One extra point that the article left out: the local FBI office was given a report on Greene’s killing 2 years ago and asked to investigate. The FBI agent was an ex-LSP officer (that of course knew Bob Brown, like everyone else in the story) and he rubber stamped the investigation and said they did nothing wrong without even looking. We need to defund the police and build something new from scratch at city, state, and federal levels
Two cases where taxpayers should take a good look at how police are costing them more money than they should…
According to this only 12% of vehicle theft cases are solved, but this incompetence (and arrest/charges) should’ve led to consequences for the cops involved, too:
I’ve had my current car stolen twice (both times it was left abandoned across town with minimal harm). Neither time did Houston PD pretend to care about finding the thieves. The first time the officer gave me the third degree and said she thought I probably wrecked it and was lying about the theft. She apparently put that in the police report too which prompted Geico to send an investigator to my apartment when I wasn’t home to snoop around before he came to my office to grill me on whether it was really stolen. I immediately canceled my account with geico, but I’ve been unable to cancel HPD, unfortunately.
And as always, there is the caveat that I assume they treat a clean-cut white guy better than they do other people.
“The description of the guy who took off in your car is just like yours,” the officer responds.
the police acknowledge it as his car, and say he looks like the person who took… his car?
As a result, Scott was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, false reporting of a crime, failure to carry a concealed-weapon license, and possession of marijuana… Scott tried to tell officers they were arresting the wrong man and that he’d never been jailed before, the lawsuit states, but they “did not believe Scott, a black man, was never arrested.”
i can’t even.
The Rittenhouse verdict is another reminder of how fucking useless most police are. Kenosha police encountered a kid with an AR-15 before there was any violence. They didn’t check whether he was legally carrying that weapon; they gave him and his white supremacist buddies water.
Later, after they failed to prevent Rittenhouse from murdering someone, he approached the police line carrying his AR, with people yelling behind him that he had shot someone. Instead of showing ANY diligence to determine if he did in fact shoot someone, or again to determine whether he was legally carrying the rifle, they let him pass without pause. He then went on to kill another person and maim another with his illegally-acquired weapon.
If they can’t do their basic fucking job, and occasionally kill unarmed citizens, why do we keep paying them? Kenosha should fire them all. The city is better off without them. They don’t solve crime and they don’t prevent crime. Kick them to the curb.
I recently watched a documentary on the 6 Jan insurrection. The number of thin blue line flags in shot at the same goddamn time as violence against cops. Just no.
If they hadn’t murdered him, he might have gotten his hands on one of their guns /s
Was watching Samantha Bee’s show and saw this reminder about funding for police in schools:
There are better uses for this money - counseling, health care*, supplies, etc. Also, the way this factors into the prison pipeline is sickening, and needs to end ASAP.
* The school nurse shortage was a problem before the current pandemic started.
Do I want to know how much money went into this, or how much is being paid for this “service?”
The headline about bias is very important. I wonder if the headline couldn’t also be:
Crime Prediction Software Promised to Do Something and not be Complete Bullshit. New Data Shows it Does Nothing and is Complete Bullshit.
I’m trying to imagine a purpose to a crime prediction AI other than giving police an excuse to harass already marginalized and harassed people. None comes to mind.
That’s because you understand that the data that comes out of an AI is an interpolation of the data that goes in. I…don’t think everyone does.
It’s almost like the entire concept of GIGO has been systematically forgotten.
I like to think it’s happened accidentally as extremely clever people’s ideas have been misunderstood by clever people, who explained it badly to average people, and stupid people invest money on the concept, and not because of a swarm of deliberate long-term grifts, but that’s because I’m optimistic that way.
upcoming elections are going to put this perceived pressure on cities everywhere i think 
edit to supplement the one box:
On Friday, Mayor Libby Schaaf unveiled more details of a plan to add two new police academies in an effort to hire more police officers at a cost of $5.82 million. Her proposal also calls for unfreezing 20 positions within the department — bringing the total number of new officers to 60.
In America, nearly all police have no special duty to protect you. Radiolab brings us the jaw-dropping receipts.
This episode contains strong language and graphic violence.
What are the police for? Producer B.A. Parker started wondering this back in June, as Black Lives Matter protests and calls to “defund the police” ramped up. The question led her to a wild story of a stabbing on a New York City subway train, and the realization that, according to the law, the police don’t always have to protect us. Producer Sarah Qari joins Parker to dig into the legal background, which takes her all the way up to the Supreme Court… and then all the way back down to on-duty officers themselves.
This makes me wonder if a code of conduct and employment contracts that spell out the duties of officers would make a difference. If so, pro-reform lawyers and legislators can draft them. After that, make adopting the code and signing the contract conditions for continuing employment.
I’m sure unions will fight it, but a public information campaign highlighting cases like these will help. The other points are waste of taxpayers’ money, and how they use copaganda and fiction on TV to fool people.
