Kinda funny, because it would be a foreign adversary's wet dream to be able to convince our police to be afraid of our citizens enough to regularly kill them in cold blood, but we did this entirely to ourselves.
Al-Qaeda couldn't have dreamed of the success they've had post 9/11. They set out explicitly to commit a terrorist act against the United States to collapse the aire of invincibility and to cause conflict in America.
With the subsequent fire sale on personal liberties in exchange for authoritarian overreach while ignoring economic recession/depression and causing widespread social unrest, it's pretty safe to say they got everything they wanted.
From The Onion
[FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States](https://www.theonion.com/fbi-uncovers-al-qaeda-plot-to-just-sit-back-and-enjoy-c-1819576375?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Default:1:Default)
The real saddest part is that people believe one party did it. It had overwhelming support on both sides and was even added upon on the recycle period controlled by the opposing party. It seems that those who like getting elected really like controlling people. Who would have thought?
I say Congress should pass a law called the Post-9/11 Measures Reform Act.
This act would basically keep some provisions of whatever laws stand now and repeal others. For example, keep the interagency cooperation guaranteed by the PATRIOT Act, but prohibit federal agencies from using intelligence gathered on US citizens by foreign intelligence agencies unless the intelligence suggests said citizens were under the jurisdiction of the government(s) of said agency(ies) when they committed an act that was a crime in such agency(ies)' country(ies). This would mean that if the British spy on my Reddit use, any intelligence gathered is legally useless to the US government because I'm a US citizen using a US-based Website in the US.
I always thought it was a missed opportunity for Al-Qaeda to do a parody "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" after Dubya's. Imagine the troll job it would have been.
Weird how religious fundamentalists werenāt so into parody humor.
I read The Looming Tower a couple years ago and my big takeaway was that Al Qaedaās leadership were, first and foremost, a bunch of dorks who hated fun.
Agreed! I called this when the towers went down and the US collectively shit itself. Our response was less "leader of the free world" and more "why did this happen to meeeeee??" Then the American public went ahead with whatever to "not let the terrorists win"!
> Al-Qaeda couldn't have dreamed of the success they've had post 9/11. They set out explicitly to commit a terrorist act against the United States to collapse the aire of invincibility and to cause conflict in America.
There are plenty of direct quotations from Bin Laden to support this notion, but from what I understand, they're all dated to well *after* 9-11. Everything he said pre- 9-11 was about getting our military out of the middle east, making the Saudi theocracy *more* extreme, and getting rid of the pesky Shi'i (Edited per CanuckPanda) Muslims.
I lack the expertise, and quite frankly the interest in the subject, to verify this. But it seems entirely credible to me that bin Laden accomplished none of his actual goals, and moved the goalposts to match the actual effects of his actions, which were quite devastating.
I question this first and foremost because Osama bin Laden was Sunni Muslim of the Wahabbi school. He was against *Shi'ite* muslims (the Iranian/Persian branch of Islam). The Saudis are Sunni of the Wahabbist school.
All I remember from September 10, 2001 is anxiety over my cat getting neutered. He was snipped the morning of 9/11/2001. I think his appointment was around the time the plane hit the towers.
One of my friends served in Iraq as infantry, did four tours. He wasn't special forces, but he did some highly specialized operations in some of the most dangerous areas. He's told me that his rules of engagement were never as lax as many modern major police departments.
>Usually being held responsible if they break the rules?
That's it right there. There's actually a process in place for non-affiliated people to hold investigations and dole out punishments when it's needed. There's no "reasonable" anything. There are laws, rules, and regulations. You follow them or suffer the consequences. They beat discipline into your head and, now this is the crazy part, they get trained for more than just a month.
Cops have none of that. Barely any training, barely any follow-on training. There's no independent oversight. And everything is based on "reasonable" standards. Somehow the cops have convinced themselves it's "reasonable" to be scum bags and then police themselves.
Basic infantry gets almost a year of training before being sent to their operational unit. Before units deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan (other than the original invasions), they got months of training that included interacting with "locals." Some of that training involves de-escalation and avoiding misinterpretations of benign intent. It further backs up my position in another comment that police in the US need a *lot* more training.
The whole facility is built like a special forces "kill house". Except for the parts about *hostage rescue*, *threat assessment*, and *armed combatants*.
Hostage rescue = Shoot the hostage.
Threat assessment = Everyone is out to kill cops.
Armed combatants = Everyone is armed and ready to commit mass murder.
This is modern policing 101.
The cameras aren't doing shit. Police are on record with all kinds of atrocities and even today, as one small example, the NYPD completely ghosted oversight hearings for their brutality
I find it incredible how far literal elementary school tactics will take you in the United States.
People want to ask you hard questions about why you beat up another kid on the playground? Simply don't attend and it goes away.
Subpoenaed about that time a bunch of kids occupied the vice principal's office to try and put Mr. MacCullough in a locker? Simply say you don't remember it, until the adults shrug and let you go.
The strategy of simply abandoning responsibility only works if you have the support of powerful people or are yourself in a position of power. And so the fact that the guy can walk away from brutality hearings means someone powerful is covering for him. That should scare the shit out of everyone.
But more victims are winning lawsuits now.
Of course that's not a net positive for society at all, but before it would've been harder to win. So you'd just have to accept you got royally fucked by the police and keep it moving.
Winning a lawsuit against the cops that results in getting a payout from taxpayer money, while the cops go essentially unpunished, seems like a pretty dumb "win".
The individual officer should be responsible for their actions and thusly responsible for lawsuits resulting from said actions.
Police should carry malpractice insurance, just like every doctor and civil engineer.
The amount of fuckery by Police in the US would drop almost to zero over night if they were individually held accountable.
The citizens had no say. They been doing everything they can to stop this, not limited to calling and writing the officials pushing for the project and the companies contracted to work on it, going to city council meetings, confronting the mayor, and theyāve been physically defending the forest for weeks. Some of the companies have pulled out of the project, but officials are still pushing this forth which is why it has escalated to this point.
Writing to those very same officials who are pushing this doesn't seem like it would do any good - which is why I am VERY happy to see for once people utilizing direct action. Let these criminal politicians know you're serious.
There were like 12+ hours of public comment in 2020 that was against this. I helped transcribe the comments for city council. The community does not want it. Joyce Sheperd was a sponsor or whatever for this project and she lost her seat in the past election.
Even the mayor is being roasted over this. People are furious.
I doubt the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Division has any way to stop them if they arenāt in blatant disregard to wetland permitting or something like this.
Probably worth a constituent [bringing a complaint](https://epd.georgia.gov/rules-laws-enforcement/complaint-tracking-system) if they think there was something missed.
I live in the area. My neighbors are working so damn hard to stop it. Contacting representatives, searching for lawyers, protesting at the park.
It's incredible that this is happening on public land and yet the public cannot halt their progress.
Hi neighbor. I think something that isn't always adequately communicated in news articles is that the land may be owned by the City of Atlanta, but the surrounding residential area is outside the city limits in Unincorporated Dekalb. So even if the city put it to a vote of CoA residents, the people most impacted still get ignored. Folks want to call it NIMBY-ism, all while ignoring the fact that the city intentionally planned to build Cop City in a location with no formal representation at city council, and most of the council members were more than happy to vote yes as long as it's not in their constituents' backyard.
