Police misconduct: Search discipline records for thousands of cops • Hacker News Board

Re: Police misconduct: Search discipline records for thousands of cops

#41

Post by senectus1 » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 2:07 AM UTC

craftinator wrote: post #30

Trias11 wrote: post #25

Is setting up a speed traps and harassing motorists for money instead of fighting crime is not a misconduct?

The main role of the police is to act as a deterrent for criminal behavior, not to fight crime (though they do both). Being seen by everyone who drives by fulfills the deterrent role, while allowing them to generate income for their precinct that keeps taxes lower.

I think you might have a very select "definition" of Police:

police /pəˈliːs/ noun 1. the civil force of a state, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order. "when someone is killed, the police have to be informed" synonyms: police force, police officers, policemen, policewomen, officers of the law, the forces of law and order, law enforcement officers, law enforcement agency; More verb 1. (of a police force) have the duty of maintaining law and order in or at (an area or event). synonyms: maintain law and order in, keep the peace in, keep guard over, keep watch on, watch over, guard, protect, defend, patrol, make the rounds of "it would not be possible to police the area effectively"

Re: Police misconduct: Search discipline records for thousands of cops

#42

Post by prawn » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 3:00 AM UTC

fergbrain wrote: post #18

So now to cross-check who’s now working in another state.

Reminds me of the great film Spotlight when the reporters start cross-referencing records to find out where accused priests had been moved or placed on leave.

Re: Police misconduct: Search discipline records for thousands of cops

#43

Post by DoctorOetker » Mon, Apr 29, 2019, 12:45 PM UTC

mhuffman wrote: post #37

I made a complaint on an officer once and the next day his supervisor (who is Chief of Police now) called me up and said, "... are you suuure you want to go through with this? Because if we investigate and can't prove any wrong-doing, we will charge you with filing a false complaint!" Now, I didn't back down and got a letter from them saying, "we investigated and, although we are not going to tell you the outcome for…

Their response does not make sense: [the police's] absence of evidence [for your complaint] does not constitute evidence of absence [of what you claim happened], so this absence of evidence does not form a basis for charging you with a false complaint (unless they find actual evidence that whatever your complaint claimed did not happen)

Re: Police misconduct: Search discipline records for thousands of cops

#44

Post by craftinator » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 12:30 AM UTC

senectus1 wrote: post #41

craftinator wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The main role of the police is to act as a deterrent for criminal behavior, not to fight crime (though they do both). Being seen by everyone who drives by fulfills the deterrent role, while allowing them to generate income for their precinct that keeps taxes lower.

I think you might have a very select "definition" of Police: police /pəˈliːs/ noun 1. the civil force of a state, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order. "when someone is killed, the police have to be informed" synonyms: police force, police officers, policemen, policewomen, officers of the law, the forces of law and order, law enforcement officers, law enforcement a…

I define the police by what they do, not by any dictionary definition. I have several friends and former co-workers who are police officers, and most of them believe that their primary role is to be seen and project a presence over an area. I know there are many, many different specific jobs in the police force (in the USA), but the most man hours are put into driving around (often in high crime areas) and keeping an eye on things. Any police officers want to offer their opinions?

Re: Police misconduct: Search discipline records for thousands of cops

#45

Post by TheRealPomax » Tue, Apr 30, 2019, 3:17 PM UTC

molyss wrote: post #38

TheRealPomax wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scope creep - (1) doesn't need to include "prosecutors and policians", those can come later. In fact, keeping immunity up for those two for the first decade or two means they're in a much safer position to call out the police force without having to fear legal reprisal over having (inadvertantly, or intentionally) collaborated with them. Dismantle it in stages, because trying to do it all on one go is a recipe for fa…

That's a very interesting take. I feel like they're all very urgent to tackle. People are losing faith in the political system and I fear they are also losing faith in the judicial system. Do you think the people would be OK with more oversight on the lower level of the executive branch, but none on the legislative or the judicial branches nor on the top level of the executive branch (the president, in the US of A an…

When "everything is urgent", you're setting yourself up for failure, because you won't have the resources to address all issues at the same time. Pick one battle, and win it. Then reprioritize.

People have already lost faith in both, quite a long time ago in fact. So start fixing things by solving the problem one step at a time, big enough for people to notice and gain hope for future development, and small enough that you can fail without drastically affecting the overall change.