Like many in the UK, I have been shocked at the tactics of our Police in recent weeks and months. It is nothing new, of course. Blair Peach, Jimmy Kelly & Liddel Towers come to mind from a generation ago. Jean Charles de Menezes is a more recent addition, but the memory is fading. Ian Tomlinson is the latest.
I have the utmost respect for our Police. I think that 99% of them do a wonderful job.
Unfortunately, 99% is nowhere near good enough.
The problem is that the police see us, the public, as the enemy. In the recent demonstations the protestors were not seen by the Police as enemies of the state, not voices raised in protest but their actual enemy. That really is scary. If the Police see us as their enemy then we are being forced to see them as our enemy.
That is certainly not what I want.
But it might be what the Police want.
I have the utmost respect for our Police. I think that 99% of them do a wonderful job.
Unfortunately, 99% is nowhere near good enough.
The problem is that the police see us, the public, as the enemy. In the recent demonstations the protestors were not seen by the Police as enemies of the state, not voices raised in protest but their actual enemy. That really is scary. If the Police see us as their enemy then we are being forced to see them as our enemy.
That is certainly not what I want.
But it might be what the Police want.
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