Police brutality settlements in Massachusetts cities aren’t public information — despite use of tax dollars

www.berkshireeagle.com

Police brutality settlements in Massachusetts cities aren’t public information — despite use of tax dollars

www.berkshireeagle.com

Doug Holland@lemmy.worldM to

The Police Problem@lemmy.world · 2 years ago

Police settlements in Pittsfield and North Adams aren’t public information — despite use of tax dollars

www.berkshireeagle.com

Investigations: In the last decade, citizens have filed multiple lawsuits against North Adams and Pittsfield police, but details on how many of the cases ended are not totally clear. When

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“The public should know with certainty that today’s arrest does not reflect on the rest of the department. One bad apple doesn’t spoil the whole bunch.”

*—every police chief everywhere, every time every cop is arrested*

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  **The Police Problem** is that police are policed *by* the police. Cops are accountable only to other cops, which is no accountability at all. 

  When there's an investigation, the details are kept quiet, the officers' names are often withheld, and what info is eventually released is only what police choose to release. 

  When police are punished for misconduct, it's often a suspension *with pay* (obfuscated by the term "[administrative leave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Administrative_leave)").

  When police are fired, they're usually hired by another police department nearby. (It's called the "[Wandering Cop](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/wandering-cops-moving-from-department-to-department-is-a-roadblock-to-police-accountability)" phenomenon.)

  The legal doctrine of "[qualified immunity](https://eji.org/issues/qualified-immunity/)" renders police officers and departments invulnerable to lawsuits for almost anything they do, and in practice, getting past 'qualified immunity' is so rare that it makes headlines.

  If you're carrying 'suspicious' amounts of cash, police can simply confiscate it, without charging you with any crime. Getting your money back will require a long court case, *if* you can get it back at all. This is called "[asset forfeiture](https://archive.ph/fhkvp)."

  Of course, the vast majority of police misconduct is never investigated, never punished, and never makes the news at all, because almost without exception, cops protect other cops. If they don't, [they aren't cops for long](https://www.google.com/search?q=police+whistleblower+fired).

  All this is a path to a police state.

  In a free society, police must always be under serious and skeptical public oversight, with non-cops and non-cronies in charge, issuing genuine punishment when warranted.

  Police who break the law must be disciplined, and for anything more serious than a DWI or jaywalking, *lawbreaking cops must be prosecuted, fired, and barred from ever working in law-enforcement again.*

  That's the solution.

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ALLIES

• r/ACAB

• r/BadCopNoDonut/

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INFO

• Cast-out police officers are often hired in other cities

• How police unions and arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street

• Shielded from Justice: Police Brutality and Accountability in the United States

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ORGANIZATIONS

• Black Lives Matter