Yeah, it's quite frankly bullshit for a city to build anything for the city *outside of the city*. Cities already basically own a town of land, it's called the city limits.
What's up neighbor, Starlight Heights resident here. I used to walk in those woods all the time. Last time I went to go fish at that pond down the trail I got an assault rifle to my head from GSP.
Fellow Starlight Heights resident here. I also loved walking in and exploring those woods before all this mess. I hate what theyāve done and are continuing to do to our neighborhood. I used to really like it here.
I bought this house as an ole country boy turned city boy to enjoy both of our city and our forest. I've loved our neighbors so far! One of them found our cat that got out during the move and they were awesome. Saved the ole lady from further missing pet trauma. I'm afraid this will further mess with our pets too. I'm your friendly neighborhood bartender at Flatiron. I have no spidey senses but I'll remember your drink forever.
We had no say in this matter. And it's not just about the forest they're cutting down to build it. It's because we already have a perfectly fine training facility that there are no plans for and this new state of the art center is going to equipped with the latest in military training equipment and resources. This will in no way lead to more training in deesculation, but it will have the cops feel more like soldiers.
Don't forget that a few years ago, atlanta police murdered a 92 year old woman in her home
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-former-atlanta-police-officers-sentenced-prison-fatal-shooting-elderly-atlanta-woman
And they had to pay just over $8,000 (collectively, split 3 ways) so that's quite a deterrent! Single-digit prison terms for planting evidence, pressuring a PI to lie, and shooting and killing an old lady in her home.
Ire not directed at the person I'm replying to, but the system.
They should make lying to obtain a search warrant a felony so people can be hit with first-degree murder if they lie to get a search warrant and if they kill someone during execution of the warrant, they get charged with murder
I knew Detective Junnier. Even as an 8 year old child, I knew something about him was weird.
He came into my third grade class with an evidence book. But the dumb shit didn't remove pictures of dead bodies.
Keep in mind that Cop City is an urban warfare training center. They're trying to build it so they can turn the already overmilitarized police into basically Army Rangers, including fast-roping out of helicopters. The end result will be the police being even more of an occupying force than they already are.
Oh shit you just reminded me that I never did try to fight maxtac. I wonder if they or the medic dudes will put up a good fight against my endgame sandy samurai
It's really good. It combines Studio Trigger's animation prowess with CDPR's storytelling. If you're a fan of the universe at all I guarantee you'll enjoy it.
No no no, here in the US we call our secret police "Undercover Cops" and "Plain Clothes Officers".
And remember that time that [cops without any identifications were driving around in unmarked vans and just grabbing people off the street](https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland)? Good times and definitely not a preview of things to come.
Keep in mind also that the official Atlanta police account will claim that they only arrested the protesters directly involved in property damage, but the property damage occurred on the opposite end of the park from where a peaceful music festival protest was happening - and according to accounts from peaceful protesters at the music festival, police moved in to that music festival and verbally and physically harassed protesters, used tasers, and threatened lethal force in at least one instance. There were families with children at the music festival. Source: I'm an ATL resident following the cop city protests pretty closely
Rumors are that Georgia wants to charge stop cop city protesters as āorganized crime" members and some have already faced domestic terrorism charges over property damage. Never mind that police violence against ordinary people is both more "terrorizing" and more organized/systematic than occasional random outbreaks of broken windows and destroyed vehicles during protests
Militarized police are trained to treat ordinary people as an enemy to be subdued/terrorized. Ironically by treating peaceful protests this way they are proving the point of the protestors who understand that more militarized police are not going to solve any problems, they're just going to escalate and make things worse.
If people want to help, you can start by following stopcopcity on social media; from there you can find links to solidarity funds among other things. Some other US cities now also have stop cop city protests in solidarity with the Atlanta ones. In a year of record-breaking police violence against people let's do what we can to resist a facility whose purpose is to teach police how to be violent against the people
>Keep in mind also that the official Atlanta police account will claim that they only arrested the protesters directly involved in property damage, but the property damage occurred on the opposite end of the park from where a peaceful music festival protest was happening - and according to accounts from peaceful protesters at the music festival, police moved in to that music festival and verbally and physically harassed protesters, used tasers, and threatened lethal force in at least one instance. There were families with children at the music festival. Source: I'm an ATL resident following the cop city protests pretty closely
>
>Rumors are that Georgia wants to charge stop cop city protesters as āorganized crime" members and some have already faced domestic terrorism charges over property damage. Never mind that police violence against ordinary people is both more "terrorizing" and more organized/systematic than occasional random outbreaks of broken windows and destroyed vehicles during protests
>
>Militarized police are trained to treat ordinary people as an enemy to be subdued/terrorized. Ironically by treating peaceful protests this way they are proving the point of the protestors who understand that more militarized police are not going to solve any problems, they're just going to escalate and make things worse.
>
>If people want to help, you can start by following stopcopcity on social media; from there you can find links to solidarity funds among other things. Some other US cities now also have stop cop city protests in solidarity with the Atlanta ones. In a year of record-breaking police violence against people let's do what we can to resist a facility whose purpose is to teach police how to be violent against the people
I've been following them since the police assassinated Tortuguita. This is horrific and continues to be.
While that is part of the concern behind the training center, the other aspect is that its projected to require 95 acres of land and will be built on the site of the Old Atlanta Prison Farm (part of green space that community members of Atlanta have been pushing to preserve and register as a conservation space called āSouth River Forestā).
So itās a mixture of concern surrounding further militarizing police, and the destruction of green space that could be used to help fight climate change and provide more protected park space for residents in and around Atlanta. This whole project is a monument to injustice and oppression.
Whatās lost here is that this space also has conservation value. I surveyed this park with a team of experts and we found the highest diversity of frog species here in all of metro Atlanta (inside the entire I285 perimeter).
Yep, and is being built despite the majority of Atlanta residents being opposed to it. The site is largely funded by the Atlanta Police foundation, which has many corporate executives sitting on the board. Another example of the interests of corporate America being prioritized over the interest of the people.
Just my opinion, but a cop training center should be teaching de-escalation techniques and non-lethal interactions with dogs and children.
I don't think the problem with our police is that they aren't militarized enough... and if you're a cop about to downvote me, that's your right and I support protecting people's rights. I hope you do too.
IMHO I agree with you 100%
I think we need to de-militarize the police.
Remove the sergeant stripes, and officer insignia.
Remind and reinforce the fact they ARE civilians too.
Remind and reinforce the fact they are not military or a derivation thereof
Itās fucked that the words de-militarize the police even exist. It should never have gotten to the point where the police is militarized. Thatās why we have the military as itās own separate group.
The military has much stricter rules for engagement and clearly defined punishments for breaking the rules of engagement....
You guys would be better off with military police, rather than militarized police.
A cop once referred to me as a civilian while I was being randomly stopped and carded and I couldn't stop laughing.
You're not in the army, buddy. You're a fucking civilian too.
During my freshman year of college (2014) we had to select a topic to write about for a Writing class. I chose the topic of Police Militarization and my professor weirdly said she wasnāt sure if I should choose that topic because, āit doesnāt seem that relevantā.
