Fin, while I agree with you that we do not get the service we need in many aspects of policing, I wouldn’t personally go down the route of tarring all individual officers with the same brush. As someone else has pointed out on here, one lost his life today dealing with some low-life. I respect all those who provide a service until such time as they show themselves undeserving. Of course, that does happen all too frequently these days.
Human organisations, particularly those in the public sector, differ from that of the natural world in that they rot from the top down. So, the problem with police forces the world over (since you mentioned another country) is that the lower levels reflect directly the faults that lie above. Take the police here, for example. It is run by a government that is obsessed with costs and targets, and is administered by chief constables and commissioners who seem to revel in explaining to the media their (personal) edicts on drugs and speeding. Thus, junkies are let off with a friendly warning down south, while anyone doing a couple of miles over the limit in, say, North Wales (did I say that?
), is hunted down like a child molester.
Add to that, the fact that there is a huge burden of bureaucracy on any serving officer. Traffic offences generally take up the least paperwork and provide a huge amount of income. Not surprising, therefore, that officers are encouraged (I suspect) to take the easier route.
Add to that the effect of the “institutionalised racism” comments by Macpherson (I won’t go there, but I suspect that many will know what I am getting at).
Add to that the fact that many senior police officers with years of experience have become disillusioned with the job and taken early retirement, meaning that the force now has to trawl around hard for young cadets and select them not according to aptitude and suitability, but rather to PC quotas.
Add to that, the fact that the youth of today, whether police officers or anything else, have a natural disinclination to treat others with respect. (How many times do you see on TV an officer addressing a member of the public as “Mate” instead of “Sir”?).
Etc, etc.
The police force is merely made up of a bunch of humans, but they obviously reflect wider society, so when a society in any state starts to go down the pan, so do the services of that state. True in this country, true in others, I guess.
IMHO, the blame lies squarely with the government and no-one else. Trouble is, we seemingly can do little about it.
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Topic: Just shoot me - why not? (Read 1968 times)