American Police are Basically Untouchable. How did it get this bad?

[Nevilledog]

https://therealnews.com/american-police-are-basically-untouchable-how-did-it-get-this-bad

*snip*

Chris Hedges:

The police in the United States through a series of Supreme Court decisions as well as policies enacted by state and city governments have become largely immune from prosecution even when they commit serious felonies such as murder. Police officers are criminally charged in less than 2% of fatal shootings and convicted in fewer than one third of those cases. When officers injure but do not kill, they are even less likely to be prosecuted. Police in America are virtually omnipotent, prosecuted in a handful of high profile cases that receive national attention, but otherwise free to engage in lawless behavior, especially in poor communities.

University of California law professor Joanna Schwartz, in her book, Shielded: How The Police Became Untouchable, details the myriad of ways the legal system has stripped the citizens of protections from police abuse. The wholesale blocking of civil rights litigation means the police are rarely held accountable for the crimes they commit. Blunting all efforts to enact meaningful police oversight, legal accountability and reform. Joining me to discuss her book, our failed justice system in police forces that function especially in poor communities as rogue militias, is Professor Joanna Schwartz. Let’s begin as you do in the book with the legal antecedents, especially Section 1983 became law in 1871. What was Section 1983? Why was it made law and how did it protect the citizenry and why and how has it been rolled back?

Joanna Schwartz:

Section 1983 was first passed by Congress in 1871 following the Civil War during reconstruction when newly freed slaves, former slaves, black Americans were being tortured and killed by the newly created Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups and local law enforcement and government was doing nothing to intervene if they were not themselves participating in the violence. And Congress looking at this evidence, decided that there needed to be a federal law allowing people to sue for violations of their civil constitutional rights in order to give those rights actual meaning. And so they enacted what is now known as Section 1983 for its place in the US code, but was at the time referred to as, the Ku Klux Klan Act. Very soon after Section 1983 became law, decisions by the Supreme Court and by Congress made Section 1983 and other reconstruction era acts lose much of their power.

And it was really not until 1961 when the Supreme Court first recognized that Section 1983 could be used to sue government officials, police officers in the case, which is called Monroe versus Pape, for the violations of their constitutional rights. So after 90 years in obscurity and disuse, Section 1983 was recognized by the Supreme Court as being this tool that could be used to sue for constitutional violations in 1961. But then after a sort of momentary heyday with the power and potential of 1983, the statute has lost progressively its power and it’s lost its power through Supreme Court decisions primarily that have cut away at the ability to sue in a variety of different ways that I outlined in the book that begin at the very initial stage of trying to find a lawyer through pleading a complaint with the court through proving a constitutional violation, qualified immunity, holding local governments responsible and beyond.

*snip*

[aocommunalpunch]

1. Property (donors) owners dictate what happens.

They like the poors kept in their place. ACAB.

[EYESORE 9001]

2. Anyone who thinks PDs were started for any other reason

than to serve the interests of the monied class is deluding themself.

[newdayneeded]

9. I believe when the billionaires decide

to shut this country down, they'll call on their bought and paid for "S.S." (the police union) to provide the power and force needed.

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. The staunch 1A types that think they will use their guns to fight the military...

Will, if it ever comes down to it, be fighting their local police forces who I am convinced, will fire live rounds into crowds without blinking an eye.

The police in this country are simply out of control and the only way to fix it is to do what Camden, NJ did. Tear it down and start over.

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/12/camden-policing-reforms-313750

[MuseRider]

3. Where were they

when we were all trying to stop this gun fetish that is making life impossible for some and difficult for others and worrisome every time you leave your home. Maybe they saw this as a benefit when we did not?

[SamKnause]

4. The 'Supreme' Court is responsible for most of the problems facing this country.

Corporations are not people.

Money is not speech.

Overturning Roe vs. Wade was an attack on women and their rights.

Stopping the Voting Rights Act under false pretenses.

Allowing religions to overstep their bounds.

Giving police powers they have no right to.

Giving corporations powers and lessoning the rights of people.

Interfering with presidential elections.

Fuck the 'Supreme' Court.

There is nothing supreme about them.

9 people should not have control over 333 million people.

[Duppers]

7. Indeed! 👍

[mountain grammy]

13. Agree!

[FakeNoose]

5. Police Unions are like mobsters, and they've been enabled for way too long

[Celerity]

15. +1000

Many need to put under the cosh of RICO Act prosecutions.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

6. System working as designed. Abolish it all. K&R.

[2naSalit]

8. Some history...

[Wonder Why]

10. There have always been bullies, liars, criminals and murderers among the police. Only, in the past,

it was simply ignored because there was little, if anything, people could do about it. The public wanted law and order and if the police became the judges and juries, well, the arrestee was probably guilty anyway. "Dead or alive" has been around forever. Once the country started changing and the media, the courts and public spirited citizens began to open the books on police brutality, beating confessions from people, filing false information even under oath, and the rest of it became more difficult so laws were passed protecting the police because PEOPLE WANTED THEM, not just because of the rich or the courts. Rich or poor, people don't want crime around and if the police suppress it by committing crimes, well, then so be it.

We can't blame the courts, the politicians, the businesses, the rich, the police unions or whatever, unless we first accept that we as citizens have abrogated our responsibility.

The courts are made up of judges we ultimately are responsible for.

The politicians listen to the people to the extent it gets them votes and the voters generally want the "law and order" people in charge (that means local crimes, not the crimes of the rich).

Businesses, most of which are small ones, want to protect their assets and their livelihood and are just like the rest of us.

The police unions, like unions everywhere, want to protect their members from being disciplined or charged with crimes and some don't care why so they protect the wrongdoer.

We, the People, have failed.

[Comfortably_Numb]

11. No dis-incentive for bad cops. In the unlikely event the victims prevail, the taxpayers foot the

bill. Step one, reconfigure “qualified” immunity back to its intent, rather than the “automatic” immunity that it has evolved into. Second, make police unions self-insure for negligent behavior and make the cops pay the premiums. Third, a national register for fired officers. I’d wager shit would get handled then. Peer pressure.

[Bonx]

14. Here's a long list of exceptions to this narrative

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_law_enforcement_officers_convicted_for_an_on-duty_killing_in_the_United_States

[Celerity]

17. long? 123 events in 153 years (in a nation of 100 to 334 million people for last 103 of those years)

[The Bopper]

16. Broadbrush

Statistics indicate about 97% of cops never shoot their gun, so about 90% of your complaints aren’t valid. That being said , we’ve all seen the ridiculous way that some do handle their jobs. As far as “charging them all with murder” for all shootings is like saying all minorities are bad. In this society we live in now, guns are the feature and the training most receive is based on the “hair trigger” that they are trained for. If you want American cops to act like British Bobbies, you’ll need to figure out a way to get rid of 300,000,000 guns. Citizen oversight should be strengthened on the bad ones who need to find a different job, but broad brushing just makes us look ridiculous.