this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2026
768 points (99.1% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

4241 readers
977 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
 

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/58389486

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] bluegreenpurplepink@lemmy.world 224 points 2 days ago (4 children)

How else do you interpret what he says other than that he's threatening to kill her, since that's what's been happening the last couple of days, one woman is dead and two people are injured. We all know about qualified immunity, but are police and ice agents actually allowed to threaten to murder people? Are there no exceptions to qualified immunity when it comes to threatening to kill people?

[–] yakko@feddit.uk 99 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It's a plain death threat. What I wouldn't give to have all the internal memos that are no doubt cheering on the bloodshed to be leaked.

[–] Gigasser@lemmy.world 3 points 21 hours ago

I wonder if it'd be prudent to buy our own body cams for interactions like these?

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 69 points 2 days ago (5 children)

ICE has killed much more than one person. The only reason she's getting so much widespread attention is because she's a blonde, white, conventionally attractive citizen.

Not to minimize her death though, everyone is right to be outraged. I just want to point out that their other victims also deserve to be remembered.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 69 points 2 days ago (40 children)

It's also getting so much attention because it was on video and fucking insane. If she wasn't trying to drive away and it was a more common scenario like she was getting physical with him or something, it would hit differently. She wasn't an immigrant (meaning why is this asshole even talking to her? They operate on fully racist criteria so it's not like he was talking to her in order to do his shitty job) AND she was trying to get away. Not saying her being white has nothing to do with this getting so much attention but the other specifics are most of it imo.

[–] giantripdrop@piefed.social 41 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

yes, "she was a pretty white blonde" I think is missing that there are 2 videos that clearly show the murder.

I do think the fact she was a white women did hit the 'holy-shit-this-could-happen-to-me" button for alot of people.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 29 points 1 day ago

Yeah I agree with both points. When George Floyd was murdered, society didn't get less racist overnight. People were so pissed because we saw it happen. Anyone can say whatever they want to the contrary, but we are a visual species, and seeing someone murdered is far more emotionally impactful than hearing about it

load more comments (39 replies)
[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 day ago

I didn't know what she looked like at first, from the videos I saw. I think that's true for most people. The reason for the outrage is that they killed a person, in the middle of the day, in the open, while being recorded, without them doing anything violent. There have been many more deaths, but nothing this obviously and visibly wrong. Yes, the other victims deserve to be remembered, but this one was different, besides her being a white woman.

[–] HazardousBanjo@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago

I think what also separates her death is, specifically, she was executed in braid daylight with multiple cameras on it.

The other people ICE has killed have generally been less recorded.

Although, the lady those assholes rammed into and shot 5 times should have alone lead to the total abolition of ICE.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago

It was also all recorded. I doubt it'd be anywhere near as big if it hadn't been.

[–] hardcoreufo@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Of course we should mourn all those killed by ICE. Next pres should set up a memorial for them in DC.

I think being white is part of it for sure, but probably more that she is a US citizen murderd in broad daylight and it was caught on camera vs their usual behind closed doors murders of immigrants. I'm sure I'm wrong, but I havent heard of any other US citizens being murdered by ICE.

[–] TrickDacy@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago

He's at minimum suggesting that if you're seen as impeding them in any way, bad things will happen to you.

Which is literally the exact attitude that leads to this continuing and continuing to get worse. Fucking horrendous attitude for someone with authority to have. But that field attracts people who hold attitudes like that, and it's why no one should ever trust the police.

I'm not going to dox myself but I had some really horrible shit happen to people in my life due to a cop. He recently tried to "make amends" by acting like it never happened and he admitted his dad was a "dirty cop". Which I took as a sign that he was really talking about himself. He used his power as a LEO to fuck lives up. And I despise him for it. I do not think that's atypical at all.

[–] LadyAutumn@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 1 day ago

They're a paramilitary force beholden only to the Donald Trump. They are very literally akin to the SA. No they are not beholden to any laws. They are only beholden to Trump.