• catsarebadpeople@sh.itjust.works
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    24 hours ago

    First line of the article says he is supposed to protect New Yorkers. That is not true. Police have successfully lobbied for decades and have absolutely no mandate to protect anyone but themselves. They loudly and clearly stated that their job specifically exists to enforce the status quo and to bulldoze through anyone in the way. They don’t want to help anyone. They don’t want to protect anyone. It’s in their job description and their training not to.

      • greenhorn@lemmy.world
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        21 hours ago

        Warren v. District of Columbia “is a District of Columbia Court of Appeals case that held that the police do not owe a specific duty to provide police services to specific citizens based on the public duty doctrine.” And Castle Rock v. Gonzales, is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled, 7–2, that a town and its police department could not be sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for refusing to enforce a restraining order, even though the refusal led to the murders of a woman’s three children by her estranged husband.

      • catsarebadpeople@sh.itjust.works
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        16 hours ago

        In most circumstances, police officers do not owe a personal duty to protect specific individuals from harm. The dominant principle comes from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services (1989)

        Also see: Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales (2005) Warren v. District of Columbia (1981) Linda R.S. v. Richard D. (1973)

        As you can see from reading through the cases mentioned above, the law doesn’t require police to protect you or even to enforce the law. Combine this with precedent set by police unions and qualified immunity.

  • betanumerus@lemmy.ca
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    23 hours ago

    Receiving 547 fines in the mail over 4 years means he’s treating speeding as a paid subscription. Strange that they don’t cancel his driving licence. In Canada, we have points, so this wouldn’t stand. I don’t think we could have even 5 tickets in 1 year without losing our licence.

    • MiwAuturu@pawb.social
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      20 hours ago

      Even in Canada, tickets from traffic cameras don’t cost points. The vehicle owner is responsible for paying the fines, but without being able to prove that the owner was the one driving they can’t add demerits.

  • Rothe@piefed.social
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    1 day ago

    If I was American, I would be a lot more than mildly infuriated about the pedocratic police state that is the US. But I am not American, so mildy infuriated fits perfectly for me I guess.

    • Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works
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      23 hours ago

      As an (US)American, I wake up every morning screaming into the Void.

      Then the Void requests a subscription fee.

      I’m not legally allowed to sleep until I’ve paid the Void, one way or another.

    • PhoenixDog@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      I wake up every morning thanking whatever god wants to listen that I wasn’t born American.

  • cmeu@lemmy.world
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    22 hours ago

    Don’t normalize automated driving enforcement, ALPRs and police surveillance tech. I get the spirit of this story that the watchers should be held accountable, but when the electric eye is on us we’re all criminals. The surveillance state needs to die

  • CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works
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    2 days ago

    Perfect example of policing in America. Their primary mission as a force is to protect themselves at all costs just like any other gang or criminal organization.

  • AA5B@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Tell me again how traffic cameras make us safer and we can totally trust them to be applied objectively for public safety and no other purpose?

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      2 days ago

      They aren’t for safety…they are totally for revenue.

      With regards to school zones, specifically, if they cared about safety, they would be putting in mechanisms to slow traffic naturally. Raised crosswalks. Rotaries. Narrower lanes. Crossing guards.

      They don’t put any of those in.

      A couple towns over from me, they just put a brand new highschool right on the intersection of two major state highways, about 1/4 mile from the interstate. If they cared about the kids, they’ve put the school in a less busy area to begin with.

      But instead, they demo’d an old pedestrian bridge that was keeping kids off the road for crossing, and set up a speed cam and issuing tickets in the spring before the school even opened.

      And of course the school zone creates a bottleneck for people exiting the highway in rush hour, with ripple effects well down the freeway.

      Fucking assholes.

      But at least Theil gets paid. Most of the money doesn’t even go back to the city. What a ducking ripoff.

    • imetators@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 day ago

      Maybe in US…

      From where I am, they are 100% slowing everyone down. In fact, so much that I am getting annoyed by that. Thing is, people will go 60 in 50 zone, then see a camera sign, slow down to fucking 40, roll pass it and then pedal to the metal back to 60.

      Easy optional solution how to make people actually slow down on the camera: make fine indexed. If they earn a ton, they get a huge ass fine. Say 5% of a monthly income. Stacks to 50% if they are a serial rule breaker. That way not many will speedup.

      Kinda works already somewhere.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      I’m surprised no one has challenged you on this. (I agree with your point, but people do tend to defend cameras zealously)

      • wabasso@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        Wait, I’m a zealous camera defender, what am I missing?

        The one they put up temporarily by my kid’s school noticeably calmed traffic near it (myself included—I’m not perfect).

        • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I thought of different ways to word a response and then I saw another user put it perfectly already:

          If the goal is to reduce speeding, road design plays more of a factor more than cameras.

          A fine means that it’s a revenue grab.

          I would just also add that anecdotally they don’t seem to slow many people down in my city. I have gotten at least 5 speed camera tickets since I moved here, and every time I was going the speed of traffic and was unaware a camera even exists there. This city also has a huge problem with horrific driver behavior that goes unaddressed. I’ve seen some of the craziest shit ever here but I’ve yet to see anyone pulled over for a reason that didn’t appear to be related to a “worse” crime, as in they’re searching the person’s car and it looks like they’re about to go to jail. So I have to believe that the primary concern is making money, and if they work overall (providing the data people always tout) it’s a coincidence/accident. Most of that money goes to corporations too so even if you wanted to argue it doesn’t matter if money is the main driving force, you have that additional layer of the whole thing being corrupted from the start by capitalism.

    • driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br
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      2 days ago

      Just because they are corrupt cops above the law dosen’t mean that speed cameras dosen’t work. Hidden cameras that are only there to “catch” speeders are pretty stupid, but cameras with warning about their proximity work very well to slow down drivers before conflict points

      • HasturInYellow@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Not every mechanism of society needs to be built around fear of punishment. In fact, i would say that none should be in and ideal society. There are numerous ways to not instill fear in people every second of every day. It even would make a healthier society if people didn’t live in perpetual fear of the state.

        • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          A camera says nothing about punishment and everything about accountability. Some people simply need a reminder or are new to an area as well.

          • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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            24 hours ago

            Social accountability is a euphemism for punishment. Someone is engaging in a behavior that is discouraged and so when they do that something is done to them that they don’t want to happen. In this case a camera simply automates fining people.

            People who need a reminder or are new to an area especially benefit from better road design or cheaper alternatives (where I live some residential streets have concrete planters that make the road wind and force you to slow down). For a person new to an area especially, the speed camera functionally serves as an expensive toll for driving the speed the road is designed for, but one you receive in the mail a few weeks later.

            Good speed reduction should make speeding look and feel reckless ro everyone, including someone who’s never been there before and didn’t see the speed limit. Good design is intuitive.

            • Rekorse@sh.itjust.works
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              23 hours ago

              I don’t agree that its possible to make everyone feel personally at risk when speeding.

              If people want to be around other people then social accountability is required. Whether you want to call it punishment or not, we have to have ways to signal to each other what we find okay and what we don’t. I dont agree with deceptive setups designed to maximize income for a city, so I do agree with most of what you are saying, I just think ultimately punishment needs to be there for some people.

              • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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                20 hours ago

                You can make it so reasonable drivers feel the safe speed to drive is the speed you want them driving.

                Ultimately speed cameras are surveillance for civil infractions, which I disapprove of, and they’re popular because they can function as revenue generation.

                I don’t disapprove of punishment for those engaging in reckless driving, but I’ve seen so many places where speed limits and fines are treated as the end all be all of traffic enforcement rather than the final step.

    • atrielienz@lemmy.world
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      23 hours ago

      I don’t wish that on the semi driver. They don’t get paid enough to have therapy for the kind of trauma you get from turning another person into paste. And also probably losing their CDL over it.

      • Etterra@discuss.online
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        9 hours ago

        That’s fair. But by this point I can’t trust the bastard to become entangled with a street light.

    • Zos_Kia@jlai.lu
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      2 days ago

      I’m picturing some John wick character who legitimately finds himself in tons of car chases and ticking time bomb scenarios

  • Tattorack@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    Wait, hold up. In the picture, is that the actual size of that truck? Or has the size been exaggerated?

    • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      2 days ago

      I live in a small town so I’m sorry to say, that is exactly how big pickup trucks are now. What isn’t clear from the angle of that photo is the bed is most likely less than 6 feet long, meaning it can fit less in the bed than a minivan with only rearmost row folded down.

      The best part is, in rural America there’s folks who look at that stock truck, say it isn’t big enough and get a lift kit and extra large tires installed so it rides 2 feet off the ground and the wheels extend multiple inches past the fenders (sometimes they’re further out than the mirrors even) and the illegality of such mods on public roads goes entirely unenforced. Oh and those are the folks who don’t also make their trucks roll coal

      • AartKwarktaart@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        I’m fully convinced that in 50 years we will be STUNNED that this was normal once. Just like lobotomies, or smoking in schools.

        • ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          Yeah well I remember being convinced that racism would go the way of the Dodo when I grew up too. Sadly some 40 years later it seems to be thriving.

      • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Oh god, the rolling of coal. So help me these fuckers literally give people cancer and think it is funny.

        • corodius@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          I bet the coal rollers are loving the modifications to use a crapload more fuel at the moment lmao

          • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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            24 hours ago

            The modified truck drivers (nobody rolls coal locally to me anymore but plenty keep putting in lift kits and even more oversized tires than stock) always start moaning when gas prices go over $4/gallon, in part because they can no longer fully fill their tank in one transaction at many gas station (most stop after $100) and that’s also the point where the dealerships start advertising their vehicles with better fuel economy rather than the oversized gas guzzling trucks and SUVs

            $4/gallon is really the magical point where change starts to happen, and most of America is not far from that right now. I’m hopeful that it does get up to $5 or so for a while because that might cause some meaningful change for the better

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        What’s weird is is that truck isn’t tall enough for how big it is if you want to do practical work and haul shit. It would bottom out if you put a real load in it. These things are so weird to me. This thing is a glorified grocery hauler.

        • Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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          1 day ago

          I think the lens or camera angle is wonky because in addition to the entire image looking flattened, it does looks slightly lower than I’d expect, but I don’t know how much of that is that I see so many trucks with lift kits installed on a daily basis, if thats because the camera is mounted higher than I’d be seated in my car or on my bike, of if it’s just it looks off in a photo but it’s actually bog standard

  • ductTapedWindow@lemmy.zip
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    21 hours ago

    An average full size truck sits at 6’. This short king is the height of a 12 year old

    Edit: 6’ not 6"