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Your comment, like many others in this thread, seems to be of the form "what if the police do this other, unrelated, illegal thing?" The solution is to make su
by everfree 5y ago
Your comment, like many others in this thread, seems to be of the form "what if the police do this other, unrelated, illegal thing?"
The solution is to make sure there are repercussions for cops doing illegal things, not to prevent laws from being passed because cops might try to twist the intention of the law to try to justify illegal acts.
Courts have a lot of discretion in deciding cases, and many cases come down to a question of intent. If 12 cops intentionally body-block someone who is recording, that's something that a judge isn't likely to look at too fondly.
- iamevn 5y agoI have seen Seattle police slam a person's head into the ground, surround them, and appear to purposely cut off any viewing angles. As far as I know, no charges were raised and this person ended up in hospital after immediate medical assistance was blocked. This is what happens. It's not hypothetical.
- tormock 5y ago> Your comment, like many others in this thread, seems to be of the form "what if the police do this other, unrelated, illegal thing?" It is not ( yet ) illegal to stand in front of a camera, to block something behind you.
- alphabettsy 5y ago> If 12 cops intentionally body-block someone who is recording, that's something that a judge isn't likely to look at too fondly. That’s all fine and well, but when they can just take your device then you no longer have a video of whatever you were attempting to record. Things used in a “crime” are subject to seizure.
- scarface74 5y agoSo who is going to stop cops from doing illegal things - other cops? The judicial system that is also on the side of the cops?
- everfree 5y agoI can't design a new society in the comments section. The question of how to reform the policing system to make cops more accountable for unlawful actions isn't really in the scope of this article.
- scarface74 5y agoOnce you pass another law, that gives cops more tools to abuse their power. How about we just don’t pass laws giving police more power?
- hellotomyrars 5y agoThe question of how is beyond the scope but the implications of this specific legislation sure is. It is incredibly open to abuse and arguably because of existing legislation already surrounding interfering with police entirely unnecessary outside of its very obvious abuse potential. Police should be subject to more scrutiny and not less. This specifically makes it easier for them to evade scrutiny. I struggle to see any good faith argument that leads to less accountability or evidence in general. It’s almost comedic in a “What are you afraid of if you have nothing to hide” sense that is often applied in the other direction of police having authority beyond what is reasonable.
- jyounker 5y agoIf you think US police won't abuse the law to evade accountability then I think you haven't been paying attention.