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Comment by machomaster | Hacker News Reader

Youtube has a lot of videos of British "police auditors" who go to stand near police stations to take videos, get police attention and hilarity ensues. It's worth watching a few of them to get the taste.

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We have the same auditors in the states, except that the auditors in the states who do this are often detained illegally by the police, then sue and win, and get paid out of taxpayer dollars with no repercussions for the police whatsoever who acted illegally. One guy in particular I know who used to do this went by TheBattousai or similar name and I believe went through this cycle 2 or 3 times with various police agencies. Not exactly hilarity here

You’d think something would have to give at some point. But as you say the police have very little incentive change since they bear little to no consequence for egregious behavior.

American police have a tendency to use their unions to hold their cities hostage, not to simply lobby for better pay/conditions for their officers.

Part of this is refusing to ever accept accountability for their actions, either individually or collectively.

I've long thought (but not deeply enough to find a hole in it) that constitutional violations need to carry severe criminal penalties. Not just a "don't do that", a payout from the tax coffers, or dismissal of evidence but hard jail time.

The American cases are indeed not funny, because the American police are not only incompetent, but also aggressive, violent and are trigger-happy. The UK police are incompetent, but at least not murderous, therefore the situation is often hilarious.

Can someone spread this among the poor and homeless as a good way to make a bunch of money without needing qualifications?

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