All cops serve and protect property and its owners. All police forces are tied together in a Gordian Knot and no elected leader has a blade sharp enough to cut it.
This is how I think it SHOULD be and why police and ICE come from totally different places -- https://edwardpearlman.substack.com/p/police-and-ice-oil-and-water -- and a key police trainer at the Maine Police Academy totally agrees with me-- but a lot of cops are like this guy Wilson. Something has to be done about cop culture. Starting with relieving them of duties they're not trained for. But also a willingness to respect and protect people, know & honor the Constitution. But in the end, a change of values, culture, attitude. That Wilson should get a visit like an old friend of mine used to make when he was head of the Mass police union -- if a cop revealed racist behavior he gets a visit asking one main question -- "so what's your next job gonna be? Cuz you're fired."
Cop culture can’t be changed unless the protections for cops are changed. Protections are hardcoded into law, behaviours of cities and insurers. It is so incredibly difficult to hold cops accountable for anything and they know it. Abusers don’t have to pay for their defence nor do they ever pay restitution.
The cop environment set up and operational set up attracted a specific kind of bully and power seeker. Oh sure, there is the odd “good” cop, but there are so many bad ones that it’s naive, foolish and stupid even, to assume that the cop you interact with actually believes you gave rights.
I have a good friend who defends criminal gang members. His advice is : always be polite and respectful. Why? Not because they deserve that, but because these people are trained and authorized to lie and harm you. They can, and eagerly will, inflict so much damage upon you just because they can. The court systems are full of victims of cop abuse. Generally, cops don’t care if you ever get convicted. For them, it’s about “the ride”. The ride is: humiliation, financial, health, reputational, family damage. All of that costs them nothing but it costs you everything. It’s about vindictiveness. Then do it because they can get away with it.
Until something is done about immunity then nothing will change.
Oh yes, again, that innocent until proven guilty? That’s a marketing ploy and has nothing to do with reality.
The bottom line is that the police operate under the constitutional view that people are innocent until proven guilty” . This is just not true.
Yes, and as I discuss in the Substack linked above, ICE is rooted in the need to keep criminals from crossing the border -- therefore their mode is guilty till proven innocent.
I get what you are trying to say but what I am saying is - innocent until proven guilty doesn’t exist. Innocent doesn’t exist in or out of law. Not guilty exists but that comes with strings attached and a person has to go through hell just to get that.
Cops and border guards both look at the person from the point of view of what are they guilty of? What can I charge them with? That’s how they are trained.
Helpless? Not entirely but change would be much harder than fixing congress. IMO. I have, unfortunately, too much knowledge/experience of/with cops, and the protections for cops is hard coded in the legal and insurance systems. Qualified immunity is not qualified. It’s full. Insurance or cities pay damages.
SCOTUS has issued opinions protecting cops. The 4 th and 5 th are not even lines on paper anymore and there is nothing society can do about it as long as republicans are in power.
So I guess my answer is - no. Voters are not helpless. Vote all republicans out of power.
November 4 th will see an escalation of violence and economic destruction that will be very difficult for society to understand and absorb and at that point there will not be any recourse
All cops serve and protect property and its owners. All police forces are tied together in a Gordian Knot and no elected leader has a blade sharp enough to cut it.
Cops are what they are
This is how I think it SHOULD be and why police and ICE come from totally different places -- https://edwardpearlman.substack.com/p/police-and-ice-oil-and-water -- and a key police trainer at the Maine Police Academy totally agrees with me-- but a lot of cops are like this guy Wilson. Something has to be done about cop culture. Starting with relieving them of duties they're not trained for. But also a willingness to respect and protect people, know & honor the Constitution. But in the end, a change of values, culture, attitude. That Wilson should get a visit like an old friend of mine used to make when he was head of the Mass police union -- if a cop revealed racist behavior he gets a visit asking one main question -- "so what's your next job gonna be? Cuz you're fired."
Cop culture can’t be changed unless the protections for cops are changed. Protections are hardcoded into law, behaviours of cities and insurers. It is so incredibly difficult to hold cops accountable for anything and they know it. Abusers don’t have to pay for their defence nor do they ever pay restitution.
The cop environment set up and operational set up attracted a specific kind of bully and power seeker. Oh sure, there is the odd “good” cop, but there are so many bad ones that it’s naive, foolish and stupid even, to assume that the cop you interact with actually believes you gave rights.
I have a good friend who defends criminal gang members. His advice is : always be polite and respectful. Why? Not because they deserve that, but because these people are trained and authorized to lie and harm you. They can, and eagerly will, inflict so much damage upon you just because they can. The court systems are full of victims of cop abuse. Generally, cops don’t care if you ever get convicted. For them, it’s about “the ride”. The ride is: humiliation, financial, health, reputational, family damage. All of that costs them nothing but it costs you everything. It’s about vindictiveness. Then do it because they can get away with it.
Until something is done about immunity then nothing will change.
Oh yes, again, that innocent until proven guilty? That’s a marketing ploy and has nothing to do with reality.
The bottom line is that the police operate under the constitutional view that people are innocent until proven guilty” . This is just not true.
Yes, and as I discuss in the Substack linked above, ICE is rooted in the need to keep criminals from crossing the border -- therefore their mode is guilty till proven innocent.
ICE is about abuse. Nothing to do with the border. It’s a Gestapo now.
Yes. I'm taking about where border guards and police come from opposite sides of the guilty vs innocent equation. Do you not get that?
I get what you are trying to say but what I am saying is - innocent until proven guilty doesn’t exist. Innocent doesn’t exist in or out of law. Not guilty exists but that comes with strings attached and a person has to go through hell just to get that.
Cops and border guards both look at the person from the point of view of what are they guilty of? What can I charge them with? That’s how they are trained.
Varying degrees of the same thing.
Well, yeah. Are we helpless to change that? Have we no responsibility as citizens?
Helpless? Not entirely but change would be much harder than fixing congress. IMO. I have, unfortunately, too much knowledge/experience of/with cops, and the protections for cops is hard coded in the legal and insurance systems. Qualified immunity is not qualified. It’s full. Insurance or cities pay damages.
SCOTUS has issued opinions protecting cops. The 4 th and 5 th are not even lines on paper anymore and there is nothing society can do about it as long as republicans are in power.
So I guess my answer is - no. Voters are not helpless. Vote all republicans out of power.
November 4 th will see an escalation of violence and economic destruction that will be very difficult for society to understand and absorb and at that point there will not be any recourse
Wow, pretty good response, thanks.