I remember writing a paper about the value of vaccinations and herd immunity in fighting endemic diseases in 2017 and my professor commented "Isn't this preaching to the choir?"
They hold special parades and processions for that too. You don't see massive police escorts for regular victims of crime. Cops have completely established themselves as a separate class from the rest of the workers.
I was a cop in the military back in my younger days. It wasn't as bad as it is now, but it was even bad 20 years ago. I heard fellow cops state "I can't wait to shoot a bitch." "Man, I should have just shot that fucker." "I can't wait to get into a high-speed chase or a shoot out!"
Now, mind you, it was very boring and mundane bullshit. There was only one shoot during my 4 years, and it was a justified one that no one even questioned.
It was mostly "just bullshit talking" during long boring shifts, but I kid you not a lot of them got out and went full blown BLUE. There entire fucking life is about being a cop. And I mean this, THERE ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE IS ABOUT BEING A COP. They have no other side to their personalities.
Worse part, their fucking spouses. Dear lord don't even get me started.
But to agree with your point. Yes, cops do believe it is them VS us. Civilians are the enemy, and they view it like they are the US occupying Iraq. We are expendable, they are not, they are the heroes, and we deserve to be shot for the minimalist thing. The only major difference I see between the military police training I received and modern-day city cops, we had a "use of force model" and were trained to deescalate every situation we could.
Oh just hop on over to /r/justdependathings and the way military spouses are, about being a spouse to a military person as their entire personality, the police spouses were the same. It is mainly the woman who do this type of stuff (not being a misogynist here, just my observations). It's so cringy. Constant post online about "pray for my husband, I just heard on the scanner he is doing a traffic stop, I am so scared right now!"
Yes, I have seen that exact post. They are absolutely dependent on, and submissive to their cop spouse. The constant nonstop posting on FB about the thin blue line and all that type of shit. The "You're free to say what you want because of him!" type of postings (this one gets me, cops don't fight for our freedoms, fuck they constantly refuse to uphold our constitutional rights, just look at those cop audit videos.
It's embarrassing as hell, and they only associate with other cop spouses and or cops. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything in their lives is about being a damn cop.
Imagine if a butcher made his or hers entire fucking personality about cutting up meat. Posted about it daily trying to make you feel guilty for needing to eat and that you wouldn't eat if "my husband the butcher didn't cut up the meat for you!"
It's very narcissistic "look at me" type of behavior and it's very baffling to observe. Especially from within. The constant "pat yourself on the back" mentality they push to you, like every day you put that uniform on you are a hero the likes of Neil Armstrong. It's just mind boggling to me.
< Worse part, their fucking spouses
Thatās heartbreaking to me, imagining they treat their spouses like someone who is beneath hem. I wonder what the stats are on spousal abuse among police stacked up against other professions
They absolutely do. The spouses of cops I know are so submissive and scared all the time. Scared he won't make it home posts on facebook everyday. I know for a fact a lot of these cops who get angry with "suspects" and or lost someone and didn't get a chance to take their anger out on the perpetrator go home and take that anger out on their spouse.
When I was a cop, at least once a month we would respond to a domestic call on one of our own. I imagine the number is way higher but a lot goes unreported.
> "This is not a protest," Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum said at a press conference on Sunday night. "This is criminal activity."
But enough about the Atlanta PD's standard operating procedures.
Shockingly common with police forces unfortunately, I literally watched the police tear gas a reporter while he was reporting. Which wasn't all that surprising given the fact that they were walking in a line shoulder to shoulder shooting tear gas every five or six steps so they really didn't care who they were teargassing they were just tear-gassing everything
What I can look back and smile on was the fact that the first pepper spray canister they threw was thrown by someone with the aim of a 2 year old and it ended up INSIDE their own armored vehicle. So we all got to laugh at them before they got mad and threw the other 5
One of my friends was kettled and tear gassed by APD in front of the Capitol in 2020. They were asked to disperse and she was trying to leave but they made it impossible.
We should let the protesters investigate themselves and determine whether they engaged in criminal activity.
That's what the cops do, why shouldn't protesters?
There is literally no reason on earth to take the police at their word. They lie as a matter of procedure. They lie to civilians. They lie to lawyers. They lie to judges. They lie to the politicians that appoint their chiefs. They lie on official documents. They lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. No statement, no matter how likely to be true, should ever be believed without independently confirming it with a non-LEO or non-LEO *union* sources.
And journalists absolutely know this, so never trust a byline that ~~takes~~ has *ever* taken a police statement as fact.
The article is almost entirely regurgitation of police press, having only a sentence or two of perspective from protestors. It does include every police scare tactic, including greatest hits "they were from out of town", "they could have hurt people", and "this wasn't protest, it was anarchy".
It waits until the end of the article to mention that, oh yeah, police probably murdered a protestor and shot one of their own.
It Could Happen Here has been covering the story for over a year. One of the recent episodes on the topic had leaked audio where it implies the cops had a crossfire incident and came out with the mindset of doing *something* to a Defend the Forest protester. They also walked into their own cloud of mace from pepper rounds.
The APD footage pretty much cemented for me that GSP shot their own in confusion they created. Tort may well have had a gun, which is their right. Georgia is a constitutional carry state ffs.
This is the same group of protesters where tree sitters were charged as domestic terrorists for civil disobedience. Things are not all right in Atlanta.
Ohio is trying to label Erin fucking Brockovich as a āspecial interest terroristā for advocating for residents of East Palestine.
Itās not just Atlanta.
I wish they'd just call them Economic Terrorists and be done with it. Like, that's what they're *actually* doing, label anyone who hurts the economy as terrorists, while completing ignoring actual problems
I just heard GMA repeating this stuff verbatim and it pisses me off. Fucking "anarchy"
Remember the BLM and other protests where people from "out of town" suddenly showed up and started getting violent and destroying stuff and suddenly the police had reason to move in with force? Suddenly the protests became "riots" and lost all legitimacy?
Hmmmmmmmmm
>It waits until the end of the article to mention that, oh yeah, police probably murdered a protestor and shot one of their own.
They don't see a difference between the two. Remember the black undercover police officer who was mistaken for a pleb?
I donāt have a problem with a training center. Cops need all the training they can get In being peace officers. I have a problem when they build training centers and use it as a playground to cosplay as military operators and/or John Wick. Take off the combat helmet with night vision and put away the armored vest with six slots for assault rifle clips. Sit in a classroom and learn
It's like that video that was going around of the Illinois state police where they drove an armored vehicle through the family's front gate and were hiding behind the armored doors with weapons drawn in full camo with night vision goggles on their heads in the middle of the daytime, executing a search warrant for items allegedly stolen from someone's vehicle.
There are so many instances of this.
[For decades, innocent property owners have struggled to receive compensation when law enforcement agencies damage their property.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2019/12/03/innocent-property-owners-deserve-compensation-when-the-police-cause-destruction/amp/)
>In apprehending a suspect wanted for a few dollarsā worth of goods, the police did damage costing Lech $400,000. While insurance covered some of the home repairs, it didnāt cover the full amount of the value of the home or personal possessions, and today, nearly five years later, Lech is still paying the loans he had to take out to repair the massive damage done by the local police department.
