Damn the Police
In the world we live in today trust is hard to come by.
Gone are the days where you can make an honest living. Many do not generate produce by the strength of their own back, labour for money, or personally provide for their family.
Gone are the days where you defended your honour and protected yours by right.
Gone are the days that were commanded by ones self.
Now?
Now many have to, or do rely on others. Others being the Government. And perhaps a various range of people whose careers come under the catalogue of 'Emergency', people we have to rely on to get things done.
The Police are the major ones. They are the able bodies that enforce the law.
I will question the Police and their rights in enforcing the law. The rights the Police seem to violate.
The question is; Do the Police abuse their authority?
Amongst many the simple answer is yes. In some sense it would be unavoidable.
If thought through thoroughly, it is not so straight forward. Because the term 'Police' is the representation of a whole business body and not one individual, the answer goes fuzzy. There is some Police officers who do abuse their authority and some do not.
So at what percentage of the Police Officers that do abuse their authority can we say, the police abuse their authority? Logically the numbers just have to be sufficient Enough that majority of the Police Officers had to have committed the crime at least once, no matter how small.
Do the police abuse their authority?
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| Lady being arrested. (See broken leg) |
D. Mangan explains how suspects have died in police custody, as they were put in positions that restricted their breathing. Many Police Departments have put a ban on these positions to prevent deaths and injuries.
On many cases most people would agree that the police use excessive force to the point of abuse. When watching or reading the cases of these abuses, the citizen may not have committed a crime to protesting or assault. An individual assaulting a police officer is an offence but how the police officers handle it is the problem. Samuel Cooper, (Dead Anarchists website), expresses how the "Policemen are supposed to be keepers of the peace, but they have enlarged their fancied duties until they seem to have quite forgotten that they are merely citizens appointed to maintain order, and pose as regulators of the social economy of the streets, even in the most trifling matters."
Sometimes many rules of conduct are broken, the police officers abuse their authority without the citizen knowing, and to the extent of the law being discarded the Police themselves. It seems the Police have forgotten how to be professional. Diane Wetendorf et al. suggests that there is a noticeable difference when the Police Officer is being professional or making it personal. For example, an Officer should have a commanding presence and not intimidate a citizen of the public.
For many, the rules and policies that the Police are to follow are not clear to the general public, and therefore they do not know what rights they have standing against an Officer.
Many of us might have been taught to trust the police from a very young age, but the fact remains, what we were taught to trust was the ideology of Police and not the reality of police and what they represent.
Police stands for 'Protection Of Life In Civil Establishment'. (Police as an acronym).
The Trauma Foundation says, "Human interactions depend upon a basic level of trust. When we leave our homes each day and go out into the world, we trust that the other drivers will obey the traffic laws, we trust that the other citizens will fulfil their responsibilities as members of a civil society, and we trust that help will be provided to us should we require it."
If we assessed this definition of Police and the role in which the Police play; Are the Police really the Police? Do the Police honestly stand for what we believe they stand for? Are the Police strongly upholding this idea of what Police are and their purpose? How do the real Police compare to the ideology of Police?
The world has this impeccable thought that Police and the people that uphold the law enforcement system are protectors. That they protect life. But what is missing from the acronyms definition of Police is that they also take life. It seems almost silly to save a life by taking another.
The rules have been established, but they are not being followed. David Weisburd et al. (pg. 2) have done a national study and discovered that roughly over forty percent of Police Officers that were questioned, agree or strongly agree that following the rules is not compatible with getting the job done. And roughly under twenty five percent think it is sometimes acceptable to use more force than legally allowed to control someone.
The Police Foundation (pg. 14) support this by stating that, a "minority of officers believe that it is sometimes necessary to use more force than legally allowable."
This proves that without a doubt, the Police abuse their authority. It seems that the Police Officers gain a mind of their own when they think it is necessary to expand beyond what they are restricted to do to get the job done. And that cases like the Rodney King case are rare. Rodney was beaten repeatedly after a car chase. This had caused a great outrage for the public.
It is said that we have to remember that the Police are human beings just like us, and they give in to emotion as well. And they do have a job to do.
In the end we are equal and the Police have no major control over anyone without cause.
Here is an inspirational video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb339A-Hs5l (NOT listed as reference)
A link to my Blog plan and more links: http://damn-this-world.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/damn-this-world-and-its-brutal-police.html
Works Cited:
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A National Study of Police Officers’ Attitudes
THE ABUSE OF POLICE
AUTHORITY
A National Study of Police Officers’ Attitudes (2001). THE ABUSE OF POLICE AUTHORITY.
[online] Retrieved from:
http://www.policefoundation.org/sites/pftest1.drupalgardens.com/files/AOAFull.pdf
[Accessed: 12 May 2013].
Hi Naomi, This is Nick from class I read your blog on the 13th of May. A very interesting Blog. The idea of the police being Abusive is very interesting. Its hard to take in without evidence, do you have any figures for the “percentage of the police officers that do abuse their authority“ maybe form the police statistics or NZ police corruption association it would be good to see some figures to back up your statements to make them more real. The Police foundation information is very interesting its hard to imagine trying to keep cool when you meet one of those american cops but what about New Zealand have you found a similar statement and figures about Kiwi cops? The statement “ it seems almost silly to save a life by taking another” it would be cool see more on how you came up with that statement would that statement still apply if the criminal was killing others randomly in a school, could it be justifiable then? Just some things I noticed that would make it much easer for this reader to try agreeing with you and to believe your statements. But you are right there is a certain level of Abuse out there in any service of power, just like the police. I still trust the police with my safety yes I may need to give them some extra cash if I’m in a very poor country but I have seen police in action many times in very dangerous situations with my own eyes and Im happy to say they do a great job. I just hope I never have to experience any abuse in the future. Great Blog Naomi it did its job, it got me think and feeling and then writing.
ReplyDeleteHi Naomi,
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic, feels emotional. Maybe through some personal experience from yourself.
In my experience they do abuse their power. There should be education into the basic laws and principles of interaction with the law for all individuals. This would I feel take the power back to neutral for many people don't know their rights in an interaction with an officer which can make all the difference.
It would have been great to see a solution provided since you have thought at some length about this topic.
I believe that the lack of trust with others and the environment has to do with the basic lack of trust in ourselves.
It would be good to see some of the data that Nick talked about in his comments though it might be hard to find in governmental data, someone gathering data from individuals and court cases would be useful.