![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/mingus/Ep5saEmt4aoxWVAnPVUVcvzVZBjwZLMbRZeapzH1jKLYydmJ55UomNJrPiBzRiVDZ1e.png)


Over the weekend I learned the word "copaganda," which refers to "a phenomenon described by critics of law enforcement in which news media and other social institutions promote celebratory portrayals of police officers with the intent of swaying public opinion for the benefit of police departments and law enforcement." It looks like this term might've been coined recently, like 2018, though the phenomenon has existed for decades if not centuries.

Today I learned the word "testilying," which refers to "The act of fabricating evidence and testifying falsely in court, esp. when performed by an officer of the law." And that word was coined in 1994! It's used by police themselves to describe conveniently "stretching the truth" on the witness stand, with the cooperation of prosecutors who do so for the sake of maintaining good relations with the police and thereby get convictions. 

I found a paper titled "Testilying: Police Perjury and What to Do About It" published in Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications whose final line of the abstract is this: "To restore trust in the police and the criminal justice system, we need to take meaningful steps against testilying now."

It was published in 1996. That's the year I graduated high school. That's 25 years ago.


Here's the paper if you're interested:

> https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1299&context=faculty-publications