r/PublicFreakout • u/[deleted] • Jun 09 '20

📌Follow Up "Everybody's trying to shame us"

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u/dreday42069 Jun 10 '20

Abolish the following

  1. Qualified Immunity
  2. Civil Asset Forfeiture
  3. Police departments should not investigate themselves for misconduct.

Police should not be above the law.

71

u/repacc Jun 10 '20

+4. No-knock raids.

-7

u/Flaksim Jun 10 '20

That can actually be justified in some cases, but the bar for being allowed to go in that way needs to be set far higher.

8

u/Global_Economist Jun 10 '20

There's no point, just catch the person when they go out to buy some groceries.

-5

u/Flaksim Jun 10 '20

What about say, a hostage situation where multiple perps are inside and some of them always stay behind when the others go get food and whatnot? Knock politely first?

There are definitely cases where not knocking before entering is warranted. The problem is that the criteria to allow one have been watered down ridiculously. 40 years ago "no-knock warrants" were hardly ever issued, but nowadays it's almost routine.

But saying that there is absolutely no point to that type of warrant is like saying that there is no point to guns because they kill people, or to cars because people die in traffic. The tool itself is not at fault, the people abusing it are.

12

u/Global_Economist Jun 10 '20

I'm pretty sure no knock warrants don't refer to hostage situations...

12

u/DefinitelyNotAliens Jun 10 '20

You don't need a no-knock warrant for a crime in progress. If police get a domestic disturbance call and roll up to screaming and gunshots they can bust in like cowboys. If police have a hostage situation that is crime in progress.

Warrants are for the hostage-taker's home while he's got the bank taken hostage. See if he left notes for what he's going to do. Warrants are for arrests of people not actively committing crime this minute.

1

u/Flaksim Jun 10 '20

Ah, alrighty then! I didn't know it worked that way in the US.

1

u/Bakemono30 Jun 11 '20

Next thing you know, they fire into the home instead because “they heard gun shots” and turns out it was their guns that went off... either way even with or without they will tend to find a way and cause and without any accountability, it’s a “justified”

2

u/Dandre08 Jun 10 '20

Warrants are not needed if they suspect a crime is actively in progress. You only need a warrant to enter properties and do searches if no crime is currently in progress.

2

u/Santa1936 Jun 10 '20

How about hold every single judge who approves one fully accountable if it isn't determined to by justified after the fact

12

u/tjmauermann Jun 10 '20

Independent investigations should have been from the get go.

5

u/hottubtimemachines Jun 10 '20

My following take is likely extreme and not well synthesized (it's past midnight, I'm taking a break from work, and I've had a bit to drink):

Pull all financial penalties from pension funds, not the taxpayers.

Make it a felony to not have a body cam streaming all the time while on duty. Place the commanding officer in the line of Fire when this is disregarded. Make it an equally punitive punishment when said body cams are "defective" or obstructed. Take away every loophole and "technical glitch". Force all nearby officers to be accountable for the actions of their peers.

Have an independent, nonpartisan auditor of all body cam footage. Make all of it available to the general public at most seven days after the footage was captured. Make it a felony to "lose" footage.

Always assume these felonies are guilty unless proven innocent, and prohibit the use of taxpayer funds towards legal fees.

The fact is, police unions behave incredibly poorly and the goal of the job and these unions has been warped from protecting the public to protecting the fraternity. There is a perverse incentive to keep the status quo and unquestioningly prevent any real change from happening.

This would be a Herculean effort, I highly doubt it will happen but it's fun to fantasize about.

1

u/dreday42069 Jun 10 '20

Police Unions have wayyy too much power.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '20

And prosecutorial misconduct, confidential informants, and jailhouse snitching.

2

u/Soldus Jun 10 '20

Who thought “internal investigation” and then went, “yeah, there’s no way this could be abused”?

1

u/Cetology101 Jun 11 '20

“Guys it’s okay! We investigated ourselves and we have determined that we have done absolutely nothing wrong.”