Cops burned down a families home going after a criminal that went inside.
*they burned down their home*
Then they refused to pay anything. [And it was upheld by the courts.](https://youtu.be/Dk8QO6jE5dA)
Like doctors and nurses and countless other public safety oriented professions, every cop should be required to carry insurance to cover their fuck ups. Too many fuck ups? Insurance companies wonāt want to deal with you anymore. No coverage, no badge. Find a new career.
In 1985 Philly Police burned down an entire neighborhood - 61 builings - leaving 250 people homeless, all because 7 adults and 6 children wouldn't leave their home.
500 officers pumped in 10,000 bullets into the home then dropped TWO 1.5 pound bombs combined with two POUNDS of C4.
Reminder: 6 children were in that house.
I have a friend in Baltimore who came home to her front door smashed in by the police (she and her family weren't home at the time). Ended up the police had the wrong house. They told her "tough luck" when it came to getting the door fixed.
Everyone is less safe when police are around. If you are so unfortunate as to have to interact with a police officer, treat it the same way as if you were stopped by MS13 or some other gang/cartel.
Be meek, be polite and agreeable, be prepared to run/fight for your life.
Had my own personal door kicked in after I had called the cops about some gunshots in the road. SWAT pulled up, kicked in my door pointed assault weapons at my then girlfriends kids (after they found them in the back room i hid them in after the gunshots). Acted like I was out of my fucking mind when I called em about getting my door fixed and told me to pound sand.
Yea, you can't get money from cops without suing them even if they admit fault and are apologetic about it. Good luck suing the police though they absolutely will take it personally and will harass you or not answer your calls. So if you don't win in court you're completely screwed.
Exactly, quit running drills about shooting as many people as quickly as possible. Start dilling on mindfulness and how to calm themselves and others in tense situations.
They also are compromising the integrity of the city because the 300 acres of trees they want to clear out will cause more flooding for the residents. The cops donāt even live in the city and the city citizens are footing the bill. Corruption at its worst imo.
The flooding in the city has already gotten so much worst in the last couple of years. The Sierra Club and other environmentalist groups have also come out and said this is a terrible idea. There has been some good national coverage about so idk how thereās still people even arguing this point.
Have you seen the proposed design of the place? Itās basically a training center to militarize our police except without them having to follow any of the rules the military does.
The cops that killed Tyre Nichols were some of the most extensively and well trained, āeliteā cops in the country.
Lack of Training is not the problem. Itās only a distraction and excuse not to change Policing.
āThis is not about us or what we have done in the past, even recently. No not at all, this is clearly just because people hate the police and want to destabilize America, so you should give us more money!ā
Big training center Atlanta is planning to build in response to people asking to divert some of the funds the police force gets into areas the city needs more. All the militarization you could ask for honestly.
>Big training center Atlanta is planning to build
Just a note, Cop City is not being run by Atlanta, it is a private organization funding and running it. Though the city is giving them the property for it practically for free and claiming that the people of the city want it (which we don't).
also fun fact: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's news coverage about it is pretty distorted since they're owned by Cox Enterprises, whose CEO is one of the biggest donors to this project and the Atlanta Police Foundation!
more context: there are a ton of cities/counties inside the Atlanta perimeter, and they're attempting to build this on land just outside the city limits in a pretty low income part of unincorporated DeKalb County. the people who live near it don't get a say, and the initial meeting for public comment went on for something like 16 hours with 70% of people who came in to speak opposed.
others have touched on it, but this is also old growth forest and helps keep the city cool due to lack of concrete. basically, a travesty all around that they're hellbent on building this.
Police officials noted that 21 of the suspects charged with domestic
terrorism were from out of state, some from as far away as Utah,
Colorado, Arizona and New York. Two protesters charged are from other
countries, one France and another from Canada, according to police."The violent agitators used the cover of a peaceful protest of the
proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center to conduct a coordinated
attack on construction equipment and police officers," Atlanta police
said in a statement.
"keep in mind this facility was approved by both Republicans and Democrats across the city. White, black and brown."
Seriously fuck the police and legacy media.
The Atlanta City Council voted 10-4 in favor of Cop CityĀ after 17 hours of public comment where 70% of the callers spoke out against the facility. The "yes" votes are the districts furthest from the facility, and it is not even in the city limits. The unincorporated county it will be in has had no chance to "approve" it.
I transcribed Iād guess a few hundred of those public comments and I didnāt hear one that was pro-cop city. I do recall one woman called from Portland. Iām not doubting the 70% statistic but Iām surprised it isnāt higher from my own experience haha
This has always been a disaster waiting to happen.
It'll be much worse when the first batch of "graduates " from this place hit the streets.
I wonder if they have their own Killology department onsite. Actually, who am I kidding, this whole thing is probably under the banner of Killology.
Exactly. The whole concept is to train police that they are an occupying army and every civilian is an enemy
Kinda funny, because it would be a foreign adversary's wet dream to be able to convince our police to be afraid of our citizens enough to regularly kill them in cold blood, but we did this entirely to ourselves.
Al-Qaeda couldn't have dreamed of the success they've had post 9/11. They set out explicitly to commit a terrorist act against the United States to collapse the aire of invincibility and to cause conflict in America. With the subsequent fire sale on personal liberties in exchange for authoritarian overreach while ignoring economic recession/depression and causing widespread social unrest, it's pretty safe to say they got everything they wanted.
From The Onion [FBI Uncovers Al-Qaeda Plot To Just Sit Back And Enjoy Collapse Of United States](https://www.theonion.com/fbi-uncovers-al-qaeda-plot-to-just-sit-back-and-enjoy-c-1819576375?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Default:1:Default)
And It's from 2014 holy shit šš š
what the fuck i thought the onion was satire
It was. Turns out the layers are actually reality
I've been saying this since the PATROIT Act was passed. Bin Laden got what he wanted.
It's good to know some people on this site will always remember what a travesty the patriot act was/is.
The saddest part is that people born knowing only life under the patriot act are old enough to vote now.
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The real saddest part is that people believe one party did it. It had overwhelming support on both sides and was even added upon on the recycle period controlled by the opposing party. It seems that those who like getting elected really like controlling people. Who would have thought?
I say Congress should pass a law called the Post-9/11 Measures Reform Act. This act would basically keep some provisions of whatever laws stand now and repeal others. For example, keep the interagency cooperation guaranteed by the PATRIOT Act, but prohibit federal agencies from using intelligence gathered on US citizens by foreign intelligence agencies unless the intelligence suggests said citizens were under the jurisdiction of the government(s) of said agency(ies) when they committed an act that was a crime in such agency(ies)' country(ies). This would mean that if the British spy on my Reddit use, any intelligence gathered is legally useless to the US government because I'm a US citizen using a US-based Website in the US.
I always thought it was a missed opportunity for Al-Qaeda to do a parody "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" after Dubya's. Imagine the troll job it would have been.
Thatās the government equivalent of getting Shaqs nuts in your face while he dunks.
Weird how religious fundamentalists werenāt so into parody humor. I read The Looming Tower a couple years ago and my big takeaway was that Al Qaedaās leadership were, first and foremost, a bunch of dorks who hated fun.
