this post was submitted on 07 Jan 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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Police aren't primarily about helping you or solving crimes.

Police lie under oath, a lot

Police spin: An object lesson in Copspeak

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Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States

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Kentucky dispatchers repeatedly told police officers the address of a house they were supposed to raid over an alleged stolen Weed Eater, only for the cops to raid the wrong home and kill the man inside.

But the man who police say admitted to stealing the Weed Eater from a home of a local judge had already been in custody prior to the deadly raid that took place minutes before midnight last month, according to WLEX. That man told police he had stored the stolen Weed Eater at a home at 489 Vanzant Road which is a rural area outside of London city limits.

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[–] Snowclone@lemmy.world 97 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Check to see if there's a development looking to buy all the land in that area. You know. Like the last time police did this, and it got buried for years until public outcry made the legal system reluctantly look into and find out there were very rich people who wanted the home of Brianna Taylor, and got it for what $1.00 after she was murdered in her bed by a cop who snuck behind the house to her bedroom and opened fire.

[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 54 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I found an article verifying the price, but do you have a source that connects the rest of the dots? I'm shocked (not that shocked) this isn't on screaming front page headlines

[–] kiterios@lemmy.world 38 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 39 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Good stuff, key point from the BI article:

Mary Ellen Wiederwohl, head of the city's economic development foundation Louisville Forward, the city's economic development organization, told local news channel Wave 3 that the updated lawsuit "is a gross mischaracterization of the project," and said that the foundation had worked with community organizations throughout. She added that the foundation is discussing the creation of a community land trust "to ensure investment without displacement."

And yet I found more using a search of "Place Based Investigations " as the main keyword: https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/metro-government/2020/07/24/breonna-taylor-shooting-what-know-police-unit-linked-case/5443452002/

it was revealed that the "no-knock" warrant police used to force their way into Taylor's apartment, leading to her death, was obtained by a member of the Place-Based Investigative team.

The dots are connected enough for me. PBI obtained the no-knock, likely on Wiederwohl's initiative. Further lead: https://www.acceleratorforamerica.org/who-we-are/

Can we get this to the front page of lemmy? Brianna's story is one of injustice and this is more proof of what these cretins are able to do in broad daylight.

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[–] mantra@lemmy.zip 91 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

Why the fuck do they need to raid any house for a fucking weed eater!? That is serious small time shit.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.world 47 points 2 weeks ago

And the thief was already in custody. He had “stored” the weed eater at the address they were supposed to be searching (er, raiding), meaning whoever would have been present there wasn’t even the thief.

[–] Maultasche@lemmy.world 30 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe because it was a judge's weed eater

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 23 points 2 weeks ago

Because we train cops to kill and give them military surplus and they're just itching to use it.

[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 weeks ago

It was the Judge's weed eater.

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[–] i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone 44 points 2 weeks ago (4 children)

They broke into his house, and he got a gun out. Which is one of the few times it is reasonable to brandish a weapon... And they use that as justification to kill him. Over a weed eater.

The police don't give a shit if someone steals your catalytic converter, your whole car, or all of your tools. But I guess if you're a judge they will kill for your weed eater.

[–] iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com 23 points 2 weeks ago

It was stolen from a judge. So the police treated it as important. You know, the same as when a rich person is harmed

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The cops deserve to reap what they sowed.

[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

But they won't. Qualified immunity, which means they can and will murder with impunity.

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 weeks ago

They sow death so they deserve to reap death. Legality is not a factor in my proposition.

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[–] dalekcaan@lemm.ee 35 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

stealing the Weed Eater from a home of a local judge

Aha, so that's why they suddenly give a shit about property theft, because it was from a member of their little club.

[–] TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

you know, I just now realized it was a weed eater and not a weed eater

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[–] fuzzyspudkiss@midwest.social 32 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

So police get to kill anyone over anything with the word 'weed' now? I can't think of any other reason to raid the home for a fucking $300 item.

[–] MutilationWave@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

It belonged to a judge so they sent a death squad after it, and cops are so fucking stupid they didn't realize the thief was already in custody. It's either that simple or they wanted this man dead for another reason.

[–] KnowledgeableNip@sh.itjust.works 29 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Is this the only profession that lets you make consistent fatal errors with impunity? I really can't think of another.

[–] JustinTheGM@ttrpg.network 27 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] Bwaz@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Except that's not ussually by error.

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[–] Dorkyd68@lemmy.world 28 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

There is more to this story that we will never know. You raid a home over a stolen fucking weed eater. Gross abuse of power by someone

[–] Subverb@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

No, it's right there in the story. The weed eater belonged to a judge, so obviously someone's gonna pay.

[–] Skates@feddit.nl 12 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Death penalty for the cops, life in prison for the judge?

[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

If only. Man, if only there were some Mario Bros that could handle something like this. They hate the forces of evil.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 9 points 2 weeks ago

Even if it was the correct home. They killed the guy over a fucking weed eater. Even if he'd been violent back off and fucking let things cool down. Grab him when he goes for groceries or something. Fuck.

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[–] Clinicallydepressedpoochie@lemmy.world 27 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

What's it's matter about the address. We are talking about a weed eater. Chill the fuck out.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Why did they even do anything? Whenever something is stolen from I get told there is nothing they can do but take a report.

[–] Trigger2_2000@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 weeks ago

I'm sure "judges weed eater" had nothing to do with the enhanced police response. /s

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Ah, but the weed eater belonged to a judge. It wasn’t because he stole something valuable; It was because he stole from someone important.

[–] demizerone@lemmy.world 23 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This dude got executed by a death squad.

[–] FilthyHookerSpit@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Either the cops are incredibly competent (likely) or they intentionally raided the wrong home as an excuse to kill this man, perhaps under judges orders.

[–] affiliate@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Either the cops are incredibly competent (likely)

did you mean to say incompetent? (genuine question)

[–] FilthyHookerSpit@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Lmao yes. Most cops are incompetent, pretty sure it's a requirement

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[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 20 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

Why does the article give a street address??? Wtf?

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[–] DavidDoesLemmy@aussie.zone 18 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What are Kentucky police doing in London? Far from home

[–] lath@lemmy.world 14 points 2 weeks ago

Nothing much, just killing some people.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

So they wanted to kill this man and decided to use this flimsy excuse? I mean WTF?

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 12 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

"Oh don't like the cops? I guess the next time you're in trouble you'll call a crackhead?"

That does seem to have a better survival rate

[–] TheObviousSolution@lemm.ee 11 points 2 weeks ago

This is a repeat post, so I'll repeat one of my replies partially: I wouldn’t be surprised if a suddenly vacant lot wouldn’t suddenly be auctioned off to a cop’s relative in areas with a high predominance of this. Read up on civil asset forfeiture as well. In some places, cops are basically legalized mafias.

[–] bitjunkie@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 8 points 2 weeks ago
[–] satans_methpipe@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

It sounds like the judge and police were working together to execute someone. I really can't tell incompetence from pure evil anymore.

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