You don't have to be racist to participate in systemic racism.
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mekka okereke :verified:replied to mekka okereke :verified: on last edited by
As part of trying to understand why I get pulled over so much I've straight up asked cops and police chiefs why they pulled me over so much. And they say this.
For the most part, cops hate this system! It doesn't exist because cops like the arrest and ticket metrics. It exists because voters elect people that put ticket and arrest quotas on cops.
And because city budgets live on the revenue from tickets and court fees.
And this explains why cops can't solve crimes in Black neighborhoods...
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mekka okereke :verified:replied to mekka okereke :verified: on last edited by
Because police don't solve crimes the way that TV shows pretend they do. Most serious crimes, especially murders, are solved by:
1) someone calls the cops (caller)
2) someone tells the cops exactly what happened (witness)
3) cops gather enough evidence to show that the witness' story is credible
4) DA builds a caseWithout callers or witnesses, it's almost impossible to even know who committed a murder, let alone get a conviction in court. And Black folk don't call or play witness.
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mekka okereke :verified:replied to mekka okereke :verified: on last edited by
So cops can make the murder rate in a city *go up* just by brutalizing innocent Black civilians more.
Because then Black people call the cops less.
So murderers are more likely to get away with it.
So instead of being caught after one murder, they rack up *huge* body counts.
Out of every 1000 white folk or Black folk, N are multiple murderers. But in white neighbourhoods, the killer is often caught before their second murder. In Black neighborhoods, the killer is often never caught.
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mekka okereke :verified:replied to mekka okereke :verified: on last edited by
This phenomenon has been known since the 70s.
So when in 2021, we are still making SCORPION units to "address the rising murder rate," it makes no sense at all.
Brutalizing Tyre Nichols makes the murder rate *go up* not go down. It makes it *easier* to get away with murder, not harder.
Think of any US city with a high murder rate.
Notice that it has a low murder clearance rate (they're not catching any murderers).
Notice that police brutality in that city is even higher than average.
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mekka okereke :verified:replied to mekka okereke :verified: on last edited by
Now understand why civil rights leaders say that Chicago's plan to make murders go down by giving police officers an arrest quota, is doomed to fail.
CPD leaders told to pump up arrests, solve more murders — or face demotion, sources say after private meeting with mayor, top cop
After Chicago’s deadliest year in a quarter-century, Lori Lightfoot and Supt. David Brown pressed police brass in a closed-door meeting to increase flagging arrest numbers and get officers to engage more with city residents.
Chicago Sun-Times (chicago.suntimes.com)
Cops are just going to arrest the poorest, Blackest, people in the city for petty crimes, starting them down a poverty spiral that will ruin their lives.
This *reduces* trust in a way that can't be made up by "positive interactions."
"You arrested my mom, but later you smiled at me." Doesn't exactly win hearts and minds.
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mekka okereke :verified:replied to mekka okereke :verified: on last edited by
When people say, "Fewer cops reduces crime" they're not being hyperbolic. US policing is so violent and racist, that the only thing that has been consistently shown to reduce the level of police violence against Black people is... not having police there at all.
Reduce the number of police interactions, and reduce the number of negative police interactions experienced by Black people. Solve problems without guns.
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Misuse Casereplied to mekka okereke :verified: last edited by
@mekkaokereke Most police departments, if not all of them, behave like shitty state-backed protection rackets. So of course they make crime worse. They are committing a lot of crimes.
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Paul Cantrellreplied to Misuse Case last edited by [email protected]
@MisuseCase @mekkaokereke
For anyone whose response to “police behave like shitty state-backed protection rackets” is “huh?” or “show me!,” hoo boy do I have a story for you:Small business owners say they're pressured to hire off-duty MPD cops for security • Minnesota Reformer
Small business owners — particularly immigrant owned — say they've been pressured by police to hire off-duty officers to provide security.
