Doug Holland@lemmy.worldM to THE POLICE PROBLEM@lemmy.world · 1 year ago

Black man, 36, booked in Virginia jail for misdemeanor, dies in custody; "No foul play is suspected"

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Black man, 36, booked in Virginia jail for misdemeanor, dies in custody; "No foul play is suspected"

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Doug Holland@lemmy.worldM to THE POLICE PROBLEM@lemmy.world · 1 year ago

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1 year ago
I mean, I want to scream acab too, but there’s not even a cause of death yet. Let’s try to stay credible.

THE POLICE PROBLEM@lemmy.world

thepoliceproblem@lemmy.world

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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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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 should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They’re about killing people; we’re not.

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

• !abolition@slrpnk.net

• !acab@lemmygrad.ml

• r/ACAB

• r/BadCopNoDonut/

• Randy Balko

• The Civil Rights Lawyer

• MirandaWarning.org

♦ ♦ ♦

GLOSSARY

• ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE — Suspended with pay; also known as a ‘vacation’.

• …AND A DAY — Cops are rarely sent to prison, but when they are, the sentence frequently includes one extra day — for example, 12 months and one day. That’s because in many jurisdictions, prisoners can only be eligible for good-time credit and earlier release if their original sentence exceeds a certain length (usually 12 or 24 months). Thus, adding an extra day to the sentence is an extra kindness from the judge, and means a substantially earlier release.

• ASSAULTING AN OFFICER — An aggravated offense, with more stern punishment than assaulting ordinary folks. The slightest nudge of a policeman, or no nudge at all, gets written up as ‘assaulting an officer’, and it’s on your record for life, frightening prospective employers or anyone who runs a background check.

• ASSET FORFEITURE — If you’re carrying ‘suspicious’ amounts of cash, police can simply seize it, without charging you with any crime. Getting your money back will require a long court case, if you can get it back at all.

• BATON — billy-club

• CAGING — At a peaceful protest, a police tactic is to force a portion of the crowd into an alleyway or against walls where there’s no way out, and proceed to beat them, and arrest them for being assaulted by officers.

• DETAINED — Someone is under arrest or in prison, but cops don’t want to say so.

• K-9 — A police attack dog, or drug-sniffing dog, with full police authority; if you yank the dog’s collar while it’s biting you, that’s assaulting a police officer.

• MARSY’S LAW — In some states, victims of crime are allowed to keep their identities confidential, redacted from publicly-released police reports, etc. Many police departments use this law to keep cops’ names secret, by alleging that a perp — even a perp killed by police — assaulted the officer, so the cop is a victim too, and his/her name can’t be released.

• MIRANDA RIGHTS — “You have the right to remain silent,” but police are not required to recite your Miranda rights when you’re questioned, when you’re arrested, or when you’re jailed. They’re only required to recite your Miranda rights before an interrogation, and only if you’re already in custody. You’re never required to answer cops’ questions, and you never should. Shut the fuck up and get a lawyer.

• OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING — The cops shot someone.

• PIT MANEUVER (‘precision immobilization technique’) — During a chase, the pursuing cop car gently taps a rear fender of the vehicle they’re chasing. At high speeds this will usually lead to a spectacular wreck, dangerous or deadly for the perp and for any other drivers, passengers, or pedestrians nearby.

• ROUGH RIDE — Cops put someone in the back of a police vehicle, handcuffed but without safety belts, and then drive high-speed loops, repeatedly slamming the brakes, etc, to injure and terrorize the passenger.

• SCUFFLE — a/k/a “altercation,” is used in police reports because it’s vague, and implies that everybody was loud and angry, perhaps throwing punches. This makes it an especially useful word when the only one loud, angry, and throwing punches was the cop.

• SMEARING THE VICTIM — After any beating or killing by cops, even while the officers remain unnamed, you can count on a ‘leak’ to reporters of something, anything that makes the victim look worse — their police record (even a juvenile record, which is supposed to be sealed), results of a drug text, rumors of a bad reputation, etc.

• UNNAMED SOURCES —When the topic is police brutality or misconduct, any media report that cites “unnamed sources” is almost certainly citing police sources.

♦ ♦ ♦

INFO

• A demonstrator’s guide to understanding riot munitions

• Adultification

• Cops aren’t supposed to be smart

• Don’t talk to the police.

• 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.