It would help us make it clear to each other what can be expected. Keeps us a bit more honest about who and what we are. It gives us a place to start from if that "no chance for justice" situation ever changes, and could maybe even help others who haven't gotten to the point we have to avoid our fate. Wouldn't you think that even if it never protects any one of us today, history and the rest of the world should know about what was being done to us?
As for a website like this, maybe police will push back against it, exposing their hypocrisy in the process. Or maybe it'll cause a few people to think about why surveillance is acceptable when it's being done to them, but not acceptable when it's police officers. Or maybe somebody learns about all the bad apples and seeing example after example eventually feels outraged enough to push a little harder for meaningful changes.
I don't see the harm in it anyway.
> documenting police abuses.
Whats not to understand? The police do not do a good job of policing themselves.
Citizens have a responsibility to ensure their police forces do not become tyrants.
>It’s pointless to do all this documenting without a way to turn it into accountability.
The light of public attention is the first step to accountability. Copwatchers gather the evidence that will eventually result in a conviction of those who abuse their position as police officers.
That is the point. How is this so hard to understand?
> there are never consequences
This is false. There are many, many cases of bad cops going to jail because a concerned citizen got them on camera, violating their position.
Unless you go looking for these cases, though, you won't see any. Policing in America has gotten too powerful. The only effective thing to do about it, is for citizens to turn their cameras on and start documenting the abuses, far and wide.
I grew up during Reaganomics
When Ice T was out there on his killing cops shit
Or Rodney King was getting beat on
And they let off every single officer
And Los Angeles went and lost it
Now every month there's a new Rodney on YouTube
It's just something our generation is used to