3 ms·
I agree. The only way to fix this is to remove immunity for all cops in all cases and start holding them responsible like we do regular citizens, if not to even
by joesmo 10y ago
I agree. The only way to fix this is to remove immunity for all cops in all cases and start holding them responsible like we do regular citizens, if not to even more stringent rules. This is first and foremost a cultural problem however, one that is so ingrained in culture, especially legal culture, that I see no way of making headway. When a judge automatically believes what a police officer says and a police officer's testimony is worth more than a regular citizen's testimony in court, you're looking at challenging the whole system of justice we have as unfair, biased, and broken. I don't see a path to any reform that doesn't hit that conclusion in this country, especially when you're talking about reforming police or getting on a path to fair trials/sentencing. In the meantime, the cultural biases that lead to this are so strong and so highly ingrained, reinforced by racism and other divisive hate, that you'd have to throw out the whole idea of trial by jury (which is extremely outdated and especially unjust in modern society) to make headway.
I'm not saying it's impossible. I'm just saying, until you have truly revolutionary change, all cops will be perceived as the absolute danger to life, limb, and property that they potentially are. That is unfortunate for the good ones, but that's life. I don't go around questioning whether members of other gangs like the Bloods or Crips have ill intent for me, so I certainly will not question whether members of the biggest, most heavily armed, most dangerous gang in the US have ill intent for me. I just assume they do because the majority do.
- Grishnakh 10y agoActually, I'd worry less about the Bloods and the Crips: they're businesspeople, and as long as you aren't involved in their business (pushing drugs), you probably don't have too much to worry about. The police are a different story, because to them, we're all "the enemy".
- joesmo 10y agoAbsolutely. Sorry if this didn't come through clearly.