@Mark from Queens tear gas, body armor and the go ahead
to tear everyone a new asshole, what could
possibly go wrong.

Growing up every squad car had "To Serve and Protect"
on the doors, one can no longer find that anywhere
what surprises me though is they haven't replaced that
phrase with "to come home safe", que sera sera.

Almost complete and total immunity from the rule of law, or very special treatment.

My mind just dizzily overflows trying to recount the too many to count evil acts perpetarted by these scumbags.

Just a cursory search for ticket-writing scandal reminds of that. There was a major one in 2011 netting "hundreds" of Blue Boys. But then there's also the more recent one in 2016. And here's yet another recent one, "Former Police Officers, Ex-Brooklyn Assistant DA Arrested In NYPD Gun License Bribery Scandal." The audacity of these pricks, to then cry wolf in court that they "feared for their lives," when involved in gun-running scams. The great hypocrisy is how many of them are NRA members, and don't actively seeking and promoting anti-gun legislation. The whole mentality is to see all citizens not associated their club as "perps" plotting crimes, when that's what they do day in and day out. Fucking hypocrites and pathological liars.

There's also the racket by ex-NYPD to scam Social Security and Medicaid.

Then there's a real filthy detective from Staten Island whose name and face are lodged in my head for his hand in having framed and put away many innocent black men for decades. Scarcella. "Embattled Retired Detective Lou Scarcella Confronted by Former Prisoners", "Dirty ex-cop Louis Scarcella's framing of innocent black men is costing NYC millions"

Last year, the Kings County District Attorney’s office announced they would investigate fifty-seven cases in which an arrest by Detective Scarcella led to a conviction.

Just this week, it was announced that the City of New York will pay $17 million to three half-brothers — Alvena Jennette, Robert Hill and the estate of Darryl Austin. The men spent a combined 60 years behind bars for murders in the 1980s they did not commit, thanks to Scarcella’s handiwork. Jennette was paroled in 2007 after serving nearly two decades in prison, while Hill was released last year when charges against him were dismissed after spending 27 years in prison. Meanwhile, Austin had died in prison in 2000 after serving 13 years. Of the $17 million, $7.15 million was awarded to Hill, $6 million to Jennette and $3.85 million to Austin’s estate.

So far, Scarcella has cost the city of New York $24 million in settlements. Scott Stringer, the city comptroller, said the city is settling such cases in an effort to avoid lengthy, drawn out litigation. Similarly, the city plans to settle the $75 million Eric Garner case.

Last Friday, a Brooklyn court vacated the 1991 murder conviction of Derrick Hamilton, who said Scarcella had pressured a witness to name him as the killer. As was reported in The New York Times, Hamilton had learned many convictions involving Detective Scarcella often used the same witnesses and resulted in false or coerced confessions. Hamilton — who was released after prosecutors admitted the key witness in the case, the victim’s girlfriend, lied — maintained his innocence for 21 years.

It is not so far-fetched to believe that other cases involving Scarcella will come to the fore. After all, as GQ noted, one “crackhead” prostitute was a key witness, and typically the only witness, in six Scarcella cases. In addition to coercing confessions, the detective has also been accused of coaching witnesses and trading drugs for testimony on numerous occasions.

Sundhe Moses, who has been incarcerated upstate for 18 years for the killing of a 4-year-old girl in Brownsville, Brooklyn, claims the discredited detective beat him until he confessed. “Scarcella is a really dirty cop,” Moses, 37, told the Daily News. “He beat me until I signed that confession … I am angry. My life is gone. This confession is why I am in prison.”

Meanwhile, Rosean Hargrave, 40, hopes to be exonerated amid claims Scarcella framed him.

Scarcella conjures up images of Jon Burge, a former Chicago cop who tortured at least 120 black men over a period of over 20 years between 1972 and 1991. Burge served prison time and was able to keep his pension, while Scarcella remains a free man.

It just goes on and on and on.

Policing is a subject that should warrant a very serious offensive by local city councils to very seriously considering dramatically reducing the size of the force as one its major goals, along with enshrining a litany of other common sense strict regulations and minimum standards for recruitment signaling a complete makeover. As far as I'm concerned the overwhelming problem has always been that all policing is arbitrary. Everybody probably breaks at least 5 laws a day, technically. Did you fail to stop fully at a stop sign/signal on the highway, jaywalk, park in a no standing zone for a minute, etc etc.

Let's not forget that the whole institution of policing began when the British wanted to further subjugate and already distressed Ireland and formed ranks to do so. Like also with the slave patrols in the South policing is used to intimidate, marginalize and subjugate the already powerless further.

Until there's some real prosecutions, and without special treatment inside, American cops will continue to act like thugs above the law.

More bad outcomes than not come from using police to troll around all day as part of the failed Broken Windowns theory. I say get 'em off the streets almost completely, and into the station houses, where they can stay until a dangerous situation warrants their acting, just like firemen.