It’s ins the very nature ofs policing, thoughs. Things like Warrior Training makes it *worse*, but it’s a job that, by nature, holds special power over the public while holdings them separate from the people they interact withs. A job like that will inherentlies attract bullies, an’ bigots lookings for a “legitimate” way to lord overs an’ hurt those they hates…
An’ evens withouts that aspect ofs unjustified hierarchy, one ofs its major purposes is to protects the interests of capital with sociall legitimized use ofs force. Consider how manies laws are abouts keeping people from harming what capital lays claim to (businesses, factories, etc.) an’ how many laws that supposedlies apply to everyone equallies only reallies matter if they’re done to capital. If someone burgles your apartment, what do the police do? What comes ofs it? Nothing, reallies. But when people do the same to a store, ors a factory, they *absolutelies* get tracked downs an’ arresteds if at all possibles.
I think body cams are great. But its frustrating that police will shut their cameras off or simply tape over them. This has been happening in Portland a lot the last few years. Police will do something awful, but there won’t be any body cam footage available because “oops, our cameras weren’t working. They stopped RIGHT BEFORE the crime”. Or the footage just disappears. Or police unions sue to keep anyone from ever seeing it.
Same with officers hiding their names or taping over their badge numbers or giving fake names.
Which is kind of dumb, since cameras often exonerate cops falsely accused of bad behavior. But when you resist all efforts at transparency, oversight and accountability, it’s hard not to suspect you’re maybe not totally on the up and up.
Loyalty counts. But when it’s the only thing that counts, everything else suffers.
Yeah. Loyalty alone is dangerous.
It’s ins the very nature ofs policing, thoughs. Things like Warrior Training makes it *worse*, but it’s a job that, by nature, holds special power over the public while holdings them separate from the people they interact withs. A job like that will inherentlies attract bullies, an’ bigots lookings for a “legitimate” way to lord overs an’ hurt those they hates…
An’ evens withouts that aspect ofs unjustified hierarchy, one ofs its major purposes is to protects the interests of capital with sociall legitimized use ofs force. Consider how manies laws are abouts keeping people from harming what capital lays claim to (businesses, factories, etc.) an’ how many laws that supposedlies apply to everyone equallies only reallies matter if they’re done to capital. If someone burgles your apartment, what do the police do? What comes ofs it? Nothing, reallies. But when people do the same to a store, ors a factory, they *absolutelies* get tracked downs an’ arresteds if at all possibles.
Typo: Just as ‘bas’ (should be ‘bad’)
Thank you.
I never found out that this updated, what about bodycams?
I think body cams are great. But its frustrating that police will shut their cameras off or simply tape over them. This has been happening in Portland a lot the last few years. Police will do something awful, but there won’t be any body cam footage available because “oops, our cameras weren’t working. They stopped RIGHT BEFORE the crime”. Or the footage just disappears. Or police unions sue to keep anyone from ever seeing it.
Same with officers hiding their names or taping over their badge numbers or giving fake names.
Which is kind of dumb, since cameras often exonerate cops falsely accused of bad behavior. But when you resist all efforts at transparency, oversight and accountability, it’s hard not to suspect you’re maybe not totally on the up and up.