this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2024
178 points (99.4% liked)

THE POLICE PROBLEM

2479 readers
320 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

[email protected]

[email protected]

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 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 38 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 hours ago

I mean the officer was clearly scared for his life. I know to you and me that seems absurd, but police officers are hand-picked and trained to be the biggest cowards imaginable. Several people are killed by babies (with guns) each year in the US and that makes them logically scarier than half the shit police officers are scared of.

I can't believe he even entered a home that had a known baby in it, it's almost as scary as entering a school with an active shooter!

ACAB

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 hours ago

A sad indictment on society.

Criminals start so young these days...

[–] [email protected] 62 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

Interesting.

Name of the victims but no names of the police officers who shot a fucking baby.

Well, gonna expect the highest form of police punishment then: A video from the chief saying that they will do better. 😒

[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

I'm only surprised the cops aren't pushing their usual line:

Police Spokesman: The suspect in this police involved shooting was no angel. Confidential informants have talked about how often her mother was up at night, imagining what trouble her little baby might be in this time. How many times she cleaned up her messes, only to find her in the same trouble all over again. The absolute filth the suspect covered herself with under that diaper day after day ...

Reporter: But didn't an officer shoot and kill the mother also?

Police Spokesman: I can't comment on an ongoing investigation

/s

In all seriousness, this isn't a tragedy, it's a travesty. It's a predictable and recurring outcome our society has been engineered to accept because it's easier and cheaper than changing a system that benefits those already wealthy and in power. I use this gallows humor to cope with it, with the casual brutality and racism that caused it. To live with what none of us should be able to live with. Fuck this shit.

[–] [email protected] 110 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

a woman and her infant who were killed last week during an incident that led up to a shooting involving Independence, Missouri police.

What the fuck kind of language is that? Is it even possible to further remove police culpability in this?

[–] [email protected] 75 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

the only thing i saw was that the coward cop 'saw a knife' and clearly had to kill everything in sight instead of, ya know, backing off.

de-escalation is not in their vocabulary or police training.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

A guy with not one, but two knives was just stopped today by German police. They shot him in the foot and he's now in the hospital. In contrast, American cops always claim that hitting the legs is not a reliable way to stop an attacker. They always act like they are in a military occupation zone with suicide bombers at every corner.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

De-escalation doesn't get them to do the shooty-shooty part, and thats the best part of their day, they aren't trying to avoid it (especially once they confirmed there is no lethal weapon that would put them in any actual danger).

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

Hey, they had to shoot someone! Just think of the nut he'll get later!

[–] [email protected] 48 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Blue lives don't matter.

Seriously, that's the entire point of police. Or at least, that's the propaganda. Police exist to protect the citizens from criminals. They're given authority in the form of a badge, and power in the form of a gun, and they are expected to enforce the law as defined by our elected leaders and judicial appointees.

Cops are heroes. They risk their safety to enter situations without hesitation or concern for self preservation. They are trained to be as safe as possible, but there isn't a police officer alive who wouldn't claim to be willing to lay down their life for the life of a baby.

Unfortunately, in practice, that's not what we see. We do not see heroes protecting civilians. We see criminals protecting each other. We do not see selfless sacrifice and empathy. We see megalomaniacs protecting their power.

Good cops, true police officers, would all agree and say proudly, their lives don't matter. Not when it comes to being sure of your targets. Not when it comes to being sure of the threat. Not when it comes to being sure that lethal force is required to keep everyone safe. An officer who is so afraid of injury or death that they are willing to trade the life of a child to protect their own has no business being a cop. We should never tolerate the idea that blue lives matter.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 hours ago

Blue lives don't exist. Full stop.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

De-escalation is when they go from two guys pointing guns at you to one guy pointing a gun and one guy hitting you with an asp. And I am not joking. It relates to the use of force continuum.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

hitting you with an asp

They're swinging snakes now?? ACAB, but that's fucking badass! 😛

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I assume you're joking, but for anyone unfamiliar, an ASP is a collapsible metal baton that police frequently carry.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I choose to believe: telescopic serpent

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I like this, and would like to see the full line of products.

Telescopic serpent? Check. Collapsible giraffe. Copy. Inflatable kangaroo? We got three. Glow in the dark parrots? Yes please!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Here’s the inflatable kangaroo at least. Can’t help with the rest, but this one is giant!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour ago

Aww, c'mon! No flammable penguins? Left handed horses? Subterranean cuttlefish?

[–] [email protected] 15 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Pike allegedly reached for an object on the nightstand while still holding Destinii, when an officer shot the baby in the head and grazed Pike’s neck with the first shot

Greenfield said Pike didn’t have a knife in her hand in the closet, but thinks she may have reached for a knife when the first shot was fired. Pike allegedly attempted to get off the bed. Then a second shot was fired at her, Greenfield said.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 hours ago

A shit was fired at her, huh? The shit just jumped right out of that gun?

