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this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2024
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THE POLICE PROBLEM
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376 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.
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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
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
What the fuck even is a restraining order unless it's enforced by the police?
In the words of the pod, the majority opinion is that "the long tradition of police doing whatever the fuck they want is so important that it outweighs the clear language and intent of a law" that was written to protect women and children from domestic abusers.
I'm so tired of this shit.
There's genuinely no problems in the world we wouldn't have the knowledge, resources and time to fix, if we didn't have to deal with these assholes protecting the corrupt rich.
I'm just defeated and depressed that I've stopped fighting the windmills. Can hardly get up. Everywhere you look some reminded of some leadership of a nation or an institution or another is doing something clearly and utterly corrupt that is putting the actual existence of humanity at risk in the long term and definitely risking fascism in the short term.
I'm just so fucking annoyed I don't know what to do
If you can, get offline for a bit. You can't spend every minute of every day fighting. Fighters need leave from the front.
I personally found joining a local tree planting group, my union's events and a disaster relief aid group really energise me.
I try to, but I have other problems affecting my sleep and digestion.
I would love to do something, but I've been waiting for bureaucracy and doctor's for years now.
Genuinely the first time I complained one of the problems I have now was over 25 years ago. Incompetent public healthcare ffs.
I'd love to have hobbies, but they cost money.
I genuinely just wait every day pretty much. Overworked myself to half death, got seizures and shit. Now I've been just pretty much laying around for a few years because having mentioned cannabis to the doctors they started treating me like junkie scum. No joke. The attitudes here in the Nordics towards weed are ridiculous.
I've been to political groups, I've tried non-political friend groups with activities, everything. I know it's the depression speaking but can't get inspired for anything and don't even want to browse the internet for all the shit I want to protest so loudly, but which if I bring up to my family / friend (singular) just gets empty looks, pretty much.
Finns are so apathetic towards any problems. "Well just look at how well you have it"
If everyone used that logic then our standard would be whoever happens to have it the worst. Not a good feedback loop.
Thanks for the tips though. Planting trees sounds nice. I've got no car. Shittiest neighbourhood.
Just literally out of fucks to give.
Sounds tough, and very relatable. I hope you find some solidarity.
Thank you, genuinely.
I've a good therapist, and one of my brothers is semi-decent.
And I live in a welfare country and grow a room full of weed. So I don't have to fear being homeless and I just medicate the anger out.
So I manage. It's like a slow decline. Feels like there's a fuse burning and I'm just trying to dampen it to make it burn slower.
I've been thinking I probably need to start just posting videos or something. There are definitely more crazy people doing crazier videos, so I shouldn't mind if some people disagree, no matter how vehemently.
It'd just be so much easier if there was a group to fall back on.
My bitch of a mother made me move schools three times because at first they're divorced with my dad and then from the next town we had to move because she found a new man and just had to move in with him instantly to another part of the country.
I was literally in the middle-school/high-school of the country, with a 9.3/10 gpa, and no. I get triggered anytime some shows bring up the meme of parents wanting their kids to go to good schools, because my mom took me from them.
Fkity fk fk.
Sorry for the venting.
My point being I think there's only making social media shit left for me to find solidarity. If my opinions are niche, then internet is the place. I just don't like the idea of being "an influencer" even if I did succeed.
Another Internet stranger here: Glad to hear that you've got a therapist at the least. Did wonders for myself, even though I didn't get one until well into adulthood.
Being stuck in a world where individual actions from the majority of the populace have little meaningful impact on our societal conditions is really messed up and frustrating in a primal way - we're not evolved to cope with that kinda thing, and that's not even accounting for neurodivergence or psychological illness. The biggest thing that I would advise you would be to try to adjust your social media habits to improve your mental health. I have been much healthier myself since disconnecting from corporate social media, which intentionally causes psychological harm for profit. Secondly, if possible, in get some time in the wilderness. Even just an afternoon can have a statistically-significant positive impact.
Anyway, all the best!