Maybe it's time to disband police, in general? Just put up a few more cameras (total public coverage), make the footage available to anyone for up to a year, and allow persons to press charges for crimes committed (with hefty penalties for demonstrable false statements with mal intent). There would need to be some kind of force in place to investigate crimes committed in private areas, but we wouldn't need nearly as much shoe leather on the street. Yeah, there would be minuses too.
Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
211–220 of 365 posts
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#212Earlier quoted context omitted.
How will those big payouts happen without the evidence from body cams?
They already do. Bystander cameras, CCTVs, even witness reports have done a great deal to secure absurd amounts of taxpayer money for police brutality lawsuits. I still think we should have body cameras, but the primary focus should be better policing, not camera compliance alone.
They do on extremely rare occasions, but it is clear that the level of misconduct is far higher than is ever prosecuted.
On the subject of camera compliance - if an officer deliberately evades camera compliance, as a huge proportion do, we have clear evidence that that officer believes they do not have to follow policies and procedures in general. That is corruption.
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#213Though I agree that this behavior is reprehensible and probably criminal, the comments here seem to miss at least some of the human dynamic here. I can't hardly imagine that most people posting here would ever consider a job where literally every word or sound that came out of their mouth during their entire working life was recorded, and likely subject to public disclosure. Saying that this is what cops signed up fo…
I can't hardly imagine that most people posting here would ever consider a job where literally every word or sound that came out of their mouth during their entire working life was recorded I started out doing phone tech support. I doubt I am the only one.
Phone tech support: every word recorded, probably video in a lot of cases. Retail: video of the whole store is common, unsure about audio. Office work: every worker signs a document saying everything they do on the network can/will be recorded and reviewed, which for many may be the bulk of their communication during work hours. The list goes on -- and none of these people are legally empowered to kill anyone.
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#214Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have to say America just seems like a dreadful mess.
Americas biggest problem in the inner cities. They are literally ghettos were gangs and violence run rampant. The schools are pure shit. The kids have no future. The cops crack down hard (half because they have to in order to maintain any semblance of peace, half because they become jaded). But that part of America is shockingly isolated from the rest of us. Chicago is a great example. There are blocks where on side…
> Americas biggest problem in the inner cities.
This is absolutely not true. Have you ever lived in an inner city? Yes some people are fighting with each other but if you act respectfully, you'll be left alone.
The police aren't cracking down because they "have to". They're cracking down (e.g. stop and frisk) because they're power hungry and ignorant.
As someone who's lived in all manner of socioeconomic areas of the US, I would say without hesitation that the biggest problem here is the cost of healthcare, education and housing. NOT any segment of the population.
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#215Earlier quoted context omitted.
The dash cams are for their benefit. There was a county in another state that implemented dash cams for their police force and found an 80% drop in complaints against officers. Why do officers feel like they are being watched? The dash cams are to protect them. If they fear being watched, perhaps they know they aren't doing their job?
>The dash cams are for their benefit. There was a county in another state that implemented dash cams for their police force and found an 80% drop in complaints against officers. Baloney. The cameras are for the public's benefit. Imagine your employer (or whatever) came to you and said, "From now on, you're wearing a camera whenever you're working. It's for your benefit; if anyone ever accuses you of slacking off, you…
"Slacking off" is very different from "Shot and killed someone". Recording people at work is proportionate to reducing killings.
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#216Earlier quoted context omitted.
Police officers abuse their romantic partners at about twice the average rate. Domestic violence occurs in about 40% of households with police officers.
Note: those rates span a lifetime. It doesn't mean that every current relationship has a high rate of abuse.
Whatever the temporal basis of comparaison, it kind of means that any relationship involving a cop is more likely to result in abuse. no?
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#217Let's see.. in the 20 odd years here in Chicago, the sum of my police interactions are: Hit by a white shirt (supervisor) who came out of an alley on clark st while in a bike lane - somehow my fault, detained. Hit on foot, by a car with no lights on in a residential neighborhood while crossing at a crosswalk - somehow my fault for being outside while there was "a suspect being hunted" Watching officers on foot in 7-1…
I have to say America just seems like a dreadful mess.
