THE POLICE PROBLEM
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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RULES
① Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.
② If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.
③ Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.
④ Please don't dox or post calls for harassment, vigilantism, tar & feather attacks, etc.
Please also abide by the instance rules.
It you've been banned but don't know why, check the moderator's log. If you feel you didn't deserve it, hey, I'm new at this and maybe you're right. Send a cordial PM, for a second chance.
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ALLIES
• r/ACAB
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INFO
• A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions
• Cops aren't supposed to be smart
• Killings by law enforcement in Canada
• Killings by law enforcement in the United Kingdom
• Killings by law enforcement in the United States
• Know your rights: Filming the police
• Three words. 70 cases. The tragic history of 'I can’t breathe' (as of 2020)
• Police aren't primarily about helping you or solving crimes.
• Police lie under oath, a lot
• Police spin: An object lesson in Copspeak
• Police unions and arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street
• Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States
• When the police knock on your door
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ORGANIZATIONS
• NAACP
• National Police Accountability Project
• Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration
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no. i just didn't want to distract from my core point about dealing with pepperball chargers and i already have a reputation on the threadiverse for being longwinded.
your protest kit should include:
Outfit
Gloves
These are listed separately from the rest of the outfit as depending on the circumstances you find yourself in you may have different needs so you should bring all
Shoes
These are listed separately from the rest of the outfit as there's no general consensus for what is best, so you'll have to think about your own risk model and what you do at a protest to decide what makes sense for you. Whatever you pick, you need to pick something closed toed that you can spend at least 2 hours standing in, minimum
Other equipment
Some final notes
not everyone will be able to carry everything. you just need good coverage of all this stuff so that if anything happens someone nearby has what your group will need. go to a couple of protests and bring with you what you can that you believe would be the most useful. pay attention to what others have, but more importantly, keep an eye on what NO ONE has. the last couple of protests i've been to, NO ONE had anything to handle a tear gas canister and believed it was criminal to be prepared to diffuse one. so now i always make sure to bring welding gloves or oven mitts.
remember, the best way to keep yourself safe is to keep everyone safe. no one brings about change by waiting patiently for change to come. we live in dangerous times and the best way to make everyone safe is to bring about change. so you're going to have to step out and step up in this moment if you want to be safe. it will feel dangerous, but it's better to go out and resist fascism than it is to wait around and guarantee yourself a spot in the concentration camps.
as a final note: study ancient warfare. the police are trained to treat us like bands of savages. the sword and the spear are still the ultimate signifier of aristocratic power and people power. the modern day sword is the AR-15/AK-47 (depending on where in the world you are). it is complex, and it requires maintenance, and it requires training to use effectively. i'm not sure what the spear of liberation in our era is, but i'd keep an eye out for what it is, who's using it, and what it takes for a crowd to become effective with it.
as you study ancient warfare, pay particular attention to the jungle tactics employed in South America, Africa, and South East Asia as jungle and urban combat have a lot in common, and these tactics proved the most effective against the great European powers throughout the ages, even separating Haiti from Napoleonic France and preventing Vietnam from becoming an American Vassal state after France gave up on controlling them