This post is still part of the December/January batch.
Is it ever legitimate to resist a police officer who is
trying to arrest you? Is putting more
policemen in areas which are said to have more crime a good way of cutting
crime rates, or is it discriminating against minorities and the poor? Do governments or individuals in the US or
Slovakia have a tendency to condemn the poor when they commit crimes like
shoplifting or loitering or public drunkeness, and to turn a blind eye to white
collar crime like embezzlement and tax fraud?
What can we do to help policemen do a better job and to prevent them
from harrassing people and overreacting when putting someone under arrest?
First of all, I think that so many cases of worthless death cannot be coincidence. There must be a problem somewhere. This problem might come from laws which are not strict enough about using force while arresting. Even though Eric Garner offended officers, it was not occasion to so much force and not stopping after he said he cannot breathe. It was mistake of policeman who used force against him. But also Eric could have been more careful and talk to the policemen more politely. Sometimes polite talk and argumentation is more advantageous. On the other hand, policemen might be more scared of their life because in the USA almost every second person has a weapon. If I were a policeman, and I was aware of somebody can use a weapon, I would be much more scared. Because for example in Slovakia, much smaller percentage of people have a weapon, so our policemen are not so frightened about getting shot. It is shown for example when they check you on the street, they do not immediately raise their weapons when you put your hand into a pocked for your ID.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, police should not arrest people more because of their skin colour for such a small crimes. They should concentrate more on serious crimes like murders or burglaries. And even though some parts of city are considered more dangerous and with higher criminality, it does not mean that police should concentrate only in these parts. In conclusion, more control of policemen and stricter laws will not completely stop policemen from overacting while arresting. They must think about what is too much by themselves.
Police bullying is a world wide problem. There are places with fewer cases per year and then places like America. I my self have never been to America and therefore can not comment on the local police, but the headlines complaining about officers using brute force on innocent people do not hit the news without a reason.
ReplyDeleteBureaucracy is expensive. And time consuming. But rather than trying to make the lives of ordinary people easier, the police sends "hundreds of thousands of people to court every year on broken-taillight-type misdemeanors" or stops "people for anything and everything and demand to see IDs". Why? Because it is a problematic neighborhood? No matter the 'suspects' have not done anything illegal. A police officer is paid for keeping the streets safe. Not for stopping ordinary people every time he can.
As the author pointed, the problem is much bigger than the police officers them selves. When Eric Garner died, whole of America would hear the news "Blame only the man [Garner] who tragically decided to resist" and not how he choked to death during a six-on-one arrest for selling a simple cigarette. And I doubt any policeman or politician would officially point a finger at the police without a Ferguson style explosion accompanying the case. But if there is a possibility of gaining more voters, politicians can be faster than the speed of light.
Few weeks ago, Slovakia saw a video how two policemen brutally arrested a young woman for an expired technical inspection paper. Without any information the video would seem as a terrorist arrest. And there are plenty of similar cases around, unfortunately without a video proof. And if Ferguson style demonstrations are needed to show that people are not satisfied with the police, is is sad, but most right to do.