• andros_rex@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    My ex husband called the police on me two years ago because he wanted to kick me out and move in his new concubine.

    When they showed up, they told me I could either go to jail or a mental institution, that I had to leave the house I was currently paying bills on.

    They have denied that they did this, and refused to provide me a police report. I had zero protections in my divorce. The fact that I was evicted from my house meant that I did not have the documentation of the physical and mental abuse that I needed for court. Not that it mattered anyway, because my ex drained my bank account a few weeks later and made it impossible to get a lawyer.

    • Asswardbackaddict@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      That’s a pig’s job. I’ve watched those motherfuckers forge documents. They show up, shit on people, then cover up their misconduct and idiocy.

  • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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    29 days ago

    I realise I may be pissing into the wind here, but people don’t typically stop at one crime. If you catch the person who did it, that stops them from carrying on doing crimes.

    Of course, social programs also help.

    • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
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      29 days ago

      Is this fact or feeling?

      People I know that work with criminals attest that the vast majority of crimes are opportunistic encounters by ordinary people and “career criminality” is rare.

      Of course “I know people who say” isn’t much fact either but it’s more then nothing.

          • Lightor@lemmy.world
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            29 days ago

            Agreed, it doesn’t address that putting someone in jail did or didn’t prevent them from committing more crimes. Then a study is linked that focuses almost entirely on the economic aspect of jails, again not the topic. But this crowd isn’t open to an honest convo, they’re the hyperbolic “all people in group X are Y” kind folks. Not a lot of room for nuance in these convos when they can’t even stay in topic then come at you for calling out a nothing response.

            • Waraugh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              29 days ago

              Tangentially related material to garner favor from other fake, emotionally dependent, reactionary, hyper online, social rejects.

      • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        Are these people working with repeat offenders though? Or those going through the system for the very first time?

    • Lightor@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      I mean you can also say that that threat of jail does prevent people from committing crimes. But this seems like a pretty hyperbolic group, not really a lot of room for nuance. A lot of these ACAB people could see a cop sacrificing his life to save an orphanage full of children and still call him evil for being part of a broken system with bad people in it.

      • Ilovethebomb@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        It really is. I also think a lot of the power users here just aren’t that bright, to be honest.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      It seems pointless to argue this. Clearly it is true some of the time and not true others. Even some of the opportunistic petty stuff could have been prevented by timely interventions, especially social welfare programs

      However There is evidence that “broken windows” policing doesn’t work, and “stop and frisk” just breeds resentment

      But imagine if police had a good reputation for helping people, lived up to “protect and serve”, actually were a thin blue line keeping civilization civil, cared about preventing crime, investigating crime, seeing justice done. Imagine if they spent their time on issues that matter. Imagine if they were able to handle substance abuse and mental illness for the good of the victims, connect the desperate up with social welfare programs. Just by slogans alone we could have a much better world while preventing a huge portion of crime.

  • Ileftreddit@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    The police are worse than useless. They exist to generate revenue for themselves, and they occasionally murder people.

  • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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    29 days ago

    I actually disagree, because they’re a deterrant. “They show up after it happens” is an argument that could be applied to any deterrant, so it’s obviously a bad argument. Police are a problem for other reasons than that they literally don’t prevent any crime.

    • Uriel238 [all pronouns]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      29 days ago

      They’re not a very good one considering how they have a very poor case closure rate for serious violent crimes, and the state and federal justice systems of the US are disturbingly okay with false convictions and excessive retribution.

      • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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        29 days ago

        sure, I don’t disagree with you. The police are a moronic institution and ACAB, but this meme’s dead stupid in order to farm worthless lemmy upvotes.

        • c/politicalmemes has a quality standard for memes? Besides which the argument was they might still be useful, and the versions we’ve seen in the US so far have shown to cost way more than their value (and that’s before we get to asset forfeiture).

          At this chapter it’s long time to start implementing programs with the goal of completely replacing law enforcement in the US with other systems, including enough benefits to assure people aren’t driven to crime by desperation.

      • jsomae@lemmy.ml
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        29 days ago

        It is both true that police show up after it happens and they don’t prevent crime? No – there exist crimes that are prevented by the police. I’m sorry but even if this meme is batting for my team it’s in my best interest to shoot it down because it just makes us all look stupid. I agree with the conclusion this meme makes, but the first half is so obviously wrong it is worth negative points in my opinion.

    • SinAdjetivos@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      Postponed, supressed or relocated potentially but not prevented and when crimes are postponed or supressed as such the desperation increases resulting in more violent and destructive crimes.

      The only way to prevent crime is to deal with the conditions that cause it.

        • HappySkullsplitter@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          In addition to that, I’m thinking about all the crimes that can’t happen if police aren’t around

          All kinds of police misconduct isn’t happening without police:

          Types of Police Misconduct:

          Excessive Force: Using more force than necessary to subdue a suspect or make an arrest.

          Discriminatory Harassment: Targeting individuals based on race, ethnicity, religion, or other protected characteristics.

          False Arrests: Arresting someone without probable cause or legal justification.