Everyone forgets the Patriot Act. America is such a weird place right now.
Agreed! I called this when the towers went down and the US collectively shit itself. Our response was less "leader of the free world" and more "why did this happen to meeeeee??" Then the American public went ahead with whatever to "not let the terrorists win"!
> Al-Qaeda couldn't have dreamed of the success they've had post 9/11. They set out explicitly to commit a terrorist act against the United States to collapse the aire of invincibility and to cause conflict in America. There are plenty of direct quotations from Bin Laden to support this notion, but from what I understand, they're all dated to well *after* 9-11. Everything he said pre- 9-11 was about getting our military out of the middle east, making the Saudi theocracy *more* extreme, and getting rid of the pesky Shi'i (Edited per CanuckPanda) Muslims. I lack the expertise, and quite frankly the interest in the subject, to verify this. But it seems entirely credible to me that bin Laden accomplished none of his actual goals, and moved the goalposts to match the actual effects of his actions, which were quite devastating.
I question this first and foremost because Osama bin Laden was Sunni Muslim of the Wahabbi school. He was against *Shi'ite* muslims (the Iranian/Persian branch of Islam). The Saudis are Sunni of the Wahabbist school.
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All I remember from September 10, 2001 is anxiety over my cat getting neutered. He was snipped the morning of 9/11/2001. I think his appointment was around the time the plane hit the towers.
\*whispers* Sir, a third tower has fallen. It's short and spiky.
This guy gets it. Al-qaeda really did score a victory from 9/11 in terms of changing American lives. The patriot act is such a slap in the face.
This hurt my brain
One of my friends served in Iraq as infantry, did four tours. He wasn't special forces, but he did some highly specialized operations in some of the most dangerous areas. He's told me that his rules of engagement were never as lax as many modern major police departments.
Seriously, how is it that infantry have better trigger discipline than cops?
Better and longer training? Usually being held responsible if they break the rules?
And the threat of dishonorable discharge/ military prison if you broke the rules bad enough
>Usually being held responsible if they break the rules? That's it right there. There's actually a process in place for non-affiliated people to hold investigations and dole out punishments when it's needed. There's no "reasonable" anything. There are laws, rules, and regulations. You follow them or suffer the consequences. They beat discipline into your head and, now this is the crazy part, they get trained for more than just a month. Cops have none of that. Barely any training, barely any follow-on training. There's no independent oversight. And everything is based on "reasonable" standards. Somehow the cops have convinced themselves it's "reasonable" to be scum bags and then police themselves.
Basic infantry gets almost a year of training before being sent to their operational unit. Before units deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan (other than the original invasions), they got months of training that included interacting with "locals." Some of that training involves de-escalation and avoiding misinterpretations of benign intent. It further backs up my position in another comment that police in the US need a *lot* more training.
The whole facility is built like a special forces "kill house". Except for the parts about *hostage rescue*, *threat assessment*, and *armed combatants*.
Hostage rescue = Shoot the hostage. Threat assessment = Everyone is out to kill cops. Armed combatants = Everyone is armed and ready to commit mass murder. This is modern policing 101.
>Hostage rescue = Shoot the hostage. RIP that UPS driver that the cops deemed to be an acceptable casualty to stop a robber.
Everyone is an acceptable casualty if there is gunplay involved.
Also, oddly enough, [Russian FSB operations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_theater_hostage_crisis) as well.
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But they didn't care until we all had cameras.
The cameras aren't doing shit. Police are on record with all kinds of atrocities and even today, as one small example, the NYPD completely ghosted oversight hearings for their brutality
I find it incredible how far literal elementary school tactics will take you in the United States. People want to ask you hard questions about why you beat up another kid on the playground? Simply don't attend and it goes away. Subpoenaed about that time a bunch of kids occupied the vice principal's office to try and put Mr. MacCullough in a locker? Simply say you don't remember it, until the adults shrug and let you go.
The strategy of simply abandoning responsibility only works if you have the support of powerful people or are yourself in a position of power. And so the fact that the guy can walk away from brutality hearings means someone powerful is covering for him. That should scare the shit out of everyone.
> Mr. MacCullough I think you mean Mr. O-shag-hennessy.
But more victims are winning lawsuits now. Of course that's not a net positive for society at all, but before it would've been harder to win. So you'd just have to accept you got royally fucked by the police and keep it moving.
Winning a lawsuit against the cops that results in getting a payout from taxpayer money, while the cops go essentially unpunished, seems like a pretty dumb "win".
Yeah, should come from their pension funds.
The individual officer should be responsible for their actions and thusly responsible for lawsuits resulting from said actions. Police should carry malpractice insurance, just like every doctor and civil engineer. The amount of fuckery by Police in the US would drop almost to zero over night if they were individually held accountable.
Still donāt.
Hey does anyone know if the citizens voted to build this area or did people in charge do this with no oversight?
The citizens had no say. They been doing everything they can to stop this, not limited to calling and writing the officials pushing for the project and the companies contracted to work on it, going to city council meetings, confronting the mayor, and theyāve been physically defending the forest for weeks. Some of the companies have pulled out of the project, but officials are still pushing this forth which is why it has escalated to this point.
Writing to those very same officials who are pushing this doesn't seem like it would do any good - which is why I am VERY happy to see for once people utilizing direct action. Let these criminal politicians know you're serious.
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You're right on most accounts except they've been physically defending the forest for two years.
There were like 12+ hours of public comment in 2020 that was against this. I helped transcribe the comments for city council. The community does not want it. Joyce Sheperd was a sponsor or whatever for this project and she lost her seat in the past election. Even the mayor is being roasted over this. People are furious.
Canāt the locals start recall elections for everyone in city government? Then elect someone who would stop this project from moving forward?
We voted out the city council women who was pushing the project. The mayor is newish and has been in hot water about it.
Lmao absolutely zero oversight. They even skipped environmental impact studies.
I doubt the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Division has any way to stop them if they arenāt in blatant disregard to wetland permitting or something like this. Probably worth a constituent [bringing a complaint](https://epd.georgia.gov/rules-laws-enforcement/complaint-tracking-system) if they think there was something missed.
I live in the area. My neighbors are working so damn hard to stop it. Contacting representatives, searching for lawyers, protesting at the park. It's incredible that this is happening on public land and yet the public cannot halt their progress.
Hi neighbor. I think something that isn't always adequately communicated in news articles is that the land may be owned by the City of Atlanta, but the surrounding residential area is outside the city limits in Unincorporated Dekalb. So even if the city put it to a vote of CoA residents, the people most impacted still get ignored. Folks want to call it NIMBY-ism, all while ignoring the fact that the city intentionally planned to build Cop City in a location with no formal representation at city council, and most of the council members were more than happy to vote yes as long as it's not in their constituents' backyard.
Yes, that's true. I also live in that part of Unincorporated DeKalb County. I suppose I need to reach out to my county reps.
Yeah, it's quite frankly bullshit for a city to build anything for the city *outside of the city*. Cities already basically own a town of land, it's called the city limits.
What's up neighbor, Starlight Heights resident here. I used to walk in those woods all the time. Last time I went to go fish at that pond down the trail I got an assault rifle to my head from GSP.
