The mindset of American city police

[mtbc]

Growing up in England I had impressed upon me a Victorian model of policing. The General Instructions issued to the Metropolitan Police in 1829 include,

To recognise always that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions and behaviour and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.

To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police.

I was thus disturbed in more recent times to learn of incidents where the Metropolitan Police had failed to display shoulder numbers in handling protests.

Cynical though I have learned to become, recent news from the US has appalled me. I don't know what I might already had experienced there had I been black rather than white but the widespread protests support the hypothesis that, for many citizens, protect and serve has often not been the byword in American policing. It disturbed me to hear of police hiding their badge numbers in dealing with current protests. More alarming still is the brazenness of the police in firing upon peaceful witnesses from the press.

It is bad enough to suspect what happens behind closed doors but for the police to be openly acting as they have speaks to a pervasive sense, at least among some, that they are separate from ordinary civilians of whatever beliefs, that closing ranks makes them unaccountable.

I don't know what the standard American formulation is of the Victorian to use only the minimum degree of physical force but I find myself wondering about those who join American city police departments, if they begin with good intentions and are corrupted on the job, at least cowed into acquiescence about how to handle difficult realities. It is as shameful as it is alarming; fixing it will require profound change.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

It is going to require profound change. The police forces have been infiltrated by white supremacists here in the USA. It's worse in some places than others. In Minneapolis it's been bad. In Michigan the officers put down their weapons and marched with the protestors. It's really hard to know until something like this happens and who they really are is revealed.

[mtbc]

I hadn't realized that angle at all, of the known infiltration. Some searching now is finding me material like https://www.revealnews.org/article/inside-hate-groups-on-facebook-police-officers-trade-racist-memes-conspiracy-theories-and-islamophobia/ - we have so far yet to come.

[dewline]

The pre-Trump FBI documented this process of infiltration and subversion of police forces by white supremacists for decades and put that information on the public record.

[mellowtigger]

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/fbi-white-supremacists-in-law-enforcement

[dewline]

You can count the Camden, NJ police leadership as of like mind with those in Flint, MI.

https://www.nj.com/camden/2020/05/nj-police-chief-carries-banner-helps-lead-march-in-peaceful-protest-of-george-floyd-killing.html

[wpadmirer]

That is wonderful. It just shows that there are places that have police officers who are doing their jobs. It makes me feel like there is hope.

[mtbc]

It is: https://twitter.com/CamdenCountyPD/status/1266882383980216320 and https://twitter.com/BlogionistaTv/status/1267106673749110786 are encouraging. I hope somebody's looking into what factors make the difference in a department and I wonder if there is some degree of self-sorting happening in where officers end up working.

[wpadmirer]

I think so. I think the departments that are "clean" are doing everything they can to separate themselves from the ones with supremacists.