          Coercive Sexual Conduct: Engaging in sexual acts with an individual under duress or without their consent.

          Unlawful Stops, Searches, or Arrests: Conducting searches or making arrests without proper warrants or legal grounds.

          Police Brutality: Using excessive force, beatings, or other forms of violence against individuals.

          Police Corruption: Engaging in illegal activities like bribery, extortion, or theft for personal gain.

          Falsification of Evidence: Tampering with or fabricating evidence to support a false case.

          Police Perjury: Lying under oath in court proceedings.

          Witness Tampering: Trying to influence or intimidate witnesses.

          Racial Profiling: Targeting individuals based on their race or ethnicity for law enforcement actions.

          Unwarranted Surveillance: Conducting surveillance without proper legal authorization.

          Assault: Physically attacking or harming a person.

          Battery: Unlawful touching or striking of another person.

          Murder or Manslaughter: Taking a human life, whether intentional or unintentional.

          Rape: Non-consensual sexual activity.

  • Kyrgizion@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    They don’t care AFTER a crime has been committed either. Every time I tried to report my bike stolen (happened a lot, unfortunately) they just laughed at me for wasting their time.

    The one time I needed them for an intervention they showed up very late, obviously against their will and were downright belligerent (I was the victim of a crime, they barely registered it).

    ACAB, no exceptions.

    • TheLowestStone@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      My friend had his bike stolen. He insisted on filing a police report even though the cops were clearly annoyed and straight up told him it was pointless. A couple months later he saw his bike chained up on the main street in his neighborhood. There were 2 cops out on the street so he approached them and explained the situation. One laughed at him and said, “What do you want us to do about it?” The other told him he would have to provide proof that that specific bike was his and that it wasn’t just the same brand which is basically impossible.

      Then he said, “We won’t be here much longer. Just go buy some bolt cutters and steal it back.”

    • Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      28 days ago

      In all fairness, this one time whilst living in London (UK) the police did recover my stolen bicycle.

      Frankly I totally didn’t expect it and had only reported the theft to make sure it ended up in the theft statistics.

      I’ve been commuting by bicycle on and off for over 2 decades and got maybe 5 or 6 bicycles stollen in the meanwhile and this was the only one I ever got back.

    • AA5B@lemmy.world
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      29 days ago

      A bike? I had the same reaction trying to report my car stolen. Not worth their time. They couldn’t even cross reference their own data - a couple weeks later I was ticketed for abandoning my stripped car and charged for towing and storage fees. Reporting my car stolen was just an income source to them and I had to keep paying so it wouldn’t keep adding up

      • sandlot0738@programming.dev
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        29 days ago

        The guy we work with told us that there’s a pusher living on the floor below his apartment. It’s really sad because the police do nothing about it, even though there have been so many complaints from the neighbors. Narcotics are forbidden here, except for CBD-only products.

  • DarthKaren@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    God damnit I still remember this, and I’m in my late 40’s

    Scruff, McGruff, Chicago Illinois, 60652

  • recall519@lemm.ee
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    29 days ago

    It’s a bit disingenuous to pretend police and punishment in general are not a deterrent. Yes, reducing police has shown to reduce crime for some time in certain case studies, but not removing them.

    • Jiggle_Physics@sh.itjust.works
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      29 days ago

      however, just like the severity of punishment, after a point the more police you have see diminishing returns, and in serious over policing cases you start to get more crime because they start looking for reasons to hand out fines and smaller charges to justify/fund their job. However, prosperity reduces the amount of crime more than anything, in a given population.

    • DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz
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      29 days ago

      No, but it doesn’t mean I’ll never speed again as soon as im out of their view. I’d say at best they delayed a crime from happening. But I get how that has its legitimate usefulness too.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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        29 days ago

        I get annoyed by people who post about a problem but haven’t done anything to understand it or come up with a rational solution.

        Screaming ACAB a million times may make them feel good, but it doesn’t do anything useful.

        • TheLowestStone@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          Screaming ACAB a million times may make them feel good, but it doesn’t do anything useful.

          Niether did this comment.

        • SinAdjetivos@lemmy.world
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          29 days ago

          I get annoyed by people who post about a problem but haven’t done anything to understand it or come up with a rational solution.

          If I take, for example, your phone and smash it to a million tiny pieces do you need to understand, in depth, how a phone works to the point of creating a complete and rational blueprint of a replacement before you can say “smashing someone else’s things is a dick move”?

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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            28 days ago

            Screaming ACAB a million times may make them feel good, but it doesn’t do anything useful.

            You can’t actually deal with what I wrote, so you have to come up with some fantasy scenario.

            • SinAdjetivos@lemmy.world
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              28 days ago

              You’re missing the point of the metaphor and isn’t saying the exact same thing over and over again what your original complaint is?

              You’re not wrong that screaming isn’t going to directly repair/replace your phone, but it’s not about “feeling good” or “doing anything useful” it’s about preventing further damage.

              • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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                28 days ago

                I’m not missing the point of the metaphor; I’m saying you are using a metaphor to avoid dealing with what I wrote.