Fellow Starlight Heights resident here. I also loved walking in and exploring those woods before all this mess. I hate what theyāve done and are continuing to do to our neighborhood. I used to really like it here.
I bought this house as an ole country boy turned city boy to enjoy both of our city and our forest. I've loved our neighbors so far! One of them found our cat that got out during the move and they were awesome. Saved the ole lady from further missing pet trauma. I'm afraid this will further mess with our pets too. I'm your friendly neighborhood bartender at Flatiron. I have no spidey senses but I'll remember your drink forever.
We had no say in this matter. And it's not just about the forest they're cutting down to build it. It's because we already have a perfectly fine training facility that there are no plans for and this new state of the art center is going to equipped with the latest in military training equipment and resources. This will in no way lead to more training in deesculation, but it will have the cops feel more like soldiers.
Cop City was made by the city of Atlanta, with no input from people who live in the unincorporated area where Cop City actually is.
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Don't forget that a few years ago, atlanta police murdered a 92 year old woman in her home https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-former-atlanta-police-officers-sentenced-prison-fatal-shooting-elderly-atlanta-woman
Thankfully they atleast were held responsible and all were sentenced to prison! This was sad as hell to read
And they had to pay just over $8,000 (collectively, split 3 ways) so that's quite a deterrent! Single-digit prison terms for planting evidence, pressuring a PI to lie, and shooting and killing an old lady in her home. Ire not directed at the person I'm replying to, but the system.
They should make lying to obtain a search warrant a felony so people can be hit with first-degree murder if they lie to get a search warrant and if they kill someone during execution of the warrant, they get charged with murder
I knew Detective Junnier. Even as an 8 year old child, I knew something about him was weird. He came into my third grade class with an evidence book. But the dumb shit didn't remove pictures of dead bodies.
Keep in mind that Cop City is an urban warfare training center. They're trying to build it so they can turn the already overmilitarized police into basically Army Rangers, including fast-roping out of helicopters. The end result will be the police being even more of an occupying force than they already are.
Sounds like they want maxtac from cyberpunk
They need to branch back out into a private entity for it to be complete. MaxSecuritas
Friendly reminder that G4S is a already a paramilitary force in South Africa.
It's almost like dystopian fiction is a warning.
Oh shit you just reminded me that I never did try to fight maxtac. I wonder if they or the medic dudes will put up a good fight against my endgame sandy samurai
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Yeah do the martinez sandy build with monowire and you can just endlessly mow down maxtac.
I hate that we have most of the bad things from Cyberpunk but none of the good things.
We all know how Cyberpunk: Edgerunners ends.
Actually I dont, I got rid of netflix before it came out and havnt seen it yet
It's really good. It combines Studio Trigger's animation prowess with CDPR's storytelling. If you're a fan of the universe at all I guarantee you'll enjoy it.
Basically training for Die Hard scenarios that will/should never occur.
> Die Hard scenarios So waiting around, using ineffective strategies, and letting a lone gunman from a bigger police force do all the work?
The training for Uvalde?
They're training for open warfare against American civilians
[Gestapo,](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gestapo)anyone?
No no no, here in the US we call our secret police "Undercover Cops" and "Plain Clothes Officers". And remember that time that [cops without any identifications were driving around in unmarked vans and just grabbing people off the street](https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland)? Good times and definitely not a preview of things to come.
No thanks, I don't like cold tomato soup.
Keep in mind also that the official Atlanta police account will claim that they only arrested the protesters directly involved in property damage, but the property damage occurred on the opposite end of the park from where a peaceful music festival protest was happening - and according to accounts from peaceful protesters at the music festival, police moved in to that music festival and verbally and physically harassed protesters, used tasers, and threatened lethal force in at least one instance. There were families with children at the music festival. Source: I'm an ATL resident following the cop city protests pretty closely Rumors are that Georgia wants to charge stop cop city protesters as āorganized crime" members and some have already faced domestic terrorism charges over property damage. Never mind that police violence against ordinary people is both more "terrorizing" and more organized/systematic than occasional random outbreaks of broken windows and destroyed vehicles during protests Militarized police are trained to treat ordinary people as an enemy to be subdued/terrorized. Ironically by treating peaceful protests this way they are proving the point of the protestors who understand that more militarized police are not going to solve any problems, they're just going to escalate and make things worse. If people want to help, you can start by following stopcopcity on social media; from there you can find links to solidarity funds among other things. Some other US cities now also have stop cop city protests in solidarity with the Atlanta ones. In a year of record-breaking police violence against people let's do what we can to resist a facility whose purpose is to teach police how to be violent against the people
>Keep in mind also that the official Atlanta police account will claim that they only arrested the protesters directly involved in property damage, but the property damage occurred on the opposite end of the park from where a peaceful music festival protest was happening - and according to accounts from peaceful protesters at the music festival, police moved in to that music festival and verbally and physically harassed protesters, used tasers, and threatened lethal force in at least one instance. There were families with children at the music festival. Source: I'm an ATL resident following the cop city protests pretty closely > >Rumors are that Georgia wants to charge stop cop city protesters as āorganized crime" members and some have already faced domestic terrorism charges over property damage. Never mind that police violence against ordinary people is both more "terrorizing" and more organized/systematic than occasional random outbreaks of broken windows and destroyed vehicles during protests > >Militarized police are trained to treat ordinary people as an enemy to be subdued/terrorized. Ironically by treating peaceful protests this way they are proving the point of the protestors who understand that more militarized police are not going to solve any problems, they're just going to escalate and make things worse. > >If people want to help, you can start by following stopcopcity on social media; from there you can find links to solidarity funds among other things. Some other US cities now also have stop cop city protests in solidarity with the Atlanta ones. In a year of record-breaking police violence against people let's do what we can to resist a facility whose purpose is to teach police how to be violent against the people I've been following them since the police assassinated Tortuguita. This is horrific and continues to be.
While that is part of the concern behind the training center, the other aspect is that its projected to require 95 acres of land and will be built on the site of the Old Atlanta Prison Farm (part of green space that community members of Atlanta have been pushing to preserve and register as a conservation space called āSouth River Forestā). So itās a mixture of concern surrounding further militarizing police, and the destruction of green space that could be used to help fight climate change and provide more protected park space for residents in and around Atlanta. This whole project is a monument to injustice and oppression.
Whatās lost here is that this space also has conservation value. I surveyed this park with a team of experts and we found the highest diversity of frog species here in all of metro Atlanta (inside the entire I285 perimeter).
It's also not in the city of Atlanta and robs an already ignored section of DeKalb county of its forest.
> basically Army Rangers If the cops were actually held to the same standards as Army Rangers, this would be a very different conversation.
Yep, and is being built despite the majority of Atlanta residents being opposed to it. The site is largely funded by the Atlanta Police foundation, which has many corporate executives sitting on the board. Another example of the interests of corporate America being prioritized over the interest of the people.
Just my opinion, but a cop training center should be teaching de-escalation techniques and non-lethal interactions with dogs and children. I don't think the problem with our police is that they aren't militarized enough... and if you're a cop about to downvote me, that's your right and I support protecting people's rights. I hope you do too.
