this post was submitted on 24 May 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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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

 

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JonsJava@lemmy.world
13
Victim reports his father missing. Police instead interrogated him for 17 hours, said they killed his dog, and withheld his meds from the victim. Victim tried to commit suicide in the room. (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world to c/thepoliceproblem@lemmy.world
23 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

At one point during the interrogation, the investigators even threatened to have his pet Labrador Retriever, Margosha, euthanized as a stray, and brought the dog into the room so he could say goodbye. “OK? Your dog’s now gone, forget about it,” said an investigator.

Finally, after curling up with the dog on the floor, Perez broke down and confessed. He said he had stabbed his father multiple times with a pair of scissors during an altercation in which his father hit Perez over the head with a beer bottle.

Perez’s father wasn’t dead — or even missing. Thomas Sr. was at Los Angeles International Airport waiting for a flight to see his daughter in Northern California. But police didn’t immediately tell Perez.

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[–] aleph@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The tax payer pays up almost $1M and these scumbags remain employed. How predictable.

Also, just in case anyone isn't aware: rule number one if you're in the US and police ever bring you in and try to interrogate you is to shut down and demand a lawyer. Legally, the interview has to stop immediately until you have one present. If the officers don't comply, then you know they're corrupt and there's no reason to believe anything they say from that point onwards.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Unfortunately, there has been precedent for the argument that the right to remain silent is one that needs to be continuously and positively invoked.
So if they keep interrogating you and you choose to start talking, that can be interpreted as you waiving your right to remain silent.

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/questioning-after-claiming-miranda.html

https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/when-how-invoke-your-right-silence.html

Remaining silent is not enough, you have to articulate that you want to invoke your right to remain silent, unambiguously request a lawyer (no "I think I should have a lawyer for this"), and request a lawyer generally (no "I want a lawyer before I answer any questions about where I was").

"I am invoking my right to remain silent and I want a lawyer" is basically all you should say.

The ACLU remains an excellent resource for being aware of your rights.

https://www.aclu.org/know-your-rights/stopped-by-police

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

My father-in-law is a defense attorney for juveniles, he always said that the best thing to say is " I understand you guys are just doing your jobs, and I really would like to cooperate, but to do so I need a lawyer present".

Otherwise they can basically classify you as a combative witness, or claim that you are interfering with an ongoing investigation.

By saying that you really want to help, it puts the imperative of wasting time on their end. If you guys need the information that bad, you should be rushing to get some representation here as fast as possible.

[–] GnomeKat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Its kinda bullshit that to get proper treatment people need to know a bunch of little phrases to throw out like a secret password. Fuck cops for real

[–] daltotron@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

True, but, that's kind of something you have to do for anyone in really any position of authority generally.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The money should come from police department retirement money

[–] eltrain123@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

.

[–] ReiRose@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

The attorney is the hero of this story, suing the cops for 40 years 💪❤️

[–] Smk@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago

I don't understand what's the point ? Why would the police even do that ? I mean, unless they are psychopath of some kind ? Why would they lose 17hours of their time like that ?

That's unbelievable.

[–] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There wasn't even a crime and they got a confession.

This should make every confession they've ever received inadmissible.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

These cops will never testify in a case again without being asked about this.

[–] stembolts@programming.dev 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

When I see this, I don't only see this man, I see every man, woman, and child who interacted with this police precinct.

How many current prisoners were put in prison by this type of psychological torture?

How many of those prisoners weren't as lucky as this man to have undeniable evidence of innocence?

How many citizens going about their day pull off the road when they spot a police car in their rear view mirror due to terrifying encounters shared by neighbors?

Fascist morons. Morons seem particularly useful to fascists, they love being the boot and they are too stupid to look up and see an even larger boot ready to crush them when they step out of line.

[–] TrueStoryBob@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Absolutely horrifying. I'm sure this has already been said here, but it bears repeating over and over and over again: If the police bring you into an interrogation room and read you your Miranda rights IMMEDIATELY REQUEST A LAWYER. This is true even if (ESPECIALLY IF) you have done nothing wrong. Don't give them any of this "should I have a lawyer?" or "I think I might need a lawyer" bullshit... they have and will twist that; continue to question/manipulate you. You need to state it EMPHATICALLY "I will not talk without a lawyer present, I want my lawyer present." Legally, the police are allowed to lie to you, deceive you, and a limited amount of bashing you around verbally. There are no police badges that say "this is a good cop who is not trying to manipulate you" and never for a moment think you're smarter than an investigator... you might be smarter than some people at some things, but these folks whole job is to manipulate people. You need a legal expert on your side.

[–] dumbass@leminal.space 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You wanna know how to make me a murderer? Make me believe you've killed my dog and make me say goodbye.

Its cunts like this that make me want to bring back public punishment's, let's see how fun it is yo be a psychotic prick when you gotta face actual public repercussions.

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

They don't publish the names of the bad officers in this story or any others because of fear of retribution. But it wasnt always this way. Police unions put pressure on media to remove the names because the officers felt threatened. Imagine being a bully and then demanding protection for it? That's the police. They are cowards and should be exposed to the public as a matter of safety. It will keep the police polite.

[–] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Boy its a good thing rule 4 is here to make sure no one calls for being done to the officers involved what they did to that poor kid. 🙄

[–] Dasus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

This exact thing was done to me, sans the "we killed your dog" bit.

The Finnish authorities see nothing wrong with having a person paint a cell in their own blood. They tried charging me with vandalism for it. They denied me my prescription medication, ffs.

[–] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 years ago

Hey. Political campaign managers. Mandatory malpractice liability insurance for police officers in the United States would be a salient piece of legislation or executive order to advertise.

[–] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 2 years ago

to all the people talking about malpractice insurance here.

Please stop, like seriously, what the fuck are you blabbering on about? You're arguing that we should pay a private sector company, who's entire goal is to make money, using tax dollars, to then use those tax dollars they got (but only some of them because we make profit, remember?) and then give that money to people who win cases against insurance.

This is an objectively worse solution. The current system with lawsuits against the state is much more efficient, and has this cool little thing where we don't randomly decide to give money to a fucking insurance company of all things..

you are literally suggesting we create a state funded extortion company.

[–] Son_of_dad@lemmy.world 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How are these cops not under arrest by the FBI and why aren't they on trial??

[–] dojan@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Because all cops are bastards. The system is working as intended.

There was a case here in Sweden where the Swedish police was tipped off on a potential paedophile by an American agency that had trawled through Yahoo email and found suspected CSAM. Swedish Police essentially swatted this man, assaulted him early in the morning, while he was in his bed sleeping, took him away without telling him what was going on; he thought he was being kidnapped. Eventually when it was made clear that the materials were private photos of him and his 30 year old boyfriend getting it on, they faced no repercussions.

The reasoning behind it? The police were masked so they couldn't single out who was responsible for the assault. Of course they knew who was present, but since they didn't know the actual perps it'd be unfair to investigate properly because that'd put them all under unfair suspicion, and it obviously wouldn't be reasonable to punish all of the police present.

But it's perfectly okay to beat the shit out of someone they think is a paedophile, and honestly it's probably because he's of middle-eastern descent.

[–] refalo@programming.dev -1 points 2 years ago

Please don't spread misinformation.