• TheDoozer@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It repeatedly mentions “the young man” particularly as quoted by the police chief.

    No, that is not a “young man.” That is a boy. Unequivocally so. This wasn’t a 18-year-old man. It was a 12-year-old boy. Absolutely ridiculous that nobody calls out authority figures making statements like that.

    • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Excellent catch, thanks. I’d completely missed it, but four times this 12-year-old is referred to as “young man,” and all four come from the police chief. It’s language intended to obfuscate.

        • wsweg@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          “Boy” has historically been used in a belittling way towards black people in the US.

          • nautilus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            1 year ago

            On the flip side, black boys and teens are often referred to as older than they are, hence “young man”. I’m guessing in the pigs’ minds it’s so they rationalize their disgusting and inhumane treatment

      • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        If only there were other words to describe him… Oh, wait! I just thought of these off the top of my head:

        • minor
        • child
        • adolescent
        • teenager
        • juvenile
        • etc…

        There’s also kid, young person, son, youth, youngster, teen, preteen, tween, highschooler, and more.

  • Doug Holland@lemmy.worldOP
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    1 year ago

        I’d be r-e-a-l-l-y interested to see a mug shot of the car thief, if he exists and he’s ever caught. I’ll bet there’s no resemblance at all except that he’s black.

  • LemmyLefty@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    ”The officers of the Lansing Police Department are working very hard to address the recent car thefts plaguing our city. In doing so, yesterday officers detained a young man who was wearing similar clothing[“]

    Okay, so two points: one is that a 12 year old is not in any way a young man. And two, the kid was wearing neon green shorts.

    • Diplomjodler@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      If you’re a member of a criminal organisation you’re a criminal. It doesn’t matter whether you personally commit any crimes or not.

      • Cheshire@feddit.de
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        1 year ago

        Now that’s just not fair. Criminals actually risk getting in trouble for breaking the law.

        Also, gangs usually work in their own neighborhoods, while cops rarely work in the places they live.

        Police are much closer to an occupying army than a criminal organization. (And that’s before the literal militarization of their equipment.)

          • Cheshire@feddit.de
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            1 year ago

            I mean, I mostly just wanted to humorously dunk on cops, but if you want an actual argument:

            Cops have an entire TV genre dedicated to propaganda in their favor, which can lead otherwise decent people to believe that they aren’t that bad and join up.

            So, it’s possible for a person to be both a decent person and a cop… but not for long. It can’t last since they soon either stop being decent, stop being cops, or have “accidents”. But can good cops exist? Yes, if only for a short.

            (And I’m intentionally using “decent/good person” rather than “not a criminal” because what’s criminal and what’s immoral are two separate things. Cops can use asset forfeiture as essentially a form of highway robbery, but doing so is technically not illegal, and thus not criminal.)

  • skizzles@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I have been arrested for looking like someone else.

    The cop proceeded to take me to an older woman’s house to ID me, she proceeded to tell the cop that her grandson had brown (mine was bleach blonde) hair, no piercings (me: eyebrow, nose, lip, both ears, tongue), and was about 10 years younger than me. For reference I am mixed but basically white. But the same shit happened and it was absolutely ridiculous.

    Don’t trust the police to do the right thing ever.

  • AlwaysNowNeverNotMe@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Yes it is unfortunate that they won’t face any repercussion at all but this 12 year old will occasionally think back on this for 60+ years

  • FReddit@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I’ve been swatted with six cars full of pigs because a mental retard neighbor fingered me for a bank robbery I had nothing to do with.

    The pig lieutenant fabricated evidence for the search warrant, which got “lost” until the statute of limitations to sue them passed.

    Karma Lieutenant bacon was later fired for stealing from a police fund.

    Fuck the police.

    This was carried out because I wear glasses.