this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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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

Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.

If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.

Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.

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

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

r/ACAB

r/BadCopNoDonut/

Randy Balko

The Civil Rights Lawyer

The Honest Courtesan

Identity Project

MirandaWarning.org

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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.

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

So you wanna be a cop?

When the police knock on your door

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ORGANIZATIONS

Black Lives Matter

Campaign Zero

Innocence Project

The Marshall Project

Movement Law Lab

NAACP

National Police Accountability Project

Say Their Names

Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration

 

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[–] zd9@lemmy.world 64 points 18 hours ago (5 children)

When this is all over, these fascist goons will face justice for their actions. There are accounts of every single action, and the next United States Justice Department will not handle it lightly.

We fucked up by not finishing off the Confederacy in Reconstruction, but in the wise words of the honorable George W. Bush: “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me twi— you can't get fooled again.”

[–] Scotty_Trees@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

When this is all over, these fascist goons will face justice for their actions

I wish I shared your optimism of the future..

[–] Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com 4 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Funny that you think the brownshirts will face any consequences. You mention Bush ironically, but he's the living example: a war criminal who never faced any consequences from his actions.

[–] zd9@lemmy.world 6 points 9 hours ago

never faced any consequences from his actions.

excuse me, he was almost assaulted with a shoe at a press conference. If that's not consequences for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, I don't know what is

[–] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 10 points 14 hours ago

If I were this optimistic, I'd be the happiest motherfucker on earth.

Unless we show up and start fucking these people up, we're just going to be commenting on these videos until that's illegal and we get scared of that too.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 16 points 18 hours ago (1 children)
[–] zd9@lemmy.world 11 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

How we yearn for Georgy boy over the current POTUS.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 14 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Back in myyyyy dayyyy our installed republican president was a hapless moron directed to give gaffe-filled speeches every day while his vice president was evil incarnate and they both got super rich starting wars and committed war crimes which they got out of by wrecking the global economy and that’s the way we liked it!

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 hours ago

Satire has since died, which I mourn.

Cheney also just died, which I don’t.

[–] zd9@lemmy.world -1 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

As crazy as it is to say, Cheney > Trump. Both are absolute terrible pieces of shit, but at least Cheney respected the general societal rule of law and norms. He was just a greedy, power hungry tyrant, whereas Trump is also incredibly dumb, narcissistic, and cruel.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago

Well except for the war criminal part, and frankly not to get all into it but there’s some shady-as-fuck 9/11 shit he’s tied to that’s just. Trump is worse, yeah. We’ll leave it there.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I was wondering about this.

Suppose there was a fair election in 2 years (I know, I know) and suppose the dems won... would they dismantle ICE and prosecute these scum?

[–] Schmoo@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 hours ago

Depends who wins the primaries.