In the Securities Industry there exists what is known as a "U4" which is the "Uniform Application for Securities Industry Registration or Transfer". That form and the database into which the information is entered, follows a Stock Broker throughout his/her career, recording every single complaint against the broker and/or the firm that is filed by a client and must be updated with each complaint filed, and (this is critical) every time a broker is hired by another firm. The database is also, and this is the really important part, accessible and searchable by the public. FOR ANY WRONGDOING OF ANY KIND! As long as that wrongdoing is reported by the offended party. So if a broker blatantly rips off your Aunt Polly, (or even suggests or tries to steer her toward investing in something unsuitable for her - ed) and Polly doesn't say a word about it to Dewey, Cheatham and Howe, Securities Brokers, it doesn't go on the U4. Infractions need to be reported for the system to work, and for the most part, they are. This country needs something along those lines for cops.
If each and every oath taking police officer in the country also had something like a U4 that was publicly searchable, that followed him from department to department, that was updated on a weekly, monthly or as needed basis, it might just lead to more accountability. Something like a cop sleeping on the job, captured on film, or the reckless driving, or abuse, or violation of, or utter ignorance of civil or other rights, or .....you get the point - ALL of it can and should go on that cops "U4" or whatever it would be called. Provided any complaint is indeed legitimate.
We need this sort of thing in this country. The Securities industry learned long ago that trust in it's institutions and dealings was important, if not critical to their ongoing operation, and while they haven't always been successful in keeping that trust, for the most part the Brokerage industry is well regulated.
Of course, regulations and oversight are only as effective as the enforcing entity, whoever that should be. There is no way in hell a police department should be allowed to investigate itself for wrongdoing, and this is particularly evident the smaller the department.
The biggest threat to the safety of individuals when encountering police in otherwise innocuous situations seems to be simply not giving them the information they want you to give them, even though you are under no legal obligation to do it. The police in this country are simply out of control, and if you don't acquiesce to every demand for obedience, you are immediately suspect and ultimately subject to intimidation and threat of bodily harm in the very least, and arrest and incarceration at the most. Often for nothing more than "Contempt of Cop".
ALL police should be required immediately and without hesitation to VERBALLY answer the question "What is your Name and Badge Number?" and failure to do so should result in disciplinary action, up to and including loss of job. Once a citizen improperly questioned or harassed by a cop has attained that information, an immediate call to their supervisor with a complaint should instantly result in an entry on the officers U4 or equivalent. Fuck these assholes, and fuck them again. WE NEED A POLICE EQUIVALENT OF A U4 SYSTEM IN THIS COUNTRY!!
The police in this country are little more than an armed gang that has been allowed to set itself up to protect itself and therefore be above the law.
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