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
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.
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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
Studies have consistently shown that departments that use body cameras experience a drop in complaints against officers, according to the nonprofit Police Executive Research Forum, though it’s not clear if the drop is due to improvements in officer behavior or to a decrease in frivolous complaints.
Why not both?
Why not both?
And should it even matter which or either? They protect everyone involved.
In the UK, a lot of police love the cameras. It makes dealing with drunks a lot easier. Apparently it's also extremely satisfying to show them how they looked the next morning. The embarrassment factor is often far more effective at correcting behaviour than a fine.
Basically, don't trust a police officer that complains about cameras. The good ones have nothing to hide, and quite like the convenience.
Easier to cover up crimes if there's no evidence of it
I'd like to share why things like these piss me off to no end. I need to vent a little so feel free to ignore this as it will be a bit "ranty."
This isn't a story about the DEA but more just cops in general. I live in a super small town where everyone is (generally) super nice and so are the police. I see them at the gas station and community events like Holiday parties and cook outs. I've known these guys since my parents moved here when I was a kid and I grew up with these guys being around and was even their neighbor at one point. Most of them are not bad people...
That being said, I will never trust them again in my entire life. I don't give a shit what kind of law enforcement you are, whether that's a cop, the DEA, or ICE, the fact that the "good ones" are actively watching this happen with basically zero resistance makes me sick. I'm sure they are scared to lose their jobs, themselves, and I'm sure even their families. But at the same time they have no right to feel scared when the people they are meant to "protect and serve" are absolutely terrified. These people aren't just at risk of losing their job or title, they are at risk of getting literally forced out of their home and sent to another country or a foreign prison.
I guess my point here is this: To all the politicians (Republican and Democrat), police officers, government staff, federal agents, judges, and literally everyone else that is in a position of power while just letting this happen, grow a fucking back bone. They're going after us now, but it's only a matter of time before they come for everyone else for the smallest of infractions no matter where they are on the ladder. It's easy to resist now and the longer we wait the harder it will get. We're running out of fucking time and nobody in any position of power seems to give a shit beyond their own skin, even if it's only delaying the inevitable.
Too hard to sprinkle crack on bodies with cameras.
"We want to stop having to make up excuses for turning them off when we break the law, so we're discontinuing their use entirely."