Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2021/03/09/holyoke-officer-who-exposes-police-corruption-in-video-gets-suspended.html
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The classic response to demonstrated police corruption…
Step 1: Shoot the messenger.
If that doesn’t work, move to step 2: literally shoot the messenger…
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Christ on a cracker, they found one… the mythical Good Apple that actually calls out the spoiled barrel.
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Watch your back good Sir, the Po Po have been known to break the law.
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Yep. Good thing to do. Not a good thing to be…
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He’s a hero. I hope he and his family remain safe and the corrupt cops are brought to justice.
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There are more than you probably think, but most seem to face the same fate once they are outed as good guys.
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Not for the squeamish:
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See you suckers in court
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It’s a poorly kept secret that the police in that area of Massachusetts (where I grew up!), specifically Holyoke and Springfield, are incredibly corrupt. It’s not exclusive to those cities of course, there are also issues in Boston and some metro-area cities, as well as the state police force.
I’m not sure how such a liberal state has grown to become so rife with police corruption, but maybe that’s the reality of large police forces across the country. We probably could have used police reform 50 years ago.
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hopefully so, from the local reporting:
He was suspended for violating the department’s social media policy, which bars officers from criticizing the department on social media platforms.
[ Roca ] was being placed on administrative leave for 30 to 60 days while the department conducts an internal investigation. He was asked to resign by Thursday and “this would all go away,” he said.
it’s amazing what kinds of things actually get police suspended and fired.
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The police are corrupt in big cities, small towns, at the local and state levels and across the political/geographic spectrum. As for the “how”:
A systematic, decades-long effort at all legislative levels to shield and exonerate bad officers coupled with the silence of all of the “good” officers out of fear or acquiescence. Mr Roca is a hero among scoundrels.
Edited for clarity.
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We’ve had 40 years of “reform” and that’s how we got to this point. There is no reform. The only way forward is to defund.
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Unfortunately, we’re a long way from a nationwide effort to rebuild the police as the civil protection organizations they were intended for.
Fortunately, enough municipalities have already started that we’ll soon have mountains of evidence that defunding and restructuring works remarkably well.
And yes, I realize the Camden reformation wasn’t initiated or executed with the purest intentions, but the results remain unequivocal.
Also, I can’t recall the name of the city that took on reforms last year and didn’t fire a single shot in 2020. Maybe some other plugged-in BB’er can refresh my memory?
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unfortunately, the current instinct still seems to be doubling down on police funding, training, personnel, and powers.
The 13-page report recommended [snip]
- Capitol Police should hire 854 more officers
- a “quick response force” for emergencies.
- a new federal agency to coordinate law enforcement in D.C.
- expanded K9 teams and reinstituting mounted patrol teams
several Democrats expressed support… “I think the recommendations are thorough and I think they make a lot of sense,” Washington State Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal said of the report’s “comprehensive” findings. “We are quite far behind in terms of what we need.”
[edit]
google sez…
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The exact reason why I shy away from ACAB as a general statement. That’s not to say the whole thing isn’t spoiled down to the ground, it definitely is. There are provable cases of officers doing their best by their community, but those aren’t the people that end up in charge. It’s just that any good cops don’t have any real power to actually change anything about the way things work.
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Right, Newark. Thanks.
Yeah, it’s a long road. Still, progress is being made every day. Today, this wonderful thing happened:
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If you knowingly work in support of a corrupt system, I question if you can continue to be considered a “good guy”. This guy did it right; When you see the corruption you call it out. I wish him the best.
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That’s hair splitting, defunding is a method of reforming.
Now that you brought it up though… I think the fixation on using the word “defund” is an incredibly good way to ensure that it doesn’t happen, which is distressing.
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Using “reform” is a great way to lose all the actual stakeholders for making change. It’s also a great way to win over people who will fight against change forever. They will (and have) killed to prevent even an iota of loss of privilege.
So, with all due respect, GTFO with that tone policing. These words aren’t for you. They aren’t for me either. But you should know that if you are advocating for “reform “ you are not an ally of the people who are being beaten and killed by cops. You are an ally of the cops. Period.
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