BLACK LIVES MATTER
The militarization of the police in the United States and elsewhere is a problem. I have never witnessed scenes like the ones referenced in this Washington Post article in the United States to this extent before and it is alarming. These scenes do not belong in a healthy mature democracy.
It is more reminiscent of when I was traveling through Israel and Palestine in 2006 as Israel was erecting the wall between Israel and Palestine. International protesters, Palestinians, and media, witnessing and protesting the Separation Wall between the two countries, were regularly fired upon by Israeli Military with rubber bullets, tear gas canisters and even on some occasions, real bullets. And I hear recently that Israel has been involved in training American police so that really makes me wonder what kind of model we are importing. As voters and citizens, we must challenge this model of policing. It is anti-democratic and authoritarian in nature. It is the abuse of power of the strong and powerful against a less powerful and marginalized people.
Let me say that I do not hate the police and I do not see them as one homogenous group of evil, bad guys. I have worked for the police here in the UK. Nor do I see the protestors as one homogenous group of good guys. The reality is far more complex. However, what dismays me is the examples of recent unprovoked attacks around the USA by the police on unarmed protestors and different members of the media. The police were never meant to become a paramilitary body. They derive their power to police from the consent of those whom they police. And when excess force like this is deemed necessary, we need to ask why and by whom and for what purpose.
The power of policing comes from the common consent of the public, not from using paramilitary techniques against unarmed protesters.
I worked for the UK police force in Bedfordshire for almost two years. It gave me a unique insight into policing and a tremendous respect for the difficult job that the police do. It is a hard, demanding, and difficult job. I learned that most police are in it to make a difference in the world. They view it as a vocation. Most police care and they want to catch the bad guys and to protect the public. In the UK, they subscribe to the Peelian principles of consent. Sir Robert Peel, the Home Secretary, in 1822 and 1829, was responsible for establishing the first full-time professional and centrally-organized police force in England and Wales. From the Crime Prevention wwebsite below
āThe reforms introduced by Sir Robert Peel and the first Police Commissioners were based on a philosophy that the power of the police comes from the common consent of the public, as opposed to the power of the state.
The nine principles that underpin this philosophy were set out in the āGeneral Instructionsā issued to every new police officer from 1829 onwards. The principles are still valid today and have shaped the approach that HMIC takes when assessing how well police forces are working for the public.
These principles are:
The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder
The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions
Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public
The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force
Police seek and preserve public favour not by pandering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law
Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient
Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence
Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary
The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it. ā https://thecrimepreventionwebsite.com/police-crime-prevention-service—a-short-history/744/the-peelian-principles/:
BLACK LIVES MATTER
So, I get it that blue lives matter. They do and I appreciate and care for the individual police, men and women, that I know personally. Black lives matter too, and we need to recognize the specificity of the circumstances and context in which these lives take place. It is not symmetrical. There is an asymmetry in the balance of power and access to power between black people and the police. Black people do not have as much power or might at their disposal as the blue lives who are armed to the back teeth. The police have far more power and therefore, have a far greater responsibility for how they wield it. They are meant to be public servants, not authoritarian enforcers. They are only effective to the extent that they have the consent of the policed. And that consent is rapidly wearing thin. Trust has been broken in the US by its police forces in too many instances. And the answer is not to pump up the volume and violence as many forces around the country have.
Take a knee instead……
Rather, policing is to take a leaf out of the book from the Sheriff in Flint Michigan who marched along with the protesters, it is the example of the police who took a knee in sympathy with the protesters.
When police continue to indiscriminately kill black men, boys, women and girls, again and again, protest is warranted. The brutal public murder of George Floyd by one policeman as three others watched, was unwarranted and unconscionable. People are rightly angry. The manās dying words were, āI canāt breathe.ā Black people cannot breathe. Things cannot continue as they are.
It is beyond time to stop police brutality against black men and women and children and to call it out for what it is—racist to the core. It throws up into stark relief how the American system is racist and is skewed in favour of white lives, not black lives. Have you white people ever had to give your children the ātalkā? Every black child gets the talk about how to be invisible to the police, to be polite and not make waves so that they do not call undo attention to themselves. But still they get shot for jogging innocently through neighbourhoods.
BLACK LIVES MATTER full stop.
We all have a responsibility to protect, nourish, and cherish human lives
And the police need to get a grip and we as Americans need to get a grip on our police. It is our responsibility to ask questions, to call them out and ask why militarizing the police is a necessary tactic. We need to question our government and our leaders and ask why the police around the country are being militarized. We need to question whose interests does this really serve? And we need to recognize this undue force will likely be used against us as well one day. Itās already being used against the media and protesters. What about our first amendment rights of free speech. Not even one of us is immune from these authoritarian abuses of power. And why, for Godās sake why do we care more about property and protecting property than we care about protecting, nourishing and cherishing human lives?