                It’s funny that you’d want police to defuse a tense situation, and then say yelling is a reasonable way to stop the cops from getting angry.

              • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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                28 days ago

                You should have just kept quiet.

                If you had an actual plan you’d be showing it to everyone, including me, if only to make me look silly.

                Congratulations, you played yourself.

                • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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                  27 days ago

                  You should have just kept quiet.

                  Huh, you should take your advice, you’re the one playing with yourself.

        • DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz
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          29 days ago

          Not everyone is qualified to propose good ideas, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t qualified to point out a problem. I also feel that some things are hard to avoid on certain parts of the internet. I fully back BLM, but there have been times that I just want to enjoy memes without seeing yet another BLM post. That’s not because I think its been said to death, but it gets tiring to constantly be reminded of something terrible happening in the world. Sometimes you just need a break from it. ACAB is another example of that i think many people feel. I think you’re right though that not many people have offered good solutions, but I think we are still in the phase that there are plenty of people who still fully back the terrible acts being done by American police. So for now it’s still mostly just saying ACAB.

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
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            29 days ago

            Not everyone is qualified to propose good ideas,

            Almost as if it’s incumbent on us to seek out the good ideas other people have proposed.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        29 days ago

        I’ve definitely come around to speeding as a civil engineering problem more than anything else (partly due to Lemmy but started on that other platform).

        In general people don’t take speeding seriously nor believe they will be a victim of dangerous driving. I don’t see how police enforcement does anything to change that. I’m sure it does for a few but in general, no. It even causes worse situations when you have people with their license taken away, no way to get insurance, yet have to rely on cars. Our current approach to speeding is just busy work for police and a tax on the unlucky.

        Yet different road design helps people drive at a reasonable speed by default, reduced collisions, protects the more vulnerable travelers from car travelers, and gives people multiple choices to get around. Most importantly we can have more scalable choices than simply “add another lane”

        Lets build infrastructure such that police are not spending so much time enforcing speed limits where we all know people will speed right up when the cop is gone

        DOWN WITH STROADS!

    • Noxy@pawb.social
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      29 days ago

      Folks temporarily slow down until they’re gone. Which causes traffic jams and accidents.

  • FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com
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    29 days ago

    It’s not about preventing crime

    The rich break laws constantly, with no consequences

    The police are there to make sure that those who aren’t wealthy enough to be insulated from the consequences of their actions know their place

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      29 days ago

      Take it a step back…the root cause of most crime (or at least non-white-collar property crime) is social and economic inequality, which is now and has forever been driven by the wealthy ruling class.

      Rich people cause all the crime.

  • boughtmysoul@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    "Mom, I know your intentions are good, but aren’t the Police the protective force that maintains the status quo for the wealthy elite? Don’t you think we ought to attack the roots of social problems instead of jamming people into overcrowded prisons?”

    “Look, Lisa! It’s McGriff the Crime Dog! Hello Lisa! Help me bite crime! Ruff ruff!”

    The Simpsons

  • Alph4d0g@discuss.tchncs.de
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    29 days ago

    There one area where they can actually prevent/decrease crime. Let’s say of all the crimes the police currently commit, they decided (hypothetically) to hold themselves accountable and stop doing those crimes. That would have a direct effect on the police crime rate.

  • Honytawk@feddit.nl
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    29 days ago

    Yeah yeah I know, ACAB and everything.

    Police don’t just show up, they walk around. At least in non-police states like the US.

    And wherever they walk around, crime is prevented. Because a robber isn’t going to snatch a purse when a police is looking right at them. A drug dealer isn’t going to sell drugs in front of the police station. And people drive slower and don’t go into a road rage when the police is riding close by.

    So no, police does prevent crimes.

    • Tamo240@programming.dev
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      29 days ago

      If they are only preventing opportunity, the crime will just take place at a different place or time when an officer is not present. The program’s mentioned are aimed at reducing the motive for crime, which applies at all places and times.

      • marypuri@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        28 days ago

        It creates marginalized and crime hubs too. Police chooses to be present somewhere (where there’s a perceived interest) and chooses not to somewhere else. Also crime is not viewed equally among the different spheres of society and police just creates its own type of systemic violence in relation to that.

    • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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      28 days ago

      The threat of violence from police and incarceration by police are also associated with the presence you mention. These also prevent crime from happening.

      The “problem” is that it’s physically impossible to have police everywhere, all the time, for that prevention to be meaningful. It’s diminishing returns and exponential cost. So programs to prevent people from turning to crime, like jobs programs, pay so they aren’t suffering in poverty, affordable and accessible mental health and regular health care, addiction treatment, decent housing, etc. are the logical next steps.

      But no. We just hire more cops, give them more guns, and the equivalent of military armored vehicles. They choose violence.

    • HikingVet@lemmy.ca
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      27 days ago

      I rarely see cops walking and I’m not in the states. That might normal where you are but I can guarantee that cops have to be called, pretty much everytime you need one. They aren’t the deterrent you think they are.

      Also when I see one I don’t think they are increasing safety and security.