Why Not Call the Cops

Wanderfound · May 27, 2022, 11:39am

Wanderfound · May 28, 2022, 1:27am

Wanderfound · May 28, 2022, 10:32pm

Wanderfound · May 29, 2022, 9:07am

Wanderfound · May 29, 2022, 10:11pm

Wanderfound · May 30, 2022, 12:27am

The Queensland police union and its president, Ian Leavers, initially fiercely opposed the idea of an inquiry, after it was recommended by the state’s women’s safety and justice taskforce.

Leavers last year said the taskforce had produced “another woke, out-of-touch report”, but this week said he had changed his mind since giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Hannah Clarke and her three children.

“We have now formed the view that the inquiry will present a real opportunity to continue to push for genuine reforms that the QPU has been seeking for some time,” he said.

Guardian Australia can reveal that in March, Leavers’ lawyer sent a defamation concerns notice to Prof Kerry Carrington, one of Australia’s leading experts on the policing of domestic violence, and her then-employer, the Queensland University of Technology.

Leavers’ lawyer claimed comments by Carrington about the Queensland police union in a radio interview on Brisbane station 4BC were defamatory of Leavers and had caused him “serious harm”. He sought an unqualified apology, retraction of the comments and compensation of $5,000 to be paid to a charity of his choice.

Carrington had spoken to Brisbane radio station 4BC in March, a day after giving evidence at the inquest of murdered Logan woman Doreen Langham, which heard the police response leading up to her death had been “beset by inadequacies”.

“This is a systemic, institutional issue and it goes to the core of police culture,” she told the inquest at the time.

It ain’t just about the USA, it’s cops everywhere.
But, as usual, it is much worse in the USA.
And, also as per usual, Australia only looks good when compared to America. If it wasn’t for the disaster over there, the world would be viewing us as the barbaric freaks instead.

lava · May 30, 2022, 3:35am

at least you all did a huge gun buy-back.

Wanderfound · May 30, 2022, 4:55am

Unfortunately powerful people are already trying to rehabilitate police and give them even more money, so we need to say, again, that what happened in Uvalde wasn’t police failing. It was the outcome of us relying on cops to keep us safe when that is not their purpose.

The purpose of police is the protect property, the status quo, wealth and power. And they are not useless at that, not failures or incapable or lacking in training. They are extremely good at that, because that is what they’re for. /2

And in order to get us to support the police, powerful folks have convinced way too many people that cops protect the little guys too. That’s just not true. That’s not their job. They’re not legally required to protect you, and they don’t want to. /3

So what happens when we invest billions of dollars into a system not meant to keep us safe is that we reinforce the violence and power of the armed guys meant to protect the rich and powerful. /4

And we do so at the expense of our community. Don’t lose sight of how the Uvalde police consume 40% of the budget, while not keeping kids safe, hurting parents, and not stopping the shooter. /5

And that 40% of the budget is money taken from schools like Robb Elementary. Its money taken from housing, from violence prevention, from mental health care. So not only are we given money to guys who dont keep us safe, we’re taking it from programs that build real safety. /6

Imagine if the $180 billion we spent on police went to free housing, free healthcare, transformative justice programs, free transit, green energy. We really could start to move things in a different direction.Towards a world of care rather than punishment. /7

So don’t fall for the lies. Don’t fall for the lies that the cops who chose not to help those kids would help if we gave them a couple million more. That’s not what cops do, that’s not what they’re meant to do, and more training won’t change that. More money won’t change that. /8

Wanderfound · May 30, 2022, 5:00am

Although this certainly wasn’t a universal response, the few gun folks I knew at the time loved it.

They collected all the shitty old guns they could find, traded 'em in for more than they were worth, and used the money to buy shiny new guns.

It did get a lot of guns out of the community, though, including a fair few of the dodgy unregistered ones.

Lucy_Gothro1 · May 30, 2022, 5:11am

Wanderfound · May 30, 2022, 11:15am

lava · May 30, 2022, 2:19pm

If combined with an assault gun ban, at least it’s a trade towards fewer and less lethal weapons.

mindysan33 · May 31, 2022, 9:19pm

Wanderfound · May 31, 2022, 9:49pm

Wanderfound · May 31, 2022, 10:30pm

BTW, we’re seeing the usual flood of demands from establishment libs for the Heroic FBI™️ to step in and sort it all out. So, a reminder:

The FBI was created to crush the Blacks and Reds, and that is all it is good for.

Wanderfound · June 1, 2022, 12:27am

Wanderfound · June 3, 2022, 11:29am

Wanderfound · June 3, 2022, 12:54pm

Uvalde cops calling in the brownshirts:

Lucy_Gothro1 · June 3, 2022, 2:06pm

So how the Springfield Police Dept. in “The Simpsons” is depicted is basically how they all work.

We got Detroit’s ex-top-cop running for Governor. Christ on a crutch.

Wanderfound · June 4, 2022, 6:42am