The US government, and others, have plotted to bypass protections regarding search and surveillance, by finely parsing the words of the 4th amendment and weaseling around them – but, mostly, by just ignoring it. Privacy is for the rich and powerful, not for hoi polloi.
I’ve been a proponent of cop-cams for years. I would now like to officially reverse my position.
There’s an article at the failing <i>New York Times</i> that breaks down how police report their time spent. The whole thing is worth a read so I’m going to comment obliquely on it, rather than quoting extensively from it. [nytimes]
If you follow police misconduct, you will know that there’s a sort of ODESSA, or roman catholic church-like informal shuffling system for bad cops. A sort of protection program that allows a cop to be noisily fired for being a violent brute, and quietly re-hired by another department, given a badge and a gun, and sent back out to do it again.
The counter-reaction to “defund the police” movements has been distressingly predictable: the assumption is that, without police, current policing practices would stop functioning and therefore it’s a bad idea. Basically, it’s a declaration that the status quo is the only way that can ever possibly work, and it ignores the fact that there was a time where civilizations did exist without policing as it is done, today.
I can’t recall which of you introduced me to this musician/song, but – thank you.
The news is full of stories of cops gone wild. That’s as it should be – every day – until they start to realize that they exist on the forbearance of The People.
This is how to bring police departments to heel:
What’s wrong here?
The stories about George Floyd’s death have changed and morphed, as more video emerges, more witnesses talk to journalists, and the cops lies start to wear thin. What I recommend doing is keeping an eye on the story until the cover-up begins, because you can tell where the interesting facts are, by looking for the holes in the finished tapestry.