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27 Dec, 15 tweets, 6 min read
Cops lie. In paperwork. Under oath in court. To media. To public. To coverup misconduct & murder. To scare us. Confuse. Mislead. Lie so we give up on change. Continue to pay for violent failure. Everything they say is a big lie. When will we stop believing?nbcnews.com/news/us-news/l…
In LA, police are doing the same thing they’re doing all across the country. Lying. About “surges.” Blaming these false “surges” on “reform.” Why. They feel threatened by the calls for change. Unfortunately we’re still buying what they’re selling.
In NYC, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea was exposed for manipulating data. Then forced to admit he lied for years about bail reform leading to shootings. It’s all so transparent. But media outlets continue to fall for it. And we continue to believe.
More people than ever are aware that police lie. If not before the era of iPhone footage capturing police in overt coverups, certainly now. So why is everyone still so willing to believe police on crime data & policy? A big part is culture. “We all learn to worship police early.”
Why is everyone still so willing to believe police? A big part of it is media printing what cops want to print. Reporters rely so heavily on police for stories. It’s just the way it’s always been done. We’re saturated by lies legitimized by otherwise trusted outlets.
Why is everyone still so willing to believe police? People are desperate for answers. Outraged by what they see in papers & also real struggle in streets. And a clean “black & white” narrative (good/bad) w/ a simple “solution” (cops/cages) is comforting. We must resist this urge.
Why is everyone still so willing to believe police? Faced w/ a general public w/ skewed understanding of crime & punishment fueled by police lies amplified by media, leaders then pander for political good will. Repeat cop lies. Only entrenches misunderstandings. San Francisco:
Why is everyone still so willing to believe police? Faced w/ a general public w/ skewed understanding of crime & punishment fueled by police lies amplified by media, leaders then pander for political good will. Repeat cop lies. Only entrenches misunderstandings. Chicago:
Why is everyone still so willing to believe police? Faced w/ a general public w/ skewed understanding of crime & punishment fueled by police lies amplified by media, leaders then pander for political good will. Repeat cop lies. Only entrenches misunderstandings. Los Angeles:
Why is everyone still so willing to believe police? Faced w/ a general public w/ skewed understanding of crime & punishment fueled by police lies amplified by media, leaders then pander for political good will. Repeat cop lies. Only entrenches misunderstandings. NYC:
Police lies & the medias general failure to check them. So-called “progressive” leaders pandering to them. And our belief in them have serious consequences. For example, we lose sight of true harm. So focused on false “shoplifting surge,” we fail to pay attention to this:
Police lies & the medias general failure to check them. So-called “progressive” leaders pandering to them. And our belief in them have serious consequences. For example, we forget that their lies about “surges” & “spikes” actually admit their own failure.
Police lies & the medias general failure to check them. So-called “progressive” leaders pandering to them. And our belief in them have serious consequences. We lose our ability to have imagination for a future w/o costly injustice that undermines Heath & safety.
Police are desperate to terrorize the general public into giving up on forward thinking changes to our irrational & oppressive legal systems. They’re scared that if given a chance to succeed, alternatives will be proven to work. I wish we’d just have more patience for change.
Have to start somewhere. And I believe right now it’s popular culture and journalism. We have to be more discerning consumers of media. Demand better. Time being: talk to public defenders, organizers, people w direct experience. No one wants health & safety more than these folks.

