662
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 07 Dec 2023
662 points (100.0% liked)
THE POLICE PROBLEM
2470 readers
4 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
Yes I know Google exists, but how hard is it to include a link with a post? (Not to OP, but to origin).
Does this happen due to quick screenshot and share on mobile?
Ref: https://news.yahoo.com/black-california-cop-says-she-151055064.html
It's bad, but more nuanced than an image headline:
Haven't watched the video yet, but it's bad enough without sensationalizing.
EDIT Video summary: Younger brother with anger issues in public after father killed by police. Older brother (who seems more calm) confronting him. Poor mom trying to deescalate.
First officer acts well, tries to defuse. Second officer arrives and immediately begins to detain.
The cactus was all along the wall where detention occurred. The "shoved into cactus" could just be a product of the environment, could be purposeful, angles don't really show unfortunately, but the actions of officer 2 seem off. When moving the suspect away from the wall he briefly puts his hand near his throat. This could be training, I am not familiar enough with procedure, but none of the other officers do it.
Suspects suitably angry but compliant after being placed in cars.
The deescalation by the pictured officer happened after the boys were in the cars. She attempts to push officer 2 away from the mother after he says the suspects were agresive with officers. This leads me to believe there is a history with officer 2. Unfortunately for her, her action was very late, and was physical against another officer who in that moment was not being aggressive. Another officer separates them and gets them both away from the mother.
Officers (2) were in the wrong and not deescalating properly, but have also likely been conditioned to a dangerous area. Not an excuse, but still a fact that will be considered I'm sure.
Edit 2 I encourage everyone to watch the video. It's long and boring, but gives good perspective into how most of these cases go. Bad behavior happens because stuff like this is so nuanced and trained from the top down. Its usually not the big things that breed it.
It looks like a lot of this comes down to who was where and when. Officer 2 seems like the "bad cop" that Officer 1 should've chastised, and then Crutchfield arrived after the fact and was upset with Officer 2, likely per 1's testimony -- if I'm understanding correctly.
If it was just Officer 1 and Officer 2 that were responding at first, I think this touches on a different issue actually. Officer 1 can't properly restrain Officer 2 if 1 also has to handle an unruly suspect. If both of them have their hands full, one officer can't keep the other in check. Perhaps this highlights that in an ideal situation, you have at least 1 extra officer than is necessary for the scenario. The extra officer would then be free to intervene and stop bad cops.