Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API • Hacker News Board

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#111

Post by tsimionescu » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

mthoms wrote: post #78

I'm amazed that someone with the title of "Assistant Director of Communications" actually wrote this meaningless, word salad of gibberish: > "We looked into this and confirmed with our IT Department that API was a tool that was previously available at one point, but has been discontinued / turned off. The API Access site is stagnant and not being monitored and should have been pulled down once the tool was no longer…

It sounds even worse to me. It seems to say 'we thought we had turned that off sometime ago, but we didn't actually take down the public site which gave access to it. In the past, we would have reviewed any request for data through the API, but since we thought we had stopped public access, we were accidentally giving data away without checking if we are actually on with people knowing these things'.

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#112

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

gruez wrote: post #108

nostromo wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's confusing for me that so many people will complain about how the police unions prevent reform and allow for bad behavior -- but then support unions for all other public sector workers.

Imagine if the army was unionized, and started lobbying the government for whether we should participate in wars or not. Or more worryingly, lobbied for change to rules of engagement. Add to that, the fact that everyone in the military was in the union, from the lowest level recruits to the generals. This is as opposed to other unions where management are typically excluded.

Ah, the traditional military coup popular in Latin America. Turkey used to have the military as an unofficial brake on the islamism of the government, but they finally managed have a purge and consolidate power.

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#113

Post by dang » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:07 PM UTC

dddeeerrr9999 wrote: post #21

makotech222 wrote: post #2

Everything you know and think about what the cops do and how they do it is built on many, many decades of copaganda you receive from the media. They are a force which exists to terrorize working class people in order to force them to work for minimum wage. They are an investment by the ruling class which allows them to maintain their profits on marginalized workers. They funnel poor people into prison camps where the…

>They funnel poor people into prison camps Its worse than that. A vast proportion of non-white crime is manufactured by cops and the media to scare whites into bringing back slavery in all but name. Black neighborhoods are actually the safest places in America if racist cops would stop harassing innocent citizens just because they are PoC. Black Lives Matter!

We've banned this account for trolling. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#114

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:08 PM UTC

andy_ppp wrote: post #82

heavyset_go wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's crazy to me that in 2020, there isn't comprehensive, mandatory Federal tracking of police-involved shootings. There is a billion dollar lobby that goes up to bat whenever law enforcement gets bad press, or legislation they don't like gets proposed. While I'm in favor of unionization, I do not support organizations that represent the strong arm of the state's desire to operate opaquely and without oversight fro…

In the UK it’s illegal for the police to unionise for exactly that reason.

But the police federation and ACPO perform similar political functions. At least we have the IPCC which sometimes works.

(We also used to have a paramilitary organization with close ties to a police force that went around murdering dissidents, but we disbanded the Royal Ulster Constabulary. And, surprisingly, the full tanks and snipers in the streets civil war wasn't quite as deadly as 80s Detroit)

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#115

Post by wittyreference » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

throwaway894345 wrote: post #5

makotech222 wrote: post #2

Everything you know and think about what the cops do and how they do it is built on many, many decades of copaganda you receive from the media. They are a force which exists to terrorize working class people in order to force them to work for minimum wage. They are an investment by the ruling class which allows them to maintain their profits on marginalized workers. They funnel poor people into prison camps where the…

Speaking as a former working-class person from a long lineage of working class people, this is obviously and overt nonsense. The criminal justice system and the (highly distributed) institution of policing in particular must be improved and reformed, but the idea that they "oppress working class people" in any meaningful way is severely disconnected from reality (well, communist countries notwithstanding). EDIT: Wow,…

On what basis is this comment getting downvoted to hell, in contrast to the comment it is replying to? Neither is any less an assertion without support. I'd argue this comment is, in fact, the less extreme and incendiary one.

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#116

Post by unethical_ban » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

Actual, unmodified title as of Thu Jul 9 1609 CDT:

Chicago Police Department arrest API shutdown is its own kind of ‘cover up’

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#117

Post by alexilliamson » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:11 PM UTC

The is slightly OT, but I just want to throw it out there that there is no way they did this without Mayor Lightfoot's approval. Which makes me think, why?

Source: I worked closely with CPD and to some extent the mayor's office for two years.

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#118

Post by some-are-better » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:12 PM UTC

bathtub365 wrote: post #104

falcrist wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public sector unions seem a little odd to me. The whole point of unions is to have collective bargaining power to deal with the bargaining power of corporations. That makes perfect sense... but isn't collective bargaining the point of having a democratic government? I'm not saying having, say, a teachers' union is a bad thing. I just feel like it should be redundant. Of course, the police are a special case even with…

Public sector unions exist because you have two groups of people with opposing needs/desires. The state wants to minimize budget while still providing services, and public workers want to make an appropriate wage for the work they do. The government is organized, so (IMO) there should be an organization on the other side of the table bargaining for the workers.

"The state wants to minimize budget"

This is a joke statement right? There is no state in the history of the world that attempts to do this.

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#119

Post by tsimionescu » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:13 PM UTC

monksy wrote: post #38

Latty wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You complain about being downvoted, but your entire post is just calling the post "obviously and overt nonsense" and claiming it is a lie, without making any attempt to explain why. Not exactly a helpful post.

For the individual to make a claim that: "They are a force which exists to terrorize working class people in order to force them to work for minimum wage. They are an investment by the ruling class which allows them to maintain their profits on marginalized workers." Is just over the top absurdist. It's easily debunked by asking someone making above minimal wage "are you being forced to work by the police?" Will they…

Well, can you sleep on the street in an American city? Can you solicit charity? Are you allowed to eat a piece of bread to avoid dying of hunger, even if you have no money?

Or will the police fine you and jail you?

I don't agree with your reading of the original argument, but if you want to take it extremely literally, the police do actually force you to work, assuming you do not have money or relations to support yourself without working. And of course, the prison system will literally force you to work if you get that far. Of course, they are doing this through their enforcement of local, state, or federal laws, not by their own mandate, but they are still the ones ultimately doing these actions.

Of course, there are much more faitfhful readings of the original argument that have more nuanced responses.

Re: Chicago Police Department shuts down its arrest API

#120

Post by volkse » Thu, Jul 09, 2020, 9:16 PM UTC

nostromo wrote: post #84

heavyset_go wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's crazy to me that in 2020, there isn't comprehensive, mandatory Federal tracking of police-involved shootings. There is a billion dollar lobby that goes up to bat whenever law enforcement gets bad press, or legislation they don't like gets proposed. While I'm in favor of unionization, I do not support organizations that represent the strong arm of the state's desire to operate opaquely and without oversight fro…

It's confusing for me that so many people will complain about how the police unions prevent reform and allow for bad behavior -- but then support unions for all other public sector workers.

The issue here isn’t that police unions exist - they can exist and protect the rights of their members without influencing policymaking. The issue is that public policy can be influenced by any special interest group with deep pockets.