Remember...they're not soliders
Arguments for include.. some criminals are armed, so the police need to protect themselves
( yet its not good if people feel they need to protect themselves from the police.. after all, are they not here to protect and serve?)
Arguments against include .. trigger happy police will shoot people. Thats a risk to all, but especially those of us who are 'black' or non white.
We have an armed response team here in London [click] but even then, mistakes have been made. I remember the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes [click] which occurred in the aftermath of the London bombings, and more recently, the shooting of Mark Duggan [click] which lead to our most recent London riots.
I'm sure there are times when a gun is needed. Times when it may need to be used. So..perhaps the issue is with recruitment. If you put a gun in the hands of a racist he, or she, will possibly shoot black people. A less scathing comment would be.. If you give authority to a moron he or she, will abuse it
An even less scathing comment would be.. no sorry it's early.. and I haven't got one yet
To be fair, policing is a tough job. But its made tougher perhaps when those who enter the force do so for the wrong reasons, or if or when, they bring hatred and prejudice to work.
I don't get it.
I think in London we may still have it better than in other parts of the world..
But 'black people' tend to get a raw deal 'everytime', no matter which part of the world they be
Why is that?
I think one of the biggest problems is that some police, as you mention, enter the force for the wrong reasons. They need to be weeded out better! There needs to be a better system of identifying those who are trying to enter the force for those reasons.
ReplyDeleteI agree they do need to be weeded out better. One problem I guess is who will do the weeding.?.. If those recruiting are just like that, like attracts like they say so they will continuously be welcomed aboard. those who try and take a stand, or fight against the system from the inside I fear may face a backlash. . or just get a really hard time until they either leave voluntarily or are forced. Maybe recruitment should be taken out of the hands of the police force altogether and there should be a independent panel made up of the public. A mixed panel. Especially if they want to work in 'racially' diverse areas/citys.
ReplyDeleteI do think police should be armed. Unfortunately, if they are not, they won't get the respect their job commands. That said, I think there needs to be a better system for identifying possible "problem" police.
ReplyDeleteI hear you Sherry. Our 'everyday police' are not armed.. but they are 'respected' ( in the main) even if not entirely trusted. ( they do have a big truncheon though) I think the job itself kinda lends itself to being respected, the uniform an all that is meant to have an impact no? A bit like teachers,who are respected without a caine. I don't know, but I suspect some gangsters carry guns for respect to . I suspect, it may also be about trust, and perhaps the feeling that some officers have little respect for certain groups they are also meant to protect. yes, unfortunately the 'problem ' ones make the force look bad. We need good caring people we can trust when we are at our most vulnerable. I wouldn't arm them here ( London) The response unit is more than enough.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that yes they should be armed, but I'm a black man and I'm sure there are good cops ( I happen to know one good one in Wisconsin where I used to live) but there is a huge majory who are power-hungry control freaks and I am afraid of them. Everytime I see one I am afraid I will be shot in and back simply for walking down the street, minding my own business. In my own neighborhood, I have been stopped by the cops numerous times on suspicion that I might not belong in the neighborhood. While I have my gym knapsack on my back and I have two plastic bagsof groceries in each arm. Just getting off the bus and walking the half mile to my home. Out of fear of them being trigger-happy, at each confrontation I have been as respectful as I can possibly be as they ask where I came from, where I'm going,and that I look suspicious. One time a nosy older white woman ( Thank God she was nosy) saw me being harassed by the cops in front of her house, and she left her house and walked over to us while they were checking my id. She asked them why they were bothering this young man? The cops asked her if she knew me and she said , 'no, but i see him every morning head to the bus stop at 630 am and i see him heading back from the bus stop every evening about this time,for the past 5 years. Evidently he's going to and from work." The cops looked at her for about 20 seconds and gave me back my id and drove off. The last apologized for being nosy. I thanked her profusely for being nosy.
ReplyDeleteGood for her!. nosey is great sometimes.
DeleteI hear your plight. I've seen younger black men go through it quite a bit, but fortunately less so with the big men so to speak, but it still does happen. The thought of anyone walking around with a gun makes me uneasy. They're only really designed for one thing.. and no one is hunting deer in the city.. or are they?