Thursday, 30 April 2009

The S-Files: Gelding the Citizens

Another Hero Abused

Contra Celsum is pleased to nominate Zhuo Feng Jiang for an S-Award for bravely defending himself, his family, and his family's business against a criminal.

Citation:

The newsmedia have recently carried reports on a brave and heroic twenty-six year old shop worker who resisted an armed robber, snatched his gun off him, pushed him to the ground, told him to lie still, fired a warning shot, then, as the criminal tried once again to get up, shot him in the leg.

Zhuo Feng Jiang, son of the store owners, deserves a public service medal. He acted with courage, decisiveness, and true public-spiritedness. He deserves to be feted as a true hero. But, no. He is likely to face criminal charges.

Enter Mr Plod--also known as the Police.

Police have not said whether Mr Jiang will face charges, but Tokoroa Detective Senior Sergeant Todd Pearce said they did not encourage robbery victims to approach their attacker.

"This situation could easily have resulted in a fatality and it could have easily been one of victims that had been shot or killed.

"Fighting back when firearms are involved dramatically increases the danger to everyone present and should not be considered."
Now, let us be clear. We believe very strongly in the rectitude of having a police force, just as we believe strongly in the rule of law and order. However, there are times when the law is an ass: respect for the law requires citizens to say so
plainly . The dignity and rectitude of the law is not served by stupid, evil, or asinine laws. The sooner such laws are exposed and disposed of, the better for the law's sake.

Similarly for the Police. The fight against crime and the punishment of criminals belongs firstly and fundamentally to the community. Specialised powers are devolved and delegated to the Police force. However, when the Police turn against the community and wages war upon its members when they stand up to criminals, resist them, and seek to arrest them, the Police Force has become asinine.

Thankfully, the NZ Justice system has retained a far stronger understanding of justice and of the duties and rights of private citizens to fight and resist crime. There have been a spate of vexatious prosecutions brought by the Police in recent years against people who have defended themselves against criminals, or who have sought to interdict criminals in the committing of a crime, and in the process have done grievous bodily harm to the criminal. Almost without exception, justices of the peace, judges, or juries have thrown the cases out.

The Police are completely wrong in these misguided policies and processes. It is time to re-write the PC manuals under which the Police currently operate. They increasingly show the Police up as Plods, which is terribly wrong, and must be corrected. It would be so much better in terms of fighting crime and dealing with criminals and for re-building public respect for the Police, if the Police bureaucrats in Wellington were to throw out their PC policy manuals, and the NZ Police were to award, on behalf of the NZ public, a medal to Mr Zhuo Feng Jiang for "bravery above and beyond the course".

If the NZ Police publicly thanked Mr Shuo, public respect for the Police would increase exponentially overnight.

Zhuo Feng Jiang, Crimefighter: S-Award, Class I for actions in the course of duty that have been Smart, Sound, and Salutary. Thank you for your respect for the law and your bravery in resisting crime and criminals. The people of New Zealand are in your debt.

2 comments:

ZenTiger said...

I find it offensive to suggest that the victim do nothing, especially after a shot had been fired.

The suggestion as to the safest action (compliance) to take is perhaps a valid point, but only with the rider that a person has to be free to take whatever action they feel they must.

Recently, a property agent was attacked and forced at knife-point into the boot of a car. She decided if she got into the boot, she would probably be killed. So she fought for her life, and managed to stab the guy with a screw driver left in the boot. She lived, and has every right to believe it was only through fighting back.

How insensitive for the Police to say "do not resist"!

Add to this the story that the Justice Department is not going to chase unpaid fines for repeat offenders, and the attitude shown by our enforcement agencies is most depressing.

Anonymous said...

Pity Zhuo Feng Jiang only shot the robber in his foot, he lost a great opportunity to get rid of this scumbag for good! Still, I take my hat off for him for what he did.