The thing to keep in mind is that America isn't as homogeneous as a European country, it's as diverse as the entire European continent. Would you say that Denmark is a dreadful mess because of the crime rate in Serbia? Probably not.
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#218Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is no national body that oversees police, but Chicago has the Independent Police Review Authority. However IPRA rarely upholds complaints against police (it's staffed by ex-cops and other people connected to the police), and recently an investigator was fired after finding a shooting unjustified[1]. [1] http://www.wbez.org/news/city-fires-investigator-who-found-c...
I think it is clear we need a national body to oversee police.
?
The government is hopelessly corrupt, from the local police to the a president who condones torture and assassinates innocents, and yet there are still people who think the solution to corruption is an even more powerful government body.
The definition of insanity is to try the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome.
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#219The police forces in most of America have become a magnet for sociopaths and bullies. There is such a deeply held belief and culture of covering up wrongdoing by fellow officers that it provides a safe space for the absolute worst behavior humanity has to offer. And, because there is still a strongly held belief among most of the nation that, "most cops are good" or even that most cops are downright heroic, that to question or criticize police is to put a target on your back.
A number of my friends are anti-police brutality activists (a few relatively well-known nationwide for it, but all are known by name by many in the local and state PD), and they have quite long arrest records; all bullshit charges, none of which stuck, but all part of a campaign by the police to make their lives miserable. One "accidentally" had his head smacked into a marble floor, hard enough to cause a concussion and a pool a blood on the floor and a night at the hospital, while he was passively filming police at an unrelated protest.
This is not restricted to Chicago, though Chicago seems to be quite far advanced on the path to being the worst.
In short: I don't know what should replace police in the US, but drastic change is needed. Not merely reform; the whole damned system needs to be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. The prison industrial complex, of which police are the front line foot soldiers, is a national disgrace.
Re: Chicago Police Hid Mics, Destroyed Dashcams to Block Audio, Records Show
#220Let's see.. in the 20 odd years here in Chicago, the sum of my police interactions are: Hit by a white shirt (supervisor) who came out of an alley on clark st while in a bike lane - somehow my fault, detained. Hit on foot, by a car with no lights on in a residential neighborhood while crossing at a crosswalk - somehow my fault for being outside while there was "a suspect being hunted" Watching officers on foot in 7-1…
I'm moving to Chicago in a few months. Are there certain neighborhoods that should be avoided on the basis of corrupt police activity? I wonder because I could see neighborhoods that are relatively safe in terms of civilian crime, but cops posted in that area might have nothing better to do than mess with its inhabitants.
The quieter the neighborhood, the less likely it is you'll ever interact with a police officer.
If you're in your mid-20s, the typical places to end up would be Uky Village, Logan Square, Roscoe Village, Lincoln Square, and Uptown.
You wouldn't want to live in Streeterville or Edgewater for reasons beyond the number of police there. If you're seeing lots of police in Wrigleyville, it's because the neighborhood is overrun with drunk overgrown fraternity members. If you actually live in Wrigleyville, there's a good chance you like the police, because Wrigleyville drunks are pretty fucking annoying.
The kinds of police interactions characterized by things like the Laquan McDonald shooting are more or less confined to the south and west sides of the city, where you're not going to move anyways, because nobody is moving there.
There aren't neighborhoods in Chicago that are low-crime and high-police-violence.
I agree with the other commenter on this thread who points out that Chicago is just like every other big city. One of the things that makes Chicago distinctive is (unfortunately) the legacy of segregation and redlining from the 60s and 70s, which gutted whole large areas of the city. There aren't large sections of Manhattan or Brooklyn with virtually no white residents (at least, no area as large as the Austin/Lawndale neighborhoods). It's an extremely unfortunate situation for people that don't have the means to get out of those neighborhoods, and at the same time pretty much entirely shields white people from problems with CPD.