this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026

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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.

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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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ALLIES

• !abolition@slrpnk.net

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• r/ACAB

• r/BadCopNoDonut/

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• Identity Project

• MirandaWarning.org

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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

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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

founded 3 years ago

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JonsJava@lemmy.world

LAPD officer who recorded colleagues’ racist comments charged with felony eavesdropping (www.latimes.com)

submitted 1 week ago by VetOfTheSeas@discuss.online to c/thepoliceproblem@lemmy.world

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[–] sleet01@lemmy.ca 35 points 1 week ago (3 children)

"Felony Eavesdropping" is that like "Ninja'ing With Intent to Distribute"?

I mean, if we're just making up obviously bullshit charges now...

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[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

All party consent state.

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[–] LilB0kChoy@reddthat.com 17 points 1 week ago (1 child)

Were they working at the time? Do LAPD officers wear body cams? Seems like law enforcement officers, at least while working, should reasonably expect to be recorded all the time, which would be implied consent.

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[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago* (1 child)

You're right (and it's great to see someone that understands implied consent) but they're absolutely going to make him fight for it. Meaning that if the goal is to discourage the behavior, they'll charge anyway and let the defense attorney argue it.

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[–] LilB0kChoy@reddthat.com 9 points 1 week ago

I know. The cruelty is the point.

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[–] ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago*

I hate that 12 states are all-party consent. If you're part of a conversation you should be allowed to record it, and 38 states agree.

I went to jail after being falsely charged with assault and it was only my recordings of our conversations that saved my ass. To think in California I could have been charged with a felony for providing evidence my accuser was a scheming liar is crazy to me.

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