Minnesota Reformer (minnesotareformer.com)
I live in the neighborhood, I know what these cops are like, and still…the number of times my jaw dropped reading that article….
(For those who don’t live in the neighborhood: El Nuevo Rodeo was a short block away from the 3rd precinct, epicenter of the George Floyd uprising.)
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🍥SarahBurnout🍥replied to Paul Cantrell last edited by
minnesota ought to follow california's lead and require even law enforcement to be licensed as private security guards to prevent this. following the same model, private security guards are required to work for a private security company and freelancing is forbidden. also, even leo's must have the same weapons permits security guards must have to possess them on the job. no permits==no weapons, no exceptions.
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Paul Cantrellreplied to 🍥SarahBurnout🍥 last edited by [email protected]
@homelessjun @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke Yeah, I think there’s a whole low of painfully obvious low-hanging policy fruit here that would help rein in police brutality.
The question is why such things have trouble making it through even a solidly left-leaning city’s local government. (If you want me to turn green and gigantic and start smashing things, ask me about the first Minneapolis city election post-George-Floyd.)
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🍥SarahBurnout🍥replied to Paul Cantrell last edited by
cities are often in thrall to law enforcement, or at least too weak to stand up to them.
changes must occur at the state level.
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Paul Cantrellreplied to 🍥SarahBurnout🍥 last edited by
@homelessjun @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke
I’m open to trying any available avenue to rein in the lawlessness of police, though I suspect a state-level approach may work better in CA than in closely divided MN. Even some pretty basic reforms have struggled at the state level here. (Though to the credit of Gov Walz and AG Ellison, the executive branch has accomplished some important things: Chauvin conviction, scathing MPD report, consent decree) -
🍥SarahBurnout🍥replied to Paul Cantrell last edited by
indeed. it wasn't easy but it was done, bit by bit, and rather quietly. iirc, it took over 30 years just to get to where police had to follow the same rules every other privacy security guard and company had to.
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Paul Cantrellreplied to 🍥SarahBurnout🍥 last edited by
@homelessjun @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke
Well, here’s hoping we follow that example over here! I realize these things take time…but dang it, it’s already •been• a really long time. I’ll take heart from what you said. -
🍥SarahBurnout🍥replied to Paul Cantrell last edited by
i hope it happens. in the long term, it is to everyone's benefit, even law enforcement's.
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@inthehands @homelessjun @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke it’s not much of a question when you realize that any change to the law gets turned into a police labor issue, and the union will just stop working… much like they did after the Floyd protests. When cops stop showing up to white folks’ calls, and local news orgs (who need police favor if they want to get statements on breaking news) run articles about how crime is in the rise (regardless of reality), citing statements from police, white donors stop donating or switch to whatever “law and order” candidate is the most oppressive. Sometimes it’s a retired cop.
The whole system of civic violence is broken, but so entrenched it will require a substantial, determined force to dislodge it.
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@homelessjun @inthehands @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke
It's also worth remembering that even the slightest pushback can result in quite a lot of nastiness. Remember this whole thing?NYPD Union Doxes Mayor's Daughter on Twitter
A New York City Police Department union known for its controversial attacks against Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted out the personally identifying
Gizmodo (gizmodo.com)
They basically threatened the sitting mayor's daughter, and effectively got off without any reprisals. This is...kind of horrific when you think about it.
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@mathaetaes @homelessjun @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke
100% accurate that Mpls Police went on invisible strike post-uprising. Folks had sulky officers delaying responses or even openly refusing to answer 911 calls.And police deliberately fomented the violence of the uprising itself, amped it up past the breaking point. Actively stopped firefighters from putting out fires.
I wish all this were more widely understood — nationally, and even here in the city.
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@homelessjun @inthehands @MisuseCase @mekkaokereke
I know a couple of people who were licensed security guards in CA. They were unarmed guards by choice - they'd passed the (very easy at the time) test to be armed. -
@PJ_Evans
Smart people.