Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/02/07/at-least-its-organized-crime.html
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Supporting police in America is the same as supporting organized crime. That’s all they are, thugs with badges, a handsome paycheck from your taxes, and a license to murder in the name of never being frightened they might be injured or killed.
Meanwhile firefighters brave extreme danger with no such guarantee, while accepting lower pay that isn’t padded with criminal racketeering.
Cops, America’s largest gang.
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Is there any city in America where cops don’t routinely rob drug dealers, illegal gambling rings and prostitutes?
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Baltimore’s best and brightest right there.
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To protect and serve
And this …
125 cases that relied on evidence gathered by the unit have collapsed so far; the public defender estimates that will rise to at least 3,000.
… is why “the ends justify the means” and “we must do something, anything, about crime” is such bullshit. A lot of folks who should be in prison will now go free, along with - hopefully - all the folks who should never have been there to start with.
Cops have an important role in society. It’s so important that they should be rigorously held to exemplary standards, not given a pass because they wear snazzy black uniforms.
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I think we know how this is going to turn out: slap on the wrist for the cops, massive payout from the taxpayers.
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This place is really getting lousy with all the knee jerk flagging.
expects to be flagged in 3…2…
So, the heroes from a movie in the 90s?
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I think its well past time to subject corrupt cops to the Red Woman’s “go-to” punishment.
Raising the stakes, so to speak, may be the only way to get cops to behave humanely.
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Of course we do - the entire system is designed so that’s the only possible outcome. And this is the core problem - not that police do corrupt/illegal things, but the systems put in place to govern them prevent accountability or actual reform. There’s so much that has to be changed before the police forces can be.
It also puts to lie the assertion that police forces care about catching criminals. If they really did, they’d have more serious protections in place to prevent corrupt or even just sloppy cops from getting away with things like this (and risking freeing convicted criminals from jail). Instead, they have systems in place to protect dirty cops and they’re happy to hire on cops fired (in lieu of prosecution) from other police forces for abuses. In their hierarchy of goals, catching the perpetrators of crimes is fairly low.
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Oh Bawlmer, my adoptive city. Glad my taxes were paying these guys’ salaries, while violent crime was increasing dramatically. groan
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Here’s something new. I wonder if this scandal, and the size of it, is finally forcing a change on the city’s part to defend itself and its budget from the police.
This appears to be only about the punitive part of awards.
Police union president Gene Ryan said in a message to union members that the city had “generally supported” officers in the past by paying punitive damages as well as compensatory damages awarded in civil jury trials. But he said new city solicitor Andre Davis, a former federal judge who joined the city last year, has changed that policy.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-ci-union-lawsuits-20180207-story.html
ETA: The story changed a lot since I read it earlier. The new version is more about how the union is unhappy. The old version is below.
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their defense is that they were not the primary participants in these activities, not that the crimes did not take place.
Sounds like the excuses made by the banksters back in 2008. America being America in 2018, the solution will be to let these guys off with a slap on the wrist and to privatise more aspects of law enforcement.
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I’ve long argued that criminal cops have their taxpayer subsidized pension revoked.
That, of course, would be merely one step in a multi-step punitive process - of which another should be as you write requiring shithead cops to pay penalties out-of-pocket rather than having cops’ union’s group liability insurance settle their tabs.
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So currently they don’t? WTF?
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WTF, indeed!
Cops nationwide enjoy the same protections for their pensions as do CxOs and their “golden parachutes” - no matter the crime, fine or jail-time.
Cops get paid and with rarest exception never face the “indignity” of the infamous “Baretta” rule (…if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime…)
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I’m only surprised by the fact that they are going to trial. The corruption is fully expected at this point.
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What do cops do with stolen cocaine? I suppose they can use some for their parties, but it must be hard selling it. “No honestly, we are just selling this cocaine, it’s not a sting and we have no plans whatsoever to rob you afterwards”.
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Seems to me like some police departments are essentially farming drug dealers.
I suppose that’s why Duterte let’s his cops assassinate anyone they or their higher ups don’t like, under the pretense of hunting evil drug dealers. It’s a neat way of silencing individuals who are witnesses to crimes committed by said cops. Individuals, like for example a sister of a previously slain drug dealer, who knows about all the dirty dealings the cops forced on their brother before killing him, e.g because he wanted to get out.
Once everyone is afraid you can protect and serve with impunity.
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