this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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THE POLICE PROBLEM

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    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.

♦ ♦ ♦

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

RULES

Real-life decorum is expected. Please don't say things only a child or a jackass would say in person.

If you're here to support the police, you're trolling. Please exercise your right to remain silent.

Saying ~~cops~~ ANYONE should be killed lowers the IQ in any conversation. They're about killing people; we're not.

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.

♦ ♦ ♦

ALLIES

!abolition@slrpnk.net

!acab@lemmygrad.ml

r/ACAB

r/BadCopNoDonut/

Randy Balko

The Civil Rights Lawyer

The Honest Courtesan

Identity Project

MirandaWarning.org

♦ ♦ ♦

INFO

A demonstrator's guide to understanding riot munitions

Adultification

Cops aren't supposed to be smart

Don't talk to the police.

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

So you wanna be a cop?

When the police knock on your door

♦ ♦ ♦

ORGANIZATIONS

Black Lives Matter

Campaign Zero

Innocence Project

The Marshall Project

Movement Law Lab

NAACP

National Police Accountability Project

Say Their Names

Vera: Ending Mass Incarceration

 

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[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago (5 children)

God damn, people. Didn't masked ICE agents snatch the New York City Comptroller and the migrant who had showed up for a hearing from the center of a heavily policed immigration court? Did anyone on the NYPD try and stop them?

You can see a local police officer in the fucking headline image. He's holding back the press and letting masked ICE agents do as thou wilt. If the local PD won't stick their necks out for a municipal senior official, what are the odds they're going to do it for you?

This, after a sitting US Senator was arrested during a press conference? Who are you fooling?

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[–] postcapitalism@lemmy.today 20 points 1 day ago

The real answer is anytime you see ICE acting extra-judicially call the police to report masked armed men trespassing and assaulting people.

Be vague. You don’t know who they are, they look suspicious, they look like they are about to commit a crime, this could be an active shooter/crime in progress , pointed a gun at you…. You know facts.

[–] andybytes@programming.dev 4 points 1 day ago
[–] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 74 points 1 day ago (4 children)

Dial 911 first, and say there's a masked person with a gun. No need to qualify that shit.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 day ago

My thoughts exactly. You think gestapo is gonna wait patiently while you call 911?

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[–] RedditIsDeddit@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Normally I'm not the guy to say it, but if you don't own a gun, you may want to change that.

[–] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 15 points 1 day ago (4 children)

...if you live in the US. If you live elsewhere, please don't own a gun. We really don't want to get that snowball rolling.

[–] buttnugget@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do you think people outside of the US should worry about ICE kidnapping them off the street?

[–] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago

Absolutely not, but american trends have a thing for affecting the rest of the world. There are a lot of conflicts around in Europe as well, which could make people seek ways to protect themselves and their families. And I hope that introducing guns as some household item is not something that happens in Europe anytime soon.

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[–] okamiueru@lemmy.world 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (20 children)

If one of the possible answers to your question is "yes, I am indeed armed, and committing a felony by impersonating a law enforcement officer", you should reconsider your most recent life choices. In particular, asking them that question.

Observe from a safe distance, and call 911. What on earth do you hope to gain by going up to them for a chat?

excuuuuuuuse me. Are you actually taking people hostages? Or is this some kind of publicity stunt? Hellooo?! Are you really shooting at me? That's just, like, so rude.

[–] musubibreakfast@lemm.ee 10 points 1 day ago

These sort of tactics might work if you're with a large group in a public space, if you're one person then it might not be the best idea. Honestly a lot of this stuff is highly context dependent.

so rude

Well, it is.

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[–] sudo@programming.dev 246 points 2 days ago (17 children)

Utterly delusional to think any of that would work. At every step you would just get your face beaten in. When the cops come they too will just beat your face in.

Thinking you can castle doctrine a squad of ICE agents is equally delusional. You could probably take a couple out but you'd still die in the end and be risking the lives of anyone that lives with you.

The only solution is well known and already in practice in places like LA: have an active community response force that will show up and intimidate and harass the ICE agents. All of the previous delusions assume you, alone, can stop an ICE with just your privledge.

[–] NutWrench@lemmy.world 85 points 2 days ago (8 children)

No badges, no uniforms, driving unmarked cars and wearing masks? I think any person could successfully argue in court that they thought they were being kidnapped by criminals.