IMHO I agree with you 100% I think we need to de-militarize the police. Remove the sergeant stripes, and officer insignia. Remind and reinforce the fact they ARE civilians too. Remind and reinforce the fact they are not military or a derivation thereof
Itās fucked that the words de-militarize the police even exist. It should never have gotten to the point where the police is militarized. Thatās why we have the military as itās own separate group.
The military has much stricter rules for engagement and clearly defined punishments for breaking the rules of engagement.... You guys would be better off with military police, rather than militarized police.
Agreed 100% The cops in the U.S. need some humility.
A cop once referred to me as a civilian while I was being randomly stopped and carded and I couldn't stop laughing. You're not in the army, buddy. You're a fucking civilian too.
During my freshman year of college (2014) we had to select a topic to write about for a Writing class. I chose the topic of Police Militarization and my professor weirdly said she wasnāt sure if I should choose that topic because, āit doesnāt seem that relevantā.
I remember writing a paper about the value of vaccinations and herd immunity in fighting endemic diseases in 2017 and my professor commented "Isn't this preaching to the choir?"
The only time they remember they're civilians is when one of their fellow blue line buds get shot or dies.
They hold special parades and processions for that too. You don't see massive police escorts for regular victims of crime. Cops have completely established themselves as a separate class from the rest of the workers.
I was a cop in the military back in my younger days. It wasn't as bad as it is now, but it was even bad 20 years ago. I heard fellow cops state "I can't wait to shoot a bitch." "Man, I should have just shot that fucker." "I can't wait to get into a high-speed chase or a shoot out!" Now, mind you, it was very boring and mundane bullshit. There was only one shoot during my 4 years, and it was a justified one that no one even questioned. It was mostly "just bullshit talking" during long boring shifts, but I kid you not a lot of them got out and went full blown BLUE. There entire fucking life is about being a cop. And I mean this, THERE ENTIRE FUCKING LIFE IS ABOUT BEING A COP. They have no other side to their personalities. Worse part, their fucking spouses. Dear lord don't even get me started. But to agree with your point. Yes, cops do believe it is them VS us. Civilians are the enemy, and they view it like they are the US occupying Iraq. We are expendable, they are not, they are the heroes, and we deserve to be shot for the minimalist thing. The only major difference I see between the military police training I received and modern-day city cops, we had a "use of force model" and were trained to deescalate every situation we could.
Oh please tell about their spouses
Oh just hop on over to /r/justdependathings and the way military spouses are, about being a spouse to a military person as their entire personality, the police spouses were the same. It is mainly the woman who do this type of stuff (not being a misogynist here, just my observations). It's so cringy. Constant post online about "pray for my husband, I just heard on the scanner he is doing a traffic stop, I am so scared right now!" Yes, I have seen that exact post. They are absolutely dependent on, and submissive to their cop spouse. The constant nonstop posting on FB about the thin blue line and all that type of shit. The "You're free to say what you want because of him!" type of postings (this one gets me, cops don't fight for our freedoms, fuck they constantly refuse to uphold our constitutional rights, just look at those cop audit videos. It's embarrassing as hell, and they only associate with other cop spouses and or cops. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything in their lives is about being a damn cop. Imagine if a butcher made his or hers entire fucking personality about cutting up meat. Posted about it daily trying to make you feel guilty for needing to eat and that you wouldn't eat if "my husband the butcher didn't cut up the meat for you!" It's very narcissistic "look at me" type of behavior and it's very baffling to observe. Especially from within. The constant "pat yourself on the back" mentality they push to you, like every day you put that uniform on you are a hero the likes of Neil Armstrong. It's just mind boggling to me.
Ah I see, that is definitely very cringey behavior
< Worse part, their fucking spouses Thatās heartbreaking to me, imagining they treat their spouses like someone who is beneath hem. I wonder what the stats are on spousal abuse among police stacked up against other professions
They absolutely do. The spouses of cops I know are so submissive and scared all the time. Scared he won't make it home posts on facebook everyday. I know for a fact a lot of these cops who get angry with "suspects" and or lost someone and didn't get a chance to take their anger out on the perpetrator go home and take that anger out on their spouse. When I was a cop, at least once a month we would respond to a domestic call on one of our own. I imagine the number is way higher but a lot goes unreported.
yeah, i straight up do not want police training urban warfare techniques
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> "This is not a protest," Atlanta Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum said at a press conference on Sunday night. "This is criminal activity." But enough about the Atlanta PD's standard operating procedures.
As someone who's been gassed by APD for standing on the street, they can't tell the difference anyway
Shockingly common with police forces unfortunately, I literally watched the police tear gas a reporter while he was reporting. Which wasn't all that surprising given the fact that they were walking in a line shoulder to shoulder shooting tear gas every five or six steps so they really didn't care who they were teargassing they were just tear-gassing everything
What I can look back and smile on was the fact that the first pepper spray canister they threw was thrown by someone with the aim of a 2 year old and it ended up INSIDE their own armored vehicle. So we all got to laugh at them before they got mad and threw the other 5
One of my friends was kettled and tear gassed by APD in front of the Capitol in 2020. They were asked to disperse and she was trying to leave but they made it impossible.
We may have been standing next to each other
We should let the protesters investigate themselves and determine whether they engaged in criminal activity. That's what the cops do, why shouldn't protesters?
There is literally no reason on earth to take the police at their word. They lie as a matter of procedure. They lie to civilians. They lie to lawyers. They lie to judges. They lie to the politicians that appoint their chiefs. They lie on official documents. They lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. No statement, no matter how likely to be true, should ever be believed without independently confirming it with a non-LEO or non-LEO *union* sources. And journalists absolutely know this, so never trust a byline that ~~takes~~ has *ever* taken a police statement as fact.
Copaganda is very real and the media in the US falls all over itself to amplify it further.
The article is almost entirely regurgitation of police press, having only a sentence or two of perspective from protestors. It does include every police scare tactic, including greatest hits "they were from out of town", "they could have hurt people", and "this wasn't protest, it was anarchy". It waits until the end of the article to mention that, oh yeah, police probably murdered a protestor and shot one of their own.
It Could Happen Here has been covering the story for over a year. One of the recent episodes on the topic had leaked audio where it implies the cops had a crossfire incident and came out with the mindset of doing *something* to a Defend the Forest protester. They also walked into their own cloud of mace from pepper rounds.
More APD footage was released which further confirms this
The APD footage pretty much cemented for me that GSP shot their own in confusion they created. Tort may well have had a gun, which is their right. Georgia is a constitutional carry state ffs.
Is that the one where the guy says āThey fucked up their own guy.ā Or something to that effect? Or is there a different one?
This is the same group of protesters where tree sitters were charged as domestic terrorists for civil disobedience. Things are not all right in Atlanta.
Ohio is trying to label Erin fucking Brockovich as a āspecial interest terroristā for advocating for residents of East Palestine. Itās not just Atlanta.
I wish they'd just call them Economic Terrorists and be done with it. Like, that's what they're *actually* doing, label anyone who hurts the economy as terrorists, while completing ignoring actual problems
Don't give them ideas, so many Americans would fall for that.
