• catsarebadpeople@sh.itjust.works
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    1 day 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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        1 day 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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        1 day 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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    1 day 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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      1 day 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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      1 day 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.

  • 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.

  • cmeu@lemmy.world
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    1 day 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

  • 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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        2 days 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.

    • atrielienz@lemmy.world
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      1 day 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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        17 hours ago

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

  • 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

      • Doomsider@lemmy.world
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        2 days 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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          2 days 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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            1 day 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

      • 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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          1 day 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.

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        2 days 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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          2 days 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

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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      2 days ago

      Without reading, I’ll read it after this, but I’m zero percent surprised. Only people I’ve seen buy ram trucks are ones who do not care about others and want to be seen as big and tuff.

      Hell the vast majority of truck drivers too, sorry not sorry folks but you do not need a truck to drive to your office daily, or to drive the family around, you got it as a status symbol. RAM drivers are just the worst of them all.

      • fratermus@piefed.social
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        1 day ago

        Only people I’ve seen buy ram trucks are ones who do not care about others and want to be seen as big and tuff.

        The brodozer phenomenon is real and lamentable.

        At the moment I am getting a reprieve from it. I moved to a small agricultural town* where the pickups are actually work trucks. Hay bales, animal feed bags, and farm dogs in the bed. It makes this grinch’s heart grow a little larger.


        *actually just a Census Designated Place

      • prodaccess@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        There are many people in my highly liberal and progressive PNW town that drive trucks. The majority seem to be decent people based on my interactions on the road with them as a pedestrian and cyclist.

        I do agree most people don’t need trucks, and it’s more of a performative masculinity thing, or maybe that’s just what they’ve been conditioned to like.

        • defuse959@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          2 days ago

          Hello fellow PNW person. I am likely one of those people. I try to represent the good side of this example whenever possible.

          Also have a tiny ev that is my daily driver, especially in the city where parking a full size pickup is just not worth it. That said, on the days when my partner needs the car for longer trips and I have to take my truck around for chores, I’m constantly on alert to not be a dick.

          I think this is honestly how a lot of folks are around here. It’s a little different when you head out east but near civilization, I am generally given hope.

        • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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          2 days ago

          We as an American people have been conditioned for decades that we need larger and bigger vehicles when we absolutely don’t. This is because smaller cars have stricter regulations thanks to the “light truck” loophole in the CAFE standards. It’s literally less regulated, and thus highly profitable to get people to buy trucks instead of cars. The masculine thing, the “It’s safer because it’s bigger”, the “I need space for my family” - it’s all generated by marketing teams for car companies to convince each of us that we need a bigger (and less regulated) car.

          When really… we don’t. We don’t at all, and it choosing a truck whether it’s intentional or not, is a selfish move. It’s large, it’s unnecessary, wasteful, it’s proven extremely deadly to pedestrians, bicyclists, and children. Choosing a vehicle like that is inherently accepting that you are risking other people’s lives, and that’s why I’m so against them.

          Ignorance is excusable, but once informed then it’s no longer ignorance.

        • teslekova@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          Why didn’t you buy one with a lower height but the same load capacity? Safer and makes loading stuff easier.

          Us Australians look at weird American raised utes and scratch our heads in puzzlement. You’ve got a higher driver position, granted, but it’s also a higher centre of gravity, it’s harder to park in garages and underground car parks, it’s harder to see pedestrians, it’s harder to load stuff into the tray, etc.

          You clearly aren’t just driving it to look pretty, like many people that we both probably get annoyed by. What’s the story?

          • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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            2 days ago

            I think it’s pricing

            I got a friend who bought a RAM last year. he was previously hauling construction equipment in his partner’s crossover and his own sedan. a pickup was an appropriate buy

            HOWEVER he got a RAM (thankfully no LED headlights, though they are mounted way too high still), and tbh I’m not really sure what his alternatives were. “small” pickups like the Maverick are too small, and expensive

            also he’s like 6’4" 250+lb so he physically needs a bigger cabin lol

            • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              They also have more size configuration options, per model. RAM is one of the only brands that offer single cabs and 8 foot beds, for example.

          • RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Honestly, it just seemed like the best option. Admittedly, it’s also fun to drive, but yes parking can be a pain. But where I live accommodates it pretty well.

        • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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          2 days ago

          If you do it about once a week or more, then you do need it. If you need it any less than once a week, congrats it’s a status symbol. How do I know? Because the numbers don’t lie, and if you only actually haul monthly - or even every 2 weeks, it’s actually phenomenally cheaper to rent a truck from either a rental shop or something Home Depot. Trucks are crazy expensive, their fuel already was astronomical before, and now it’s even worse. It’s much much cheaper to have a modest sedan/van than it is to own a truck.

          Speaking of vans, it’s actually more spacious and more carrying capacity to own a decent van than it is to own a truck. Go ahead, test out my knowledge. Vans have more carrying capacity, better fuel mileage, they’re closer to the ground so they’re easier to load, and they’re even covered so you don’t need a topper or tool box that takes up even more space.

          So in short, if you haul less than once a week, you should have rented and saved a few dozen thousand dollars. If you haul more frequently than weekly, you probably should have bought a van.