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 127 points 2 days ago (2 children)

You never get to court, that's the point the previous comment is making.

As an individual trying to stand up to them you're somewhere between being either completely ineffectual or making the situation worse. Having the law on your side doesn't matter because it's impossible for you to summon the enforcement of it fast enough to help you, assuming they even would.

A local community response that will mobilize and appear in your neighborhood in seconds is basically the only way to respond quickly with enough force for them to care about.

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[–] CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml 17 points 1 day ago

You're still thinking as if due process and legality matters

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[–] sxan@midwest.social 15 points 1 day ago

It happened at one of the protests. Someone asked one of the officers for their badge number and got their head battered.

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[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (6 children)

It would be incredible if we could get through a lawsuit to news stations anytime they make bad assumptions in articles. They continually write "Federal agents detained ..." when they should be writing "A team of unidentified individuals in masks and armor detained ..."

Just as they are always meant to write "The suspect" not "The criminal". Nothing must be assumed in reporting (exceptions allowed if they've contacted ICE headquarters and received a confirmation of them)

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[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 100 points 2 days ago (2 children)

If a person impersonating a cop spouted out some random digits when I asked for their badge and serial number, I doubt I would be able to tell the difference.

[–] Djinn_Indigo@lemm.ee 52 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That's what the call is for- you ask the local office if they can confirm that that officer is actually on patrol, exists, etc. Idk how that would work for ICE though; I don't think you can just call up the federal ICE headquarters.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 49 points 2 days ago (4 children)

That's not what the post says. It says call 911 if they refuse. It gives no guidance on what to do if they respond.

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[–] MetalMachine@feddit.nl 70 points 2 days ago (3 children)

This always makes me think, if you resist an "ice agent" because they have not identified themselves, your not liable right? Like if you go infront of a court wouldn't you have a good case to say, "they didn't identify themselves, I thought I might be assaulted or kidnapped by someone"

[–] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 63 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Except you won't go to a court. You'll go to a camp.

[–] MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 day ago

Herein lies the problem.

There is no due process.

There is no law except what they choose to enforce.

You will not see a judge.

You will never be convicted by a jury of your peers.

You will just die, or be sent off to a place where you will likely wish that you were dead.

This is not law enforcement. This is not legal. They will not follow their own laws, why would you? If they come for you, fight like your life depends on it, because it probably does.

[–] Akrenion@slrpnk.net 88 points 2 days ago

There is a reason why they suspend due process.

You are being kidnapped.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 73 points 2 days ago

Your first mistake was assuming you would be allowed to see a court.

[–] JigglySackles@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

Like they,are going to give you the time to do this shit.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 164 points 2 days ago (8 children)

Ideally while having someone who isn't you record the interaction, so when they drop you to the pavement and your phone 'regrettably' gets smashed to pieces, there's still some external record of what went down.

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[–] onesixone@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 1 day ago (3 children)

How does this post even make sense in this community? literally written in the sidebar:

The police problem is that police are policed by the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (6 children)

This is a SLIGHTLY different case than what the sidebar mentions.

Yes, asking asking the police to investigate themselves is a non-starter.

This post is advocating turning the state/local police against ICE, a federal agency.

I agree, it's unlikely to make a difference. But if you call 9-1-1 and report "Masked men in an unmarked car just kidnapped someone", it's way different from asking internal affairs to investigate another cop.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This post is advocating turning the state/local police against ICE, a federal agency.

More than 600 local police agencies are partnering with ICE: See if yours is one of them

[–] ulterno@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago

They use FUD against us.
Perhaps we can too?

Nah who'm I kidding
The ICE and Police are more organised while kidnapping people than they would be when trying to arrest an actual criminal.

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[–] PlagueShip@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

And if they won't show proof of being police, bite the face. It really makes them think twice.

[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 55 points 2 days ago (10 children)

Next protest literally everyone should dress up in the same outfit the ICE officers dress in. Who would they arrest?

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[–] Greyghoster@aussie.zone 118 points 2 days ago (6 children)

They wear the masks so they can’t be identified. They don’t want their kids friends and school friends to know that what they do.

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[–] UncleGrandPa@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

You ever notice how they stand with their hands covering their badges and name plates?

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[–] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 59 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Skip straight to step 3. Just call 911. These guys aren't fucking around, and neither should you.

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