Who Polices the Police?
by Terry Gerych, June 18, 2020
Reprinted from dystopian and doomed
In a recent year, american police killed 1,043 americans officially
. That same year, japanese and british police killed a combined
total of 3 of their citizens. Even taking into account america's
higher population, american police kill their own citizens at a
rate that's hundreds of times higher than those 2 nations. While
racism is certainly a factor, one may rest assured that not all
of those 1,043 american victims of deadly police violence were
people of color.
Besides this outrageous excess of the use of deadly force, american
police are also well known for their almost casual use of violence,
such as assaulting political protesters and criminal suspects.
On youtube there's virtually an endless supply of videos which
document some of these crimes, as well as other instances of police
misconduct.
There's also the notorious practice of civil asset forfeiture,
in which police are allowed to seize private property on the basis
of suspicion that it was obtained thanks to the proceeds from illegal
activity, without having to back up this suspicion with evidence.
All of this adds up to one irrefutable conclusion: american police
have far too much power, are far too prone to abusing it, and have
far too little oversight or consequences for their own criminal
behavior. The whole institution of policing in america, and for
that matter the criminal (in)'justice' system, which imprisons
a far higher percentage of americans than any other country in
the world, is in need of urgent and radical reform.
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