this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2026
226 points (98.3% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

4241 readers
868 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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

ALLIES

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

r/ACAB

r/BadCopNoDonut/

Randy Balko

The Civil Rights Lawyer

The Honest Courtesan

Identity Project

MirandaWarning.org

♦ ♦ ♦

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

♦ ♦ ♦

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

 

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] archonet@lemy.lol 10 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

Remember, if you want to go through body armor, you'll either have a hell of a time finding AP ammo, need to hand-load your own, or -- the economical, thinking man's choice -- have 12 gauge slugs. Buckshot and regular FMJ will not cut it unless you're more confident in your shot placement under pressure than I am (in which case, aim for the face or the groin, but not center mass)

[–] AlecSadler@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

If they are close enough to me to film as close as I've seen, I feel like they're close enough for face shots?

[–] ProfThadBach@lemmy.world 9 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

You might get the one in front of you but the ones behind them will light you up and not only kill you but everyone in the house because they will empty those AR mags. Being a MP in the Army I trained urban warfare a lot and these guys most likely have only trained once. They will freak out and just hose the whole house with no regard for children or anyone else. This is being done to get a response so elections can be postponed. I don't know the answer anymore.

[–] bold_atlas@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

True but I think that ICE will stop going into houses very quickly if a few point guys get smoked. They're willing to kill but are they willing to die? I don't think they are.

[–] ProfThadBach@lemmy.world 2 points 54 minutes ago

Are you willing to get you and your family killed? What you are asking is for one family to sacrifice for us to make ICE scared. I don't think anyone wants their family to get smoked.

[–] Pofski@lemmy.world 5 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

If something doesn't happen before the elections, something will be orchestrated.

[–] ProfThadBach@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago

I do not doubt that at all.

[–] archonet@lemy.lol 5 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

While getting fired upon in return (which you presumably will be, immediately, if you're telling them to fuck off or be shot and they're not fucking off)?

Heads are small targets and hard to hit if they're moving, and they move a lot even when the body they're attached to is not actively trying to dodge gunfire. If you want to take out more than just the one you surprise, I would strongly recommend something that can punch holes in body armor -- if you're gonna go down this route, go down with >1 KDR.

[–] PineRune@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

If they are close enough to shoot you in the face three times, they are close enough to be shot in the face three times.