wtf *quality

Boosting this quality contribution up in the Hot Listing - declared quality by Mordhaus.

It bears noting that EVERY cop went along with this lie, not one contradicted it, a lie which was an attempt to add a charge of attempted murder on a police officer, until they realized on scene that the instruction to lie had been recorded. This body cam footage, a body camera the sheriff tried to ensure wasn't recording, saved this man from life in prison based on police lies.

Body cameras with on off switches are worthless for the public, whenever there's something they want to hide cops just claim it was off...trust them.

No charges against the cops....the DA said it was clear he was instructing the deputies to file false charges, but since they realized it was being recorded this time and therefore didn't follow through railroading this one defendant, no crime was committed. WTF is that? To me, this is reasonable doubt for any past defendant in the county.

I believe the only real solution is to recognize that the role of a police officer is one that is inherently unstable. As history shows, it is impossible to expect one small group of people to deal with all the violence, anger, punitive actions, and force for all of society.

But without this group of mentally and morally unstable people, then each person in the populace at large would need to individually learn how to deal with violent offenders, restrain someone, know when to use lethal force, adjudicate their punishment, carry out their punishment, handle traffic accidents, dead bodies, emergencies, and so much more. The culture at large already expects every person to delegate these tasks, and if an individual does not immediately call the cops there may actually be punitive action taken against that individual.

I have no solution to this societal problem. But then again, I don't feel obligated to solve the problem for society. In fact, the eventual destruction of the society (that so delegates) may be the eventual "solution" that inevitably comes without collective individual change. I'm content having a solution fit for myself, my family, and for those who other souls who come to me personally for a solution (to varying degrees).

You could... you know, just establish an effective oversight body that actually punishes cops who step out of line and break the law. Combine that with proper social programs to keep the poorest from being so desperate they see no recourse but to resort to criminal behaviour and hey, just like magic things get better!

Not exactly rocket science.

Honestly, and I'm sorry if I appear to be picking on you here, WTF is up with this bullshit. Every other Westernized democracy has a better record with their police, but Americans just throw their hands up and say, "Golly gee, if it ain't workin' here, I guess there's no solution, 'cuz 'Merica is the best at everythin'." PLENTY of other countries manage just fine. And you know what? They ALSO have lower crime rates and lower recidivism rates.

All you have to do is look beyond your own borders for solutions instead of assuming you know best.

There are a few problems with that, and they all end up at the same issue, lobbying.
Police unions are incredibly powerful lobbyists and do lobby against the public's interests, and they use the threat of striking, leaving the public with zero law enforcement, to squash any attempt to regulate them.....and when that fails, the sheriffs and chiefs often just ignore the new laws, like they did about making discipline records public in CA, they just said "nope" and refused to release them, many departments held bonfires where they burned these records to ensure they would never, under any circumstances, become public knowledge....still today, even long after the law went into effect Jan. 1st and has been upheld in courts, the A.G. just outright refused again to follow state law and release these public records. Pretty damn hard to establish an effective oversight body when police have the ability to erase all information they wish by any means with no repercussions.

Second, the prison guard union is the best funded, most powerful private/union lobbying group in America, and they do actually write laws for representatives to present. It's clearly in their best interest to force the desperate to be criminals, it's their bread and butter. They fight to expand minimum sentencing, incarcerate 14 year olds as adults for life, continue and expand the failed drug war, oppose any rescinding of criminal laws, have tried to reinstate debtor's prisons, criminalized multiple civil crimes, etc....incarceration is their business, and business is good.

So while I agree, there are numerous better systems that serve everyone much better with less money , less incarceration, and less recidivism, until we revamp our political system to make it illegal to bribe politicians (and make no mistake, it's perfectly legal to bribe them with campaign donations or promises of massive support), there is no way in hell it's going to improve and a near certainty it will continue to get worse because there's money to be made by locking people up.

I live in east Tennessee, not much different here.

Watched 3:59 and interpreted that differently. Debatable whether the officer intended to lie or knew the camera was on. I'm happy that officer refused to compromise the truth.

I'm with you there on the worthless off switches, let's hope information changes our world for the good.

Granted, intent is debatable, but it sure seemed like he was going along to me...until the other officer hinted his camera had recorded the instruction to lie.
Also he knew the crashed cop car's dash cam was on. I'm pretty sure that's why they weren't going to call it an accident, just an incident, that wouldn't require the dash cam video be viewed.

Not one contradicted the order to falsify the report on scene, and more than one said "yep" or "yes sir" when told the lie, then checked to be sure it wasn't on their camera. After that officer checked his camera and said "mine's off" it sounded like the other officer was telling him his was still recording, looking at it, covering it with his hand and saying..."when I started I hit mine for the majority of it, I hit it" instead of "mine's off too, we're good".

It sounded here like only one of the deputies filled out their report accurately....after going along with the lie on scene.

No question, not one reported the instruction to falsify charges, and none of them were charged or even officially reprimanded. The Sheriff just retired, probably with full benefits and pension.

I think the next batch of cop body cams should have fake off switches that only turn the red led off, not the recording. We could clean house with a quickness.