Skeptics Stack Exchange
Skeptics Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [police]

A publicly funded organization charged with keeping the law and peace within a certain geographic area.

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Is viewing extremist material a terrorism offence?

In regard to the quote from the Metropolitan Police warning, is it an offence specifically under the terrorism legislation to watch a video? A Met police spokesperson "We would like to remind the public that viewing, downloading or disseminating…
Mark Price
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Did UK police agree to drop sex-offense charges in exchange for an apology?

In the United Kingdom, Community Resolution Orders give the police the powers to deal with minor offences in which the offender pleads guilty and agrees to reparations, without using the court systems to get a formal conviction. The Daily Mirror…
tuskiomi
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Are black people disproportionately shot more than other people in America?

I was watching a video by conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro. He talks about Nike's ad featuring Colin Kaepernick. There is a claim he makes that black people are not being disproportionately shot by police. The question is "Are you…
Zebrafish
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Has Telegram decrypted user messages and provided them to a gov agency?

Background: Telegram is a secured messaging app, similar to many others (WhatsApp, Signal, ...). It emphasizes its security features and has become (like a few others) a way for people to exchange messages in a secured way. "People" can be good or…
WoJ
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Have 8 out of 10 police officers in Sweden seriously considered quitting due to the danger?

This is one source for the claim. I know Sweden is having increased delinquence but if this claim is true then the real delinquence is way beyond to what it shows on some statisticss. I edit to make the question more clear, in the news it…
kloe
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Were only 17 of 500 sexual assaults on Cologne's Silvesternacht reported in crime statistics?

Quoting the article on Express.de: There were more than 500 sexual assaults in Cologne's Silvesternacht. [...] In police criminal statistics for Cologne, however, the sex mob did not lead to a rapid increase in the number of cases in January. Just…
Maurycy
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Is it a "standard tactic" of law enforcement to "apprehend individuals" in unmarked cars?

There are reports of federal agents in Portland "grabbing and arresting protesters and detaining them in unmarked vehicles." In response, Jann Carson, interim executive director of the ACLU of Oregon, had the following comment What is happening…
BurnsBA
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Was a self-driving car pulled over by police for the first time last month (November 2015)?

I read in this Bloomberg article Google cars have been in 17 minor crashes in 2 million miles (3.2 million kilometers) of testing. [...] Ten days later, a Mountain View motorcycle cop noticed traffic stacking up behind a Google car going 24 miles…
Franck Dernoncourt
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Was it facial comparison technology that caught an impostor at Dulles airport?

According to this recent NBC story, New facial recognition tech catches first impostor at D.C. airport, a man arriving on a flight to the US presented a passport to the customs officer, but using the new facial comparison biometric system, the…
KlausN
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Was there an unsuccessful raid by a SWAT team on the CyberBunker?

According to CyberBunker, a Dutch Police SWAT team attempted a raid on their property but were so unsuccessful in gaining entry that staff didn't even notice the attempts until they reviewed the security footage later that afternoon. After the DDoS…
Ladadadada
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Did state actors set fire to buildings during the George Floyd riots?

A Minnesota protestor made the following claim: "Media, you need to cover the undercover cops who have been breaking these windows and breaking into businesses. We have evidence of buildings that have been burnt on fire by specific triangles cut…
Lord Elrond
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Did Darren Wilson make this statement?

This statement is attributed to Darren Wilson, the policeman who shot Michael Brown. “It is with deep sympathy that I come to you today. What happen, has happened and I can’t do anything about it. I wouldn't change anything because I felt as though…
AlexC
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Have 82 officers been charged for on-duty shootings since 2005?

Multiple news sources ranging from 2 years ago to now, such as CNN, NBC, New York Magazine, PBS, Salon, Vox, and NPR mention that between 2005 and May 2017, around 80 police officers have been charged with murder or manslaughter resulting from…
Barry Harrison
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Did a suicidal woman talk a police officer into jumping with her?

Right now, memes featuring a supposed news paper article stating "SUICIDE WOMAN TALKS COP INTO JUMPING WITH HER!" are going around. For example: More examples (not displayed as images to save space, original URLs credited, but some linked to SE…
UTF-8
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Did the police cover up their decision to allow mass-killer Thomas Hamilton to retain his gun licence?

Thomas Hamilton was responsible for the 1996 Dunblane School Massacre, In 1991, Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes reportedly recommended that Hamilton's firearm licence be revoked - but the police took no action and the specific reason was "sealed"…
Michael
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