cw: discussion of police violence, domestic violence, and violence against women
i used to live next door to a couple in which the husband was abusiveāemotionally, verbally, and would throw things at his wife. heād shout and slam things around at all hours of the night. it was genuinely terrifying and we all knew social services/ a social worker was involved and checking on her regularly but she was clearly too scared to say anything and somewhat in denial about how bad it was because (i quote) āheās never hit me or raised a hand to meā
a few times our neighbours made the mistake of calling the cops to deal with it. not only did the cops
(a) treat the whole situation like it was a joke and a waste of their time
(b) sexually harass multiple women in the building on multiple occasions including both my neighbour who was being abused AND one time the woman who called 911
(c) say they couldnāt prove anything because it was he said she said and none of us saw him throwing things and the wife was too scared to talk to them
but also (d) without fail the abuse was never worse and more violent than after the police left. the cops would leave and heād spend the next two days being more belligerent than ever
eventually most of us that were on that floor stopped calling the police (i never had, personally, but it cost a lot of people their faith in policing as an institution)
fortunately no one was ever shot or tasered because at that time most Canadian police didnāt carry guns, just electrical weapons or whatever theyāre called
and also i think the reason things didnāt escalate while the cops were on-site was that the abuser was a white man who knew he could get away with just about anything as long as he was deferentially buddy buddy with the cops
the cops are not mediators. the cops do not solve problemsāthey escalate them or cause new ones
the cops are not there to protect you or protect your community. theyāre there to protect rich white men men like my neighbour who verbally abused his wifeāthe cops exist for the sake of the upper class (and to an extent the middle class) and corporations and for the ādefenceā and protection of white people
the cops put an end to protests to defend capital. they kill people of colour and other visible minorities because thatās the whole point of policingāit always has been
anyone who would call the police for an actual emergency is at best misguided/ dangerously naive and likely wonāt receive the response they wanted. you always have to weigh the potential for extrajudicial murder & the threat cops pose to living beings against the severity of the threat. always.
(honestly if a Batman villain isnāt about to dissolve 50+ people in a vat of acid: donāt call the cops. and if a Batman villain IS about to kill fifty people I promise you the cops will not help in any meaningful way. theyāll arrive too late to help, shoot someoneās dog, blame the victims, and then get violent when people donāt lick their boots and thank them for doing fuck all. then theyāll pin everything that happened on someone innocent while claiming the evidence of who the actual perpetrator is circumstantial at best. maybe theyāll even start a reckless and unnecessary car chase that kills innocent bystanders)
anyways. anyone who would call the police over a trivial matter like a noise complaint is actively dangerous to themselves and othersāin a way i have to assume is at least partially malicious at this point
amandla
stormborns
yousharknotpass
areudirty
titsay