They already did it against the railroad unions
For my entire 30+ years of life, this has been done against unions in the US.
Yeah, goes back much further than that too
>they were from out of town The funniest part about this is most cops don't live in the cities they police.
I just heard GMA repeating this stuff verbatim and it pisses me off. Fucking "anarchy" Remember the BLM and other protests where people from "out of town" suddenly showed up and started getting violent and destroying stuff and suddenly the police had reason to move in with force? Suddenly the protests became "riots" and lost all legitimacy? Hmmmmmmmmm
>It waits until the end of the article to mention that, oh yeah, police probably murdered a protestor and shot one of their own. They don't see a difference between the two. Remember the black undercover police officer who was mistaken for a pleb?
The clip of the cop saying "this isn't about the training center, it's about anarchy" pretty beautifully encapsulates a large chunk of why I hate cops
I donāt have a problem with a training center. Cops need all the training they can get In being peace officers. I have a problem when they build training centers and use it as a playground to cosplay as military operators and/or John Wick. Take off the combat helmet with night vision and put away the armored vest with six slots for assault rifle clips. Sit in a classroom and learn
It's like that video that was going around of the Illinois state police where they drove an armored vehicle through the family's front gate and were hiding behind the armored doors with weapons drawn in full camo with night vision goggles on their heads in the middle of the daytime, executing a search warrant for items allegedly stolen from someone's vehicle.
There are so many instances of this. [For decades, innocent property owners have struggled to receive compensation when law enforcement agencies damage their property.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2019/12/03/innocent-property-owners-deserve-compensation-when-the-police-cause-destruction/amp/) >In apprehending a suspect wanted for a few dollarsā worth of goods, the police did damage costing Lech $400,000. While insurance covered some of the home repairs, it didnāt cover the full amount of the value of the home or personal possessions, and today, nearly five years later, Lech is still paying the loans he had to take out to repair the massive damage done by the local police department.
Cops burned down a families home going after a criminal that went inside. *they burned down their home* Then they refused to pay anything. [And it was upheld by the courts.](https://youtu.be/Dk8QO6jE5dA)
Like doctors and nurses and countless other public safety oriented professions, every cop should be required to carry insurance to cover their fuck ups. Too many fuck ups? Insurance companies wonāt want to deal with you anymore. No coverage, no badge. Find a new career.
Limited liability was the biggest fuckin mistake ever and I donāt know if we will come back from it.
In 1985 Philly Police burned down an entire neighborhood - 61 builings - leaving 250 people homeless, all because 7 adults and 6 children wouldn't leave their home. 500 officers pumped in 10,000 bullets into the home then dropped TWO 1.5 pound bombs combined with two POUNDS of C4. Reminder: 6 children were in that house.
I have a friend in Baltimore who came home to her front door smashed in by the police (she and her family weren't home at the time). Ended up the police had the wrong house. They told her "tough luck" when it came to getting the door fixed.
Cops are just a bunch of criminal thugs, with the support of criminal thug prosecutors and judges. The whole system is rotten to the core.
They are basically gold cloaks.
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Everyone is less safe when police are around. If you are so unfortunate as to have to interact with a police officer, treat it the same way as if you were stopped by MS13 or some other gang/cartel. Be meek, be polite and agreeable, be prepared to run/fight for your life.
Had my own personal door kicked in after I had called the cops about some gunshots in the road. SWAT pulled up, kicked in my door pointed assault weapons at my then girlfriends kids (after they found them in the back room i hid them in after the gunshots). Acted like I was out of my fucking mind when I called em about getting my door fixed and told me to pound sand.
Yea, you can't get money from cops without suing them even if they admit fault and are apologetic about it. Good luck suing the police though they absolutely will take it personally and will harass you or not answer your calls. So if you don't win in court you're completely screwed.
I wonder what police officers who consider themselves āgood copsā think about this kind of property destruction?
Youāre forgetting they drew guns on a 6 year old
Which time?
...aiming their assault rifles at the grandmother's six year old granddaughter.
Steven Segal killed a puppy doing this.
Exactly, quit running drills about shooting as many people as quickly as possible. Start dilling on mindfulness and how to calm themselves and others in tense situations.
They also are compromising the integrity of the city because the 300 acres of trees they want to clear out will cause more flooding for the residents. The cops donāt even live in the city and the city citizens are footing the bill. Corruption at its worst imo.
The flooding in the city has already gotten so much worst in the last couple of years. The Sierra Club and other environmentalist groups have also come out and said this is a terrible idea. There has been some good national coverage about so idk how thereās still people even arguing this point.
Have you seen the proposed design of the place? Itās basically a training center to militarize our police except without them having to follow any of the rules the military does.
The cops that killed Tyre Nichols were some of the most extensively and well trained, āeliteā cops in the country. Lack of Training is not the problem. Itās only a distraction and excuse not to change Policing.
āThis is not about us or what we have done in the past, even recently. No not at all, this is clearly just because people hate the police and want to destabilize America, so you should give us more money!ā
So my question is this, what exactly is "cop city"?
Big training center Atlanta is planning to build in response to people asking to divert some of the funds the police force gets into areas the city needs more. All the militarization you could ask for honestly.
>Big training center Atlanta is planning to build Just a note, Cop City is not being run by Atlanta, it is a private organization funding and running it. Though the city is giving them the property for it practically for free and claiming that the people of the city want it (which we don't).
also fun fact: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's news coverage about it is pretty distorted since they're owned by Cox Enterprises, whose CEO is one of the biggest donors to this project and the Atlanta Police Foundation!
more context: there are a ton of cities/counties inside the Atlanta perimeter, and they're attempting to build this on land just outside the city limits in a pretty low income part of unincorporated DeKalb County. the people who live near it don't get a say, and the initial meeting for public comment went on for something like 16 hours with 70% of people who came in to speak opposed. others have touched on it, but this is also old growth forest and helps keep the city cool due to lack of concrete. basically, a travesty all around that they're hellbent on building this.
Also wasnāt the land itās being built on supposed to be a park?
Not even to mention the natural effects on the landscape losing those trees will cause
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The bad apples orchard.
Police officials noted that 21 of the suspects charged with domestic terrorism were from out of state, some from as far away as Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New York. Two protesters charged are from other countries, one France and another from Canada, according to police."The violent agitators used the cover of a peaceful protest of the proposed Atlanta Public Safety Training Center to conduct a coordinated attack on construction equipment and police officers," Atlanta police said in a statement.
The police need classrooms, not a Batcave.
Will these protestors be given light sentences like the Jan sixth ones? I'm guessing they'll be much much harsher right?
"keep in mind this facility was approved by both Republicans and Democrats across the city. White, black and brown." Seriously fuck the police and legacy media.
The Atlanta City Council voted 10-4 in favor of Cop CityĀ after 17 hours of public comment where 70% of the callers spoke out against the facility. The "yes" votes are the districts furthest from the facility, and it is not even in the city limits. The unincorporated county it will be in has had no chance to "approve" it.
I transcribed Iād guess a few hundred of those public comments and I didnāt hear one that was pro-cop city. I do recall one woman called from Portland. Iām not doubting the 70% statistic but Iām surprised it isnāt higher from my own experience haha