[–] [email protected] 43 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman said Friday the officer who opened fire followed training because Pike had a knife.

And therein lies the problem. The training for the officer was to shoot anyone with a knife.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Right? If your training leads to shooting babies, you're training wrong

[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 hours ago

Her and the baby are coming right at us!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 hours ago

Chefs: "I'm in danger."

[–] [email protected] 24 points 9 hours ago (2 children)

Several people have said they saw an Independence police officer running with the injured Destinii in his arms to his police cruiser to take her to the hospital because he didn’t want to wait for an ambulance.

You mean the ambulance that has tens of thousands of dollars of specialized equipment and trained medical personnel inside of it? Stupid fucking pigs.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 hours ago

Probably trying to hide the evidence.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Amongst all the complaints, this isn’t one. I’m not certain how long it would take to drain a baby of a lethal amount of blood, but it would likely be only minutes in this case. If they arrived at the hospital close to the time that the ambulance would have arrived at the scene, their chauffeuring would have been a net positive.

Gold star for the attempt, but gold star confiscated for obliterating a baby in the first place. In fact, -2 gold stars. Closest thing to a punishment they’ll get

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

I did look it up, and you're right. The nearest hospital from Oval Spring Apartments is about a 6 minute drive. So I guess that's the bare minimum after you shoot a baby. But maybe not shooting people holding and/or near babies should be in the training that he apparently followed by the book, according to Independence's police chief.

It seriously is basic gun safety to be aware of the things that are around (usually behind) your target. Cops that don't follow basic gun safety shouldn't be considered to be properly trained when they shoot things other than their intended targets. But then again, I have a functional brain so I would never be able to become a cop.

[–] [email protected] 45 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

If only that baby had a gun, it would have been safe from that lone bad apple.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 hours ago

I know you're being Sarcastic but that's LITERALLY the ONLY way this Could have been Prevented!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Geoblocked in the EU. But i would bet on the skin color of these victims any day. Empathy just switches off for some people and then psychopath mode flips on.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 9 hours ago

Here's the text:

Authorities have released the identity of a woman and her infant who were killed last week during an incident that led up to a shooting involving Independence, Missouri police.

Blue Springs Police Department Capt. Kyle Flowers confirmed Maria Pike, 34, and Destinii Hope, 2 months, were both killed in the incident at Oval Spring Apartments.

Flowers is heading up the eastern Jackson County Police Incident Investigation Team (PIIT), which is investigating the incident that involved multiple Independence police officers.

Flowers also provided an update on the investigation Tuesday, saying the PIIT has now reviewed the footage from body-worn cameras that captured the incident, and investigators will be interviewing people involved in the incident again Tuesday.

The goal, currently, is to turn over information on the investigation to the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office next week. However, there is no specific deadline for the case.

Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman said Friday the officer who opened fire followed training because Pike had a knife.

Several people have said they saw an Independence police officer running with the injured Destinii in his arms to his police cruiser to take her to the hospital because he didn’t want to wait for an ambulance.

Assistant Property Manager Gavin Delaney helped the two police officers get inside the apartment.

After he was told to leave the apartment, Delaney heard gunshots and then saw the officer with the baby.

He’s already spoken to a counselor.

"It's obviously very tragic and traumatic and everybody has their different ways of processing. But, you know, my intention is not to make it seem like I'm the only person that was involved in this. I want to be able to push the resources to the family or to the people who really need them," Delaney said.

To that end, Property Manager Carrie Lufkin reached out to nearby Comprehensive Mental Health Services to provide free counseling at the Oval Spring clubhouse Monday and Tuesday.

"It was a horrific, tragic event that ended awful. And I want to do everything that I can do to help our community move forward," Lufkin said.

"Our staff are available to check in with everyone, see how they're doing, help, talk them through whatever they experienced, whatever they're feeling now," said Julie Pratt, Kansas City Region president, Comprehensive Mental Health Services. "I know we try to talk to people about trying to keep a normal routine.

Keep your daily day-to-day routine as you normally would. Pay attention to your sleeping patterns, your eating patterns. But just trying to be available for the community here in this apartment complex," she said.

Destinii’s grandparents, Brian and Talisa Coombs, said Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker called them and told them she’d pay for their counseling if they want it.

They also said Baker told them her office is conducting its own investigation.

Destinii's aunt, Felisha Holder, has put together a GoFundMe page with a goal of $7,000 for the infant’s funeral.

There are also plans for a candlelight vigil outside the apartment building where the incident took place, scheduled for Friday at 7 p.m.

A purple and white balloon release will be held as part of the vigil.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 hours ago

In this case I think you'd lose money on that bet.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 hours ago

When asked why, the officer only responded with "there wasn't a dog on the premises."

[–] [email protected] 12 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

"FREE HAT! HE SHOT THAT BABY IN SELF DEFENSE!"