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Koko Ricky

Cops more corrupt or it's just reported more? Or both?

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Cop Block is a website that reports cop abuse. I'm subscribed to the Facebook page. Very disturbing stuff. Were cops this fucked up decades ago? Can that even be proven? I suppose the real question is, has there been an increase in cop corruption over the years?

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My vote is both.

These days you get more news from a wider area in more ways. You hear about more incidents, police or otherwise.

Nonetheless, It wouldn't surprise me if the quality of police has lowered.

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I'm sure they were always fucked up. There's just more ways to report it now and more cops in general. Like there wasn't a lot of photos of lightning striking cats, but now there are a lot. Cellphones be everywhere. Not just that, but humans cover more space on Earth now.

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It was certainly reported less in the past -especially if you consider situations like post-war and Junta-years Greece, where civil rights were practically suspended, and anyone merely suspected of being a communist sympathizer could be arrested, held and tortured with no chance of recourse -police corruption and brutality was the norm, rather than the exception, and you couldn't do shit about it.

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When I think of how outraged people are by authority abusing its power, I find it kind of funny. As a former-student of history, American History particularly, I can confirm that cops and authority figures were probably even worse in the past. I think of the Great Riot of 1876, where the national guard outright shot train workers protesting an stark pay cut. Or how police would just simply beat women in the head with a baton for picketing outside the triangle shirt waist factory. After that, the judge would side with the cop, and ask "why are you, as a woman working anyway? Why isn't your father or husband working instead? why are you taking jobs away from men?" In the past the government didn't care about people, and people didn't care about government. Authority was there to keep society rolling, without malcontents trying to inhibit its flow.

How about this, before prison reforms, they would stick women in children in the same massive holding cell as rapists and murderers.

The media is just paying more attention to this, because it is easily recorded now because of technology.

It makes me think of the true and actual reason why the U.S. government allowed african-americans to have civil rights. Its because of Television and the cold war. During the post-war era, there were a lot of countries gaining independence from their colonial masters. The USA and the USSR were vieing for their support. A big point that the USSR would make was that the USA was a racist country that would most likely discriminate against the constituencies of these new nations, most of them, if not all, were non-white. There were big scandals in the news back then when say, a black diplomat would be arrested on his visit to the USA, for being in the wrong place, and being the wrong color. Further, regular Americans were becoming disturbed by the way blacks were being treated in the south, as they saw them being mauled by dogs, and sprayed with fire hoses on TV in their homes as they ate dinner. This kind of raw view of the world was unprecedented. This was something that may have been known in mass, but not really witnessed. Thus, this created a lot of sympathy for the civil rights cause.

Back then, people were far less desensitized, so seeing this must have been utterly shocking.

Long story short, authority figures will crack your head open, if they could get away with it. It has always been the case in all places at all times in history. The best thing to do is avoid giving them a reason to hurt you, or the inclination of a reason. Don't even talk to them, or tell them anything, if you don't have to.

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Considering the Internet didn't even exist decades ago, it was far, FAR easier for cops to cover up acts of wrongdoing back then, so they were almost certainly worse. It seems like an epidemic now because the ability to censor acts of corruption has been greatly reduced. And when you factor in race, it compounds things even further, because no one was interested in the plight of minorities. A minority gets beaten by the cops, who cares, the news isn't going to cover that, especially without evidence like we can get now thanks to cell phones and the like. Things are bad, no doubt, but I feel much safer in this day and age where there is at least some hope of recourse.

I mean take for instance all of the instances where cops misbehaved and were put on paid leave. Now there is plenty of outrage that the "punishment" is paid leave, but just think about how a few decades ago, they wouldn't even get that. And now think about the fact that no one would even bother reporting any of those acts of misconduct back then, so you wouldn't even be aware an incident had occurred, much less what sort of punishment might be administered.

Things still need to greatly improve, don't misunderstand - part of the problem is cops will always defend other cops accused of wrongdoing, because it's so easy for a disgruntled citizen to make up a story of wrongdoing to get out of trouble for something else. And no doubt, some cops are falsely accused of wrongdoing, and we need to be wary of that. However, I don't think what goes on now can even be remotely compared to atrocities of the past - but that doesn't mean we can't continually strive to improve things. For instance, I fully endorse the idea of cops wearing video cameras at all times - it's expensive yeah, but I think an extra set of eyes will help keep crooked cops more honest - even the perception that one might be watched can sometimes be enough.

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Kontra Kommando said:

I think of the Great Riot of 1876, where the national guard outright shot train workers protesting an stark pay cut.


Don't forget about the Draft Riots of 1863. Union Soldiers opened fired at pissed off NYC protesters.

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If you've ever read about the Stanford prison experiment then this shouldn't be surprising.

The real scandal is that they get away with it. Cops commit all kinds of abuses but whenever they're called out on it, they never get prosecuted or held accountable. It always gets written off as "they were just doing their job" or some bullshit.

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fraggle said:

If you've ever read about the Stanford prison experiment then this shouldn't be surprising.

The real scandal is that they get away with it. Cops commit all kinds of abuses but whenever they're called out on it, they never get prosecuted or held accountable. It always gets written off as "they were just doing their job" or some bullshit.


Yes I learned about that experiment back when I took sociology in High School. Power corrupts.

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I'd say it's a bit of both. More cops, more ways to earn a dishonest quid and more opportunities to report them.

geekmarine said:

I fully endorse the idea of cops wearing video cameras at all times - it's expensive yeah, but I think an extra set of eyes will help keep crooked cops more honest - even the perception that one might be watched can sometimes be enough.

I don't, cops look after their own. Wearable video cameras would do little more than allow them to fill the gaps between static surveillance cameras.

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Whenever they give a police officer an assault weapon capable of rapid fire inn a very short amount of time or machinegun, they should wear a camera. The gun itself is already terribly expensive, I think there should be accountability attached to that gun, a tool of war or fucking somebody up, there should be civilian eyes on it whenever possible.

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To be fair, its not like people have had any revolutionary changes in behavior. Give any man an inch and they'll take a mile. Cop or civilian.

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What's there to understand? The State has the monopoly of violence, the State is the booty daddy calling the shots, and cops work for the state. You wouldn't expect any sort of moderate behavior if instead of a state and its cops, you had a feudal lord/mafioso and his foot soldiers/henchmen exercising power, would you?

It's wishful thinking that a state should be "better" than any other master. Any expectations of "civil rights", "fairness" and "justice" are just that, wishful thinking.

Sure, the ease of reporting and recording stuff compared to the past is kind of annoying, but not unsurmountable: it's always possible for a state to arrest anyone, seize all he has on him, drag him into a dungeon, "fix him up good", and then release him. None will believe stories about "being abducted by the police and tortured in a dungeon", after all, especially if no specific places and names can be given.

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64 years ago ;
cops gave free beatings, kicked people when already down and bleeding, faked evidence,
got innocent people to admit crimes they never did, and they had massive cover-ups so most
of these deeds will never see the light of day. But there also where cops attempting to
remain humane and justified.

0 years ago ;
Even though they want to 'forbid' people filming official police business, it has become
much easier to prove abuse and corruption for as long as they are not with to many corrupt bastards
bussy with digging each other in. But there are cops attempting to remain humane and justified.

This might never disapear because humans are humans and people with power are afraid to lose it...

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You want my opinion?
Well here it is:Cops are becoming more corrupt and so as the governament, here in my country, when i watch the news i see reports of peaceful manifests against the governament and then *BOOM!* riots ensure, people throwing rocks at the police and police fighting them with thier tonfas.
So there you have it, keep your enemies close but keep your friends even closer.
In conclusion:never trust the governament.

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