acab
this post was submitted on 04 Nov 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
Officials want to be clear the man who is shot was never charged, never arrested and has fully cooperated with the investigation.
This is apparently something that needs to be said when talking about shooting unarmed people.
At this point we're going to start giving the same advice for interacting with police as with soldiers in a war zone. Basically do whatever they say. And if it's contradictory then sit on your heels and put your hands up. Make yourself as un-aggressive as possible so the ~~scared, sleep deprived, teenager with a machine gun~~ man child with a badge and a gun can't possibly see you as a threat.
Lol, no. Remember when they shot the aid worker who was spread-eagle on the ground next to their charge? And then the aid worker asked the cop "why did you shoot me?" Cops response? "I dunno."
Yup. I actually pointed this out a couple comments down. You can do everything right and still get shot because they're just that stupid and unaccountable.
They'll still just shoot you for not following orders. Especially if you're not white.
They will also give you conflicting orders (often on purpose, so they can claim resisting arrest), so sometimes it is literally impossible to "just do what they say."
Unfortunately we can't make it zero chance. You could always just sit there on the curb, oblivious, and get shot.
Only in America.
Coming soon to your country.
Sure you can. Can't be shot if you shoot them first.
Oh no. You most certainly can. If that officer doesn't manage to shoot you then the next one will, repeat as needed until true. Unless you've got a literal army to fight off the national guard this does not end well. And as a reminder they get drones, attack helicopters, armored vehicles, and infantry squads with 20 years of experience in exactly this fight.
I seriously implore you to think about how that goes, for you, and for the country.
The ghost of Daniel Shaver would like a word
Idk what this dude coulda done different except not be there, he just was walking and the cop draws on him and fires
And walking away!
That's it that's the problem. The only thing he could have done was be immediately and massively submissive.
Yet again we see where the civilian is expected to have better de-escalation skills than the person with the badge.
I kind of have the opposite advice for interacting with soldiers in a warzone.
I have a cocktail recipe that might interest you
Unless you've declared yourself independent of everyone else that's only going to help you 50% of the time, and it's not easy to deploy in a manner allowing escape. I would really just suggest joining whichever side you support at that point.
They are just always on-edge and terrified for their life no matter what the situation is. What does their training do to them... there was absolutely no reason to see this as some sort of well-disguised trap intended to kill the police officer, so why did his mind go there?
How many times in 2020 did I see a cop or cop apologist say "Only .000000000231% of interactions go bad why are those what you focus on??" (I'm totally making that number up, and they probably were too.)
How about this cops? Only a vanishingly small percentage of the rest of us actually intend to do you harm, so why do you treat everyone that way?
This is exactly why training the police as warriors instead of as civil servants is so insidious and deadly.
They aren't "training" them. Certainly not as well as actual soldiers. But they are arming them with more and more military gear. If you were a high-school bully who never grew up or a racist who wanted to harass and maybe even kill a black person, what job would you get?
The training is worse than what actual soldiers get.
They are being trained.
To escalate, that’s why they “need” all that military kit.
They hire ex-cop contractor buddies and give them gobs of municipal money to do a 'training' session where they brainwash the entire force into thinking that they're at war with an insurgency as dangerous to them as alqueda was to the military that so many of them came from.
This is one of the reasons they're so trigger happy. Right from academy they're taught this, and any recruits who question it get dropped. One of the more famous programs is literally called 'Kill-ology'.
Wait a minute. Just having a gun isn't a reason to shoot someone in Maryland, is it? They might have a license. So the policeman would be guilty of manslaughter either way.
Oh honey...
You seem to be under the impression that police answer to the law.
Well, he was indicted, so that's a start. Just have to wait and see if he's convicted.
And that conviction is not pardoned, commuted, or overturned.
He's just a cop. He's not rich.
Indicted for a vacay, convicted to a promotion?
According to the article,
He’s charged with one count of attempted second degree murder, first degree assault, misconduct in office and two counts of reckless endangerment.
The second amendment doesn't actually exist beyond the gun store counter. Which is the most American way possible of enforcing it.
And he's a sergeant too. He should have his career ruined because of this.
Mhmm best we can do is slap on the wrist and a multi decade intimidation campaign against the victims and anyone who supports them.
You forgot a two month paid ~~suspension~~ vacation.
The article did say that he is currently suspended without pay, so at least they've got that bit straight in this case.
He'll get back pay likely
He just fucking aims and pulls the trigger. What the fuck is going on in america.
I don’t think he even aimed. He hit a passing car. He just pulled his gun and fired.
I didn’t say he aimed well. Really shows how well those assholes are trained. He couldn’t even hit accurately at 20m.
Trained by the finest stormtroopers.
At some point I'm about to read an article where a cop was overtaking someone, rolled down the window, shot the other driver, continued onwards, and called for backup from a dinner.
American Keystone-Cops at work. Can't the American police afford any professionals?
They don't want professionals, they want man hunters to fill slave quotas for privatized prisons
They can, they just can't find anyone with the mental acumen to attend more than 10 weeks of training.
Now compare that to civilized western countries, where policemen take training of between three and five years.