No information about the forthcoming civil rights suit? Or is it too soon?
I would say fire the cops and take their pensions, but since they are white, in SC and cops, nothing will happen to them.
Disgusting.
We’re hearing about it now because the lawsuit was filed relatively recently (in September, it looks like).
Pensions, hell - those cops should all be facing sexual assault charges. The fact that they aren’t shows how fucked up the system is.
True…but this is MURICA!!! so that would never happen. Worst is they get a paid vacation, get cleared and then are back on the streets.
Sheesh, I’ve heard of stop and frisk, but they’re now moving up to stop and sodomize?
If recognizing someone from previous crimes means that person will always be subject to random searches, then how can anyone rehabilitate themselves? It’s like saying “an ex-con is always a criminal, and being free to walk the streets is just a vacation until we find a way to lock you up again.”
Don’t say that.
I believe all this shit comes from the collective bargaining agreements between police unions and cities.
im gonna tho. say that, that is
Please do tell how a collected bargaining agreement results in systematic racism.
The portion where cops get immunity to prosecution, shit goes through police union processes…
So monster cops walk away.
Snark aside, I really have a hard time understanding why protecting the bad apples is a benefit to anyone, the city, or the police. I also don’t believe it’s just a few bad apples either. Are there good cops out there? Of course there are, but there’s seems to be a whole ton of power tripping assholes out there too. America has got it’s police and military mixed up and it shows in the way that citizens are treated like the enemy.
No one would blink an eye if this was a story from China or Russia.
US citizens have many rights. But what are those rights worth if one loses them for the flimsiest of reasons.
Privacy -> terrorists -> mass surveillance
free speech -> terrorists -> NSL
rule of law -> terrorists -> secret courts
physical integrity -> terrorists/drugs -> torture (via guantanamo or police)
…
Just because someone was/is a criminal he doesn’t lose his human/civil rights. I don’t get the mindset - everyone understands the concept when free speech is concerned (“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”).
When you get turned into a hammer, everything else becomes a nail.
It’s frightening how few people in the U.S. see this problem.
Obviously I can understand the anger and frustration at the continued cases of cops abusing their positions and getting away with it, but the police play an important role in society. If you are robbed or raped, who you gonna call, Ghostbusters? No. The police need to do their jobs, and if they overstep their bounds they should be punished, retrained, or fired.
Saying “shoot cops” doesn’t accomplish anything except maybe make you feel bad-ass in a very juvenile, punk-rock way. And the actual act of shooting at the police will only make things much much worse, because it will convince them they ARE in a war against the people they are supposed to serve and protect.
I won’t flag you, but that kinda crap should get you flagged and suspended from boing boing. I’m hoping you meant “shoot cops with a camera” and give you the benefit of the doubt.
I am just guessing here. It’s about 25% bad cops.
It’s not to anyone’s advantage to keep them around.
75% of complaints about police come from other police… Despite the fact that its frowned upon to do so. These complaints are like… I witnessed officer X improperly store a bag of weed that later went missing, and turned up three days later in an unrelated call as planted evidence!
And officer X says must have been an accident, and here’s a made up story that is completely implausible.
And the IA officer handing the complaint is required to take both sides as equal, I believe. And also follow precedents set in previous IA complaint cases.
The short version is… The loopholes get wider, the burden of proof of misconduct gets set higher, and proving intent becomes harder and harder…
So if a racist psychopathic cop does this shit, they are under the same protections that were meant to make it possible for law enforcement officers to get in insane situations and violate laws in the course of the duties we all want them to be doing… Protecting and serving and all that.
So there’s a solution here. But it would require us to draw a distinction between what cops should do, and should not do…and address it to reform the police.
Or we could just say fuck the police. But I think it contributes to the problem when we do.
I’m not on the fuck the police bandwagon. But I think it’s at the point where like an alcoholic they need to admit that they have a problem. It’s time to haul their asses into a room with a bunch of people with stern looks on their faces and say “we all think you have a problem, you need to fix your shit” while giving them a very strong and powerful ultimatum.
