Losing Respect Means Losing Control
We have reached a new low in policing in New Zealand. We are all aware that the New Zealand Police Force has been deeply, possibly irrecoverably, politicised by the present Prime Minister, Helen Clark. We are aware that Police Commissioner Howard Broad, appointed by Clark, has lacked the integrity and spine which his office properly demands—namely, to stand up to his political masters and demand operational independence from the government.
Now we are faced with the inglorious spectacle of the police arresting a store owner who defended himself, his family and his property from an attack by knife wielding thugs. He used a hockey stick, gave the thugs a good old fashioned beating, held one of them down while awaiting the arrival of the police, and got stabbed in the process. The police have arrested the store owner and charged him with using unreasonable force.
Thankfully, more often than not the courts have shown far more common sense. Cases like these are usually thrown out. But the damage is done. The police end up losing respect. The public becomes more cynical towards them. This gradually builds to a situation where every encounter with the public becomes a situation of potential hostility. When that happens, effective policing becomes impossible.
The irony in all of this is that the modern, left-wing led, politically corrected police force implacably opposes encouraging and empowering citizens to defend themselves on the grounds that “things would rapidly get out of control” and chaos would result. In other words, the police view is that citizens cannot be trusted to act lawfully and responsibly. They are all inherently criminal. Therefore, the only way to proceed is to keep their innate, criminal tendencies under restraint by discouraging them from any forceful citizen policing, even to the point of over zealous prosecutions—to teach everyone a lesson.
Yet, on the other hand, the police find understandably find themselves constantly appealing to the public for help and assistance in solving crimes and preparing cases for prosecution. Time and time again they publicly acknowledge that they would not have been able to proceed without the help of the public. So, go figure. On the one hand, the police distrust the citizenry profoundly. On the other, they constantly rely on them to act responsibly and help. Welcome to the mad bi-polar world of the modern professional politicised politically corrected police force.
But the people are not stupid. They are not irresponsible; nor are they dumb. The people see straight through the police. That's the biggest threat to our politically corrected and indoctrinated police force. The people know that calling 111 in a life threatening situation is an absolutely idiotic thing to do. It is like whistling Dixie in the face of a bayonet charge. The people know that the only way they are going to get immediate protection is if they use physical force against those that are threatening and attacking. So, when law abiding, responsible citizens do what they ought to do—exercise citizen's policing duties—and get arrested and charged for it, the people respond by thinking that the police are bastards. It disgusts them. The people end up despising the police and all that they stand for.
So, the police lose control because they have lost respect. Recall that it is precisely this fear that has led the police in the first place to doctrinaire discouragement of citizen policing. They worry about losing control and violence breaking out. They dread what they call vigilante action. They feel compelled to persecute and make an example of those who have stood up to crime lest things get out of hand. But, let's be clear. The only thing that maintains law and order in a community is a basic widespread respect for the police and their work. If the police destroy that social capital through stupid behaviour and policies, then lawlessness will result.
By these foolish stupid actions, the police lose the respect of the people. So, next time what will happen is that the store owners will pick up their hockey sticks, beat up their attackers, and not bother calling the police at all. Rapidly, the police will face what they fear the most—widespread civil disorder and a loss of control.
We have a very simple solution: the law says that citizens are allowed to use reasonable force in defending themselves and their property. However, it appears that the police have a very different view of what is “reasonable” from the average citizen. Basically, the view of the police appears to be reasonable force is “no force”. They routinely arrest and prosecute people who have used force in defending themselves, their families, and their property. Time and time again the public have stumped up money to fund the defence of those being persecuted by the police. Time and time again the courts have had to throw cases out which an unreasonable and myopic police force has prosecuted. Countless hours and money have been wasted.
But the answer is simple. Whatever force is sanctioned by the police for use by the police in defending themselves and apprehending criminals, by definition, must be lawful and reasonable force. Can the police use batons? It is reasonable for the citizens to use them. Can the police use pepper spray? It has to be, therefore, reasonable for the people to use pepper spray when threatened and intimidated. Can the police use tasers? It is, thereby, entirely reasonable for those whose lives and property are under threat to use them. Can the police employ rifles and hand guns? By definition it is equally reasonable for the people to use such force when guns are used against them.
The politicised police force will cry out in anguish against such a policy. It will lead to anarchy, they say. In other words, the police do not trust the fundamental lawful intent of the people. The people cannot be trusted with arms, with batons, with tasers. They think that everyone is implicitly criminal. Give people the means and they will do the crime, is their view.
But these same police, out of the other side of their mouth, constantly appeal to and rely every day upon the fundamental lawfulness of the people. Consequently the idiocy of our modern police force is on public display every day. Disrespect and cynicism follow in the van. Lawless violence and crime inevitably escalates. Welcome to the Monty Pythonesque idiocy of modern policing in Athens.
Postscript: For a more sane Athenian voice, read Stephen Franks's post on the same subject--here.
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