid of all that pesky responsibility the job had before.
You're absolutely right. I tried to flee after my seizure, and the paramedics still got me to the hospital without anyone beating me or otherwise causing me harm. The police screen for people who actively want to hurt others and amplify that impulse.