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Scott Hechinger Profile picture
26 Dec
READ: “In case after case, kids as young as 6 have been handcuffed, felled by stun guns, pinned to the ground. Tormented by visions of officers bursting through houses & tearing rooms apart. ‘I can’t go to sleep. I keep thinking about the police coming.’apnews.com/article/arrest…
CHILD ABUSE: “Black children were more than 50% handled forcibly, though just 15% of U.S. child population. Most common types of force: takedowns, strikes & muscling, firearms pointed at or used. Less often, other tactics like pepper spray or police K-9s.”apnews.com/article/arrest…
“AP analyzed appx 3,000 instances of use of force against children under 16 over past 11 years. A small representation of the 18,000 police agencies nationwide & millions of daily encounters police have with the public. But the information is troubling.”apnews.com/article/arrest…
Read 7 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
26 Dec
THREAD: This past year, I supported publication of commentaries by extraordinary advocates with perspective & expertise that all-too-often goes overlooked. Public defenders. Formerly incarcerated. Family of those in cages. In case you missed them:
In Oregon, people are still imprisoned/burdened by a KKK law allowing up to 2 jurors votes to be disregarded. Terrence Hayes was caged 13 years prison in 2004. "While I was not kidnapped by white men in hoods, I was caged because of their law." usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
In Harris County, TX, people who need help for mental health crises get armed cops & trauma. Mary-Grace Ruden is a public defender who represents people w/ mental health issues. “Our communities are not made safer or healthier. Instead, people die.”currentaffairs.org/2021/03/our-no…
Read 19 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
26 Dec
Police have killed 1,646 people since police murdered George Floyd last year. But you didn’t know that because most media have been laser focused on a few isolated thefts of a few luxury stores w/ ample insurance. Priorities. nytimes.com/2021/12/24/us/…
First read this: “LAPD have shot at least 37 people in 2021, mark[ing] a dramatic rise in cases where officers shot or killed people.”

Then ask yourself why the media has dedicated thousands of stories to a few isolated thefts from wealthy luxury stores.

This is story bias.
LAPD HAVE KILLED FOUR PEOPLE IN JUST THE LAST WEEK. This is in part why police are working overtime to spread disinformation about “crime surges” & scare the public with rare cherry picked cases of violence. They’re trying to deflect attention. Most media keeps helping them.
Read 9 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
25 Dec
It was the bullet’s fault, the New York Times told us.
An outrageous police killing. An unarmed man & 14 y/o girl. Shot w/ no regard for human life. Cops won’t be held to account. And get this: If the man they killed were still alive, they’d charge *him w/ the 14 y/os murder. Blame him for making them shoot.losangeles.cbslocal.com/2021/12/24/sho…
Shooting bystanders & then charging the people cops were trying to shoot with the bystander’s murder is unfortunately all too routine. Here LA cops “shot into a Trader Joe’s, killing an innocent bystander—& the man they were shooting at was charged with that bystander’s murder.”
Read 9 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
23 Dec
THREAD: "All eyes on NYC." After vowing to expand torture on Rikers & then rejecting the majority of NYC City Council bc they weren't cops like him, the national campaign to abolish solitary issues a powerful demand to Eric Adams. Transcribed it here:unlocktheboxcampaign.org/2021/12/23/sol…
"Solitary confinement is torture. Causes intense suffering & devastating mental/physical harm. It should have no place in NYC or anywhere. Decades of research: IT *causes violence & worsens safety* for incarcerated people & staff, the very issues Adams claims to want to address."
"Solitary confinement is not only reserved for acts of violence, as officials [like Eric Adams] suggest, but often for anyone deemed unmanageable, including people w/ mental health needs & transgender people." For more on this, see here: silenced.in
Read 10 tweets
Scott Hechinger Profile picture
22 Dec
IMPORTANT: Give a gift w/o relying on prison labor. @3M (think post-its, paper, everything) is one of largest manufacturers of wrapping paper & *largest corporate supporters of prison labor.* Buy alternative wrapping paper to support ending prison labor: zazzle.com/endtheexceptio… Image
“Since 2018, @3M has sold $3.3M in materials used in the production of goods for sale or use by the State to NY prisons.” No benefits. No workers comp. No sick days. No grievances. More: truthout.org/articles/corpo…
Last year, for its role in human rights violations in the prison industry, @WorthRises gave @3M a harm score of 13 out of 15 in their report, The Prison Industry. “3M boldly supports prison labor throughout the U.S.”Full report: worthrises.org/theprisonindus… Image
Read 6 tweets

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