Arms, Australia, Court, Crime,
Human rights, Law, Police, Politics, UK, USA, Violence
Institutions paid for by the
public must always be held to account, especially when we entrust public
servants like the police with a responsibility to ensure that the most
vulnerable in society are protected. Sadly, the opposite is often the case.
We seem to see an increasing
number of examples when the weakest and most vulnerable in society are finding
themselves victimized and criminalized at the hands of the police who as
members of the public should be accountable for their actions the same way as
anyone else. Globally however - from the poorest communities to the most
“developed” - this is not the case and police has become the militarized arm of
the state.
But there's an interesting
reaction you often get when criticizing the police through the lens of reform
and calling for accountability, a knee jerk reaction which reveals the extent
to which people are often blindly conditioned to accept certain authority
figures without ever questioning them. Often they question you for questioning
the police.
Perhaps, this goes some way in
explaining why in many cases, including in the UK for example, police officers
themselves never seem to face the long arm of the law when a death in custody
occurs. A culture exists which allows those who are supposed to implement
justice, to avoid facing justice when they themselves break the law.
To deny that any tool of the
state can potentially be used as a means of rich and powerful intereststo keep
people subjugated is to indulge in such denial.
It’s interesting that it’s
usually people who have no direct knowledge, or indeed no direct experience
with police brutality, who deny there is a problem.
Police brutality is a global
problem. But when the highest levels of power are filled with corruption,
should this really come as a surprise?
Is it any wonder, that when
cases of police brutality hit the headlines, we almost never see a serving
officer convicted? It's a rarity at least.
Through social and alternative
media people are now able to see the problem of global police brutality in a
much wider sense, seeing for themselves how many communities often find
themselves brutalized and repressed at the hands of the police and in some
places, pretty worryingly, an increasingly militarized police force.
The issue of deaths in
custodyoften disproportionately affects Black and Brown communities, and again
this is a global problem, a hangover from colonialism, which arguably although
the frontiers have shifted, never left remained.
Poor and disenfranchised
communities being brutalized at the behest of the powerful is nothing new and
not exclusive to any one country. And it’s not limited as many seem to think to
poor or under developed nations.
Indeed, police brutalityis
prevalent all over the world including the USA, the UKand Australia, and I
mention these initially, as many are often surprised when they begin to
understand the nature of police brutality in so-called developed nations like
these.
And excessive police violence
is not limited to simply deaths in custody or brutality at the hands of the
police in general.
As we saw over the past few
years, in the football World Cup in South Africa in 2010, and this summer in
Brazil, the police were employed to “cleanse” certain neighborhoods which were
impoverished anyway, to make way for the big corporations which stood to make
profits from the World Cup. People's homes being destroyed, with people being
violently beaten became common scenes, but evidently those cases were not
widespread enough to bring it to a halt.
Undoubtedly, many factors must
surely contribute to what is a widespread issue.
And it’s also worth bearing in
mind that the increasing number of prisons which are becoming privatized too
might play a role in increased police brutality.
According to theOffice for
National Statistics levels of crime in the UK are decreasing. But the phenomena
of privatized prisons, prisons for profit, has created a climate where it now
pays to keeps prisons filled. The police like all public servants already have
challenging and difficult roles. But boardrooms and corporations wielding
influence over services is never a good thing, and even more so when it affects
the lives of ordinary people on the ground.
I'm sure that decent police
officers like the public would agree that improving and reforming the police is
important and ultimately beneficial for us all.
What is clear, however, is that
those among the police who have clearly and obviously brutalized people must
end up facing justice themselves. There have been many questions raised about
the effectiveness of the justice system in general in ensuring that police do
not receive special treatment when they commit a crime. This is the case in the
US, and is also now being acknowledged in the UK.
Also in the UK it's been
acknowledged that different groups operating within the police, as might also
the case within thejudiciary, might cause a conflict of interest and prevent
justice from being done.
In the UK, with the tragic case
of Azelle Rodney, the officer charged with his murder will go to trial next
year. Many are skeptical and don't believe the officer will be jailed. But if
Anthony Long, the officer in question were to face jail, it might set a new precedent
for the future. Maybe.
Police brutality will continue
until an effective and robust legal system, free from corruption, ensures that
anyone who commits a violent act is subject to the law. When officers start to
face justice like everyone else and we see custodial sentences handed out to
those in the police who have committed violent acts, maybe it will begin to
send a message to other police officers that they themselves will face justice
if they break the law.
There's probably no easy answer
in addressing such a widespread issue like police brutality, but raising
awareness of the issue is at least a start. Often many in the media fail to
talk about the issue in a meaningful context in which the public relate too and
it is often left to artists to bring such problems to the forefront of people's
attention.
Rapper and activist Logic
speaking about deaths in custody and global police brutality recently said
"This is one of many issues that need addressing globally. Until the
people unite against these injustices we will always be losing this battle. A
public servant is also a member of the public and should therefore be treated
like one."
Richard Sudan for RT
Richard Sudan is a writer,
political campaigner, and poet. He tweets@richardsudan
The statements, views and
opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily represent those of RT.
