4 ms·
The police have an enormous amount of power in the system. They can unilaterally decide to let people get away with something illegal, or arrest people for doin
by Eddy_Viscosity2 3mo ago
The police have an enormous amount of power in the system. They can unilaterally decide to let people get away with something illegal, or arrest people for doing something fully legal because they felt like it. And even if prosecutors drop the charges in the latter case, being arrested, processed, and jailed until that happens is very much a punishment and an act of state violence in and of itself. The bad cops you mention, do exist and continue to exist because the police have so much power in the system that bad ones can't be fired for inexcusable behavior or even doing crimes themselves (exceptions exist, but are rare). They are as much as administrator of state power as the judges and prosecutors. I would even argue they are more so because of the directness of their actions.
- bko 3mo agoI see police ignoring people blatantly violating the law every day. I have never seen them randomly arresting someone for no reason. You're living on a different planet dude. But I'm sure vox will have some article about the one in a million case
- zimpenfish 3mo ago> I have never seen them randomly arresting someone for no reason. Try the Instagram Reels explore feed. I see at least one US cop bodycam a week where they are blatantly abusing their powers over nothing.
- Eddy_Viscosity2 3mo ago> I have never seen them randomly arresting someone for no reason. The 'for no reason' is doing a lot of work here I think. The reason might be that they didn't like the person's attitude, the person was annoying (but not breaking laws) someone more rich and powerful than them, and so on. These are technically 'reasons' I suppose, but I would want the bar to be much higher than that.
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 3mo ago> I have never seen them randomly arresting someone for no reason. The fact you have not personally witnessed something does not mean it never happens. It's like saying "I've never seen someone be murdered" as if it has some meaning for actual murder occurrences. Excusing illegal actions just because you don't witness them is a bizarre take. Anyway, it sounds like your mind is made up, but someone willing to expand their world view might be interested in Jeff Gray's videos on youtube. He is regularly threatened with arrest, typically for standing in a public place with a sign that reads "God bless homeless vets". I actually love the narrative he gives people: when accused of "soliciting" (pathetically invoking a term that, in a police context, is used to refer to sex work) he tells people that he is, in fact, soliciting good will and compassion for homeless veterans in America. (And, again, he is often threatened with arrest for it.)
- kristopolous 3mo agoI've seen them arrest people for no reason a lot! Go to a different neighborhood. Police behavior is zipcode based