Police
It
goes without saying that in any human group, if there are to be
effective rules or taboos these must be enforced by some means. It
is also obvious that as the size and extent of the group increases,
the means of maintaining and enforcing will become more complex and
likely institutionalised.
Take
the simple case of a family. Most parents set rules for the
children. These may be quite arbitrary like “brush your teeth
before bed”, “wash behind your ears” “eat your vegetables”
or any of a host of domestic policies. As every parent knows, if
these are not enforced – they are not obeyed! Even if the
enforcement is a simple “you don't get dessert until you've
finished your vegetables”.
Issues
can also be much more serious. In Genesis we read that after the
entry of sin into the world it soon produced the worst crime: murder,
when Cain killed his brother Abel.
In
modern times cities have grown exponentially, bringing new demands in
crime prevention. So the first professional full time police force in
the world, as distinct from military units protecting the state, was
the London Metropolitan Police in 1822. Interestingly, this force was
distinctively non-military in character, and police wore numbers to
identify them so that they were individually accountable for their
actions. This really was starting the tradition of policing to “serve
and protect” even if that slogan had not been invented.
In
modern large scale populations, life as we know it would not be
possible without an effective police force. For those who may think
this is exaggerating, let me give you an example.
In
October 1923, police in Melbourne Australia went on strike for six
days. I think the number of police on strike was about 600. During
that time social order quickly broke down. There was widespread
looting and mobs took to the streets overturning trams and causing
general mayhem. Order was only restored when some 2,000 citizens
quickly sworn in as special constables and armed with cartwheel
spokes cleared the streets by force.
Human
beings are sinners. For some: internalised morals aided by fear of
social disgrace will keep them mostly on the straight and narrow.
Though even for upright citizens the knowledge that there are radar
speed cameras about has a noticeable calming effect on their driving!
However the spectrum grades from there right down to violent
sociopaths indifferent to law, morals or human suffering.
A
mantra drummed out from about the 70's has been “violence achieves
nothing”. It is of course nonsense! Violence stopped Hitler and
Hirohito. If men and women of that generation had not taken up arms
the world would have all become slaves of one or the other. However
like much nonsense it gains credibility by repetition. We need to
remember that modern mass society is impossible if we do not have
police able and prepared to “out violence” the gangsters and the
sociopaths in order to serve and protect the population.
Do
we need systems to weed out corrupt police? Yes of course, all humans
are sinners so there will be bad police. Do we need limits on police
activities. Of course, there will always be a balance required
between what would promote suppression of crime and what is necessary
for individual freedom. On the other hand it is easy for armchair
critics – the “Black lives matter” movement is a current
example – to forget the “fog of war” problem. It may later
transpire that it was only a toy gun that was pulled and aimed at
police. For the officer looking down its barrel there had to be an
instant life-or-death choice.
For
anyone wishing thought provoking discussion of problems surrounding
modern policing I thoroughly recommend watching a few seasons of the
TV series “Blue Bloods” which features a (fictional) three
generational family of New York police.
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