After arriving at the Murry family home, police instructed everyone inside to come out with their hands up. Nakala Murry says that’s when Aderrien emerged from around a corner, running toward the door. Capers then opened fire.

  • @[email protected]English
    1•8 months ago

    Thanks for your perspective. Would a tiny little insular department be just as much part of the larger system as any another? Maybe compared to a department say pulling over out-of-state motorists all day.

    Glad I’m reading this, since yesterday I shared:

    I’m hard pressed to think of any group of 10m (global) or 700k (domestic) people where I can use the word “All” before describing them. I prefer “PEB”: Policing Enables Bastards. I may be too literal: “PEB” has been downvoted perhaps 2 or 3 of the 3 or 4 times I’ve mentioned it.

    The most ethical department in the US probably has like two cops and they’re probably great to every single one of the couple hundred residents they serve. (Speculating) Why lump them in with even 99% of the rest of departments even if we believe those 99% all have at least one bad cop who the other cops covered for?

    —

    To quote you now:

    The entire point of ACAB as a movement is that it’s a systemic problem, and until that system changes, every officer is part of the problem, even if they as individuals are “good” cops.

    Policing has systemic problems and every officer is part a problematic system. Some officers who are part of the problematic system are not themselves part of the problem. I don’t know the numbers – I could be referring to 10 or 12 cops.

    To drive this point home, imagine elder care devolves to the point where 100% of caretakers are abusive to their patients. All caretakers would be part of the problem. If one caretaker quits in as replaced by a non-abusive provider, they would be part of a disgracefully problematic system. Given their behavior is not problematic, they would not themselves be a part of the problem.

    If 51% of caretakers are abusive, are 49% of caretakers part of the problem?

    If 49% of caretakers are abusive, or 1% of caretakers are abusive, are the remainder part of the problem?

    If a trans Lemming in Unix socks sees cops kill trans people and wants to take on the impossible challenge of reforming a department from the inside, I don’t know why I’d try to discourage them. “Noo you’re only allowed to vote, protest, and run as a politician, no ground level actions!” I want trans people on the force. PEB, but trans Lemming cops aren’t necessarily bastards. And if their chief takes 30 days to fire them, “ACAB” insults them unnecessarily during that. Besides opportunity cost, the more good people are stuffed into an evil system, the better… provided they won’t think twice before committing terminable offenses (whistleblowing, disregarding immoral orders).

    Thanks for entertaining my verbose, overly literal exploration.

    • southsamuraiEnglish
      4•8 months ago

      Well, sometimes the smaller departments are worse. You run into places where the cops are a literal organized crime faction.

      But, yeah, when the system is geared towards incarceration for control of the populace, with racist roots and power grabbing people throughout, even a small department is part of the problem.

      Our county? Like I said, the sheriff really does his best to weed out the racists and assholes, but he’s an elected official, and some shit is deeply entrenched. He loses an election, and we’re subject to whatever gets in.

      Conveniently enough, I used to be a nurse’s assistant, so the analogy about nursing homes is close to home. And it is another field where the problems of the industry taint even the best caregivers sometimes. It’s only because most caregivers are genuinely trying their best that it isn’t as bad as the policing problems.

      But you really, really don’t want to see what happens in most nursing homes. The profit driven ones are worse than the charitable ones, but there’s problems rooted in the capitalist dominance of the medical industry. When you’re paying bare minimum for caregivers, abuse, theft, and even worse things can creep in because the keep things staffed, it’s often the worst ones that stick with the job.

      And! When someone stands the fuck up about abuse, they’re the ones that get attacked, fired, or otherwise driven away. There’s multiple reasons I stopped working in nursing homes, but being unable to stop abuse, even when going to state oversight divisions, was one of them. You make reports, and you end up mysteriously off schedule. You stop someone directly, and you’re on report. It’s crazy.

      But, unlike cops, the victims of elder abuse in facilities rarely have anyone advocating for them, so the problem isn’t as well known

      But, after that experience? Yeah, even the good ones are part of the problem because the system prevents them from making change so the good ones never last long. It isn’t as bad as the police problem, but nobody escapes without some taint on them, some compromise made to their ethics.

      You raise a great point though. It is possible for good people to become cops (or caregivers) with the goal of changing from the inside. But they won’t be allowed to they’ll get run out, or killed