Why is it Legal for Cops to Lie?

[_Kevin Graham]

Read this story from 18 months ago: https://www.dallasnews.com/news/courts/ ... stolen-car

The footage was just released and obviously the police dept lied. Something we see happen time and time again. So much so that it should be an automatic given that police departments cannot be trusted to tell the truth when it comes to something they may have done wrong. But why are they never reprimanded for LYING to the public especially when it comes to crimes they commit? That's obstruction of justice isn't it?

Footage shows a cop firing 13 times into a car 20 ft away, killing a 21 year old mother who was sleeping in her car. She posed no threat. They assumed she had stolen the car but she purchased it.

https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/raw-v ... -610417690

[_EAllusion]

It's not legal. At least not in the circumstances you are describing. It's just that a series of court decisions and American criminal justice culture has made them virtually immune from consequences. The incentives are therefore lined up to do this kind of thing and they are recruited from a pool of people who are more apt to exercise of authority with impunity.

[_Kevin Graham]

It's not legal. At least not in the circumstances you are describing. It's just that a series of court decisions and American criminal justice culture has made them virtually immune from consequences. The incentives are therefore lined up to do this kind of thing and they are recruited from a pool of people who are more apt to exercise of authority with impunity.

When I first came back from Brazil I was intending to become a cop. I nearly went through the entire process, passed their tests, and then decided against it. I got the sense that their "psych" evaluation was really just their way of finding candidates most likely to adapt to a cult like mentality of absolute loyalty to the tribe. Just the questions they'd ask about what I'd do in situations like these. Even in the initial interview before taking the written exams, a sergeant spoke to us as a class and tried to thin the herd by saying we'd sometimes have to have the stomach to shoot someone immediately without even thinking. Focus seemed to be on shoot first, think later. Never once did I hear anyone discuss the problem of innocent bystanders getting shot. It was always defend yourself and your partner first.

[_subgenius]

The challenge with the police is often the same as the challenge with civilians when it comes to being dishonest. It is only a crime to lie when the lie is done so knowingly and willfully....which can be difficult to prove in a court of law...but regardless, it is illegal when meeting that standard....ergo the familiar loopholes of "to the best of my knowledge..." or "my recollection..."

But, the business of crime is founded in falsehoods on both fronts.

[_Kevin Graham]

The challenge with the police is often the same as the challenge with civilians when it comes to being dishonest. It is only a crime to lie when the lie is done so knowingly and willfully....which can be difficult to prove in a court of law...but regardless, it is illegal when meeting that standard....ergo the familiar loopholes of "to the best of my knowledge..." or "my recollection..."

But, the business of crime is founded in falsehoods on both fronts.

That's why they regularly hide video footage for years? Because they misremembered someone shooting at them when they didn't. Or they misremembered someone crashing their car into them when they didn't. Cops just have to say they felt like they were in danger, and that's their out. So they're coached to say this, no matter how ludicrous it is.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

How are they being allowed to lie about the incident? The one officer was charged and arrested.

- Doc

[_Kevin Graham]

How are they being allowed to lie about the incident? The one officer was charged and arrested.
- Doc

The entire dept covers for him through the process. This is the norm. It isn't just one guy. It is the entire lot of them, looking out for each other.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

How are they being allowed to lie about the incident? The one officer was charged and arrested.
- Doc

The entire dept covers for him through the process. This is the norm. It isn't just one guy. It is the entire lot of them, looking out for each other.

How are they covering for him if they release the video and the cop was charged and arrested?

- Doc

[_Kevin Graham]

They released it 18 months later because they had to. But for 18 months they never once told the media or the family members what they knew to be obviously true from watching the footage. The BS version told by the cop lives on. They're content to let this meme stay alive, suggesting the cop was justified in his actions. This happens all the flippin time actually.

[_Kevin Graham]

Try to put yourself in the shoes of the parents.

You find out your 21 year old daughter was gunned down by cops last night. This morning you are told by the chief of police that she had stolen a car and then tried to crash her car into officers, effectively forcing them to shoot at her.

Keep in mind your taxes pay their salaries to protect and serve you.

18 months later you find out your daughter did none of those things and she was simply sleeping in a car minding her own business. She woke up to screams and bright lights shining everywhere so she can't see what's around her. She just woke up and and is likely disoriented trying to figure out what is going so she slowly backs up the car trying to figure out if the're talking to her or someone else who is being arrested in the parking lot. A likely assumption since she knows for a fact she didn't commit a crime of any sort.

If I were the parent I would be having more than words with the police chief who willfully lied to me 18 months ago and had the media, friends and family believe she was a thief who tried to run over cops.