Pogue
31st December 2007, 14:29
I have worked with the police. I have done police work, such as safer neighbourhoods work in the UK. I support the Metropolitan Police. Yet my dream is to see an anarcho-communist socciety. Allow me to explain.
Alot of my friends are either in the police, or like most of us, have had some experience of the police. My mother is a nurse, and she sees the police helping when drunk, or just generaly violent people get violent to nurses in her A&E ward. She says that every officer there is very pleasant, they treat the people they deal with well, with respect, and diffuse many a situation peaceuflly and effectively. They also maintain friendly relationships with the workers on the ward. All of the police officers I know have been pleasant and polite. When asked what their reasons for joinging the Met, they reply to me that they feel obliged to serve their community. And this makes sense. The pay, for public sector, is good, yes, but it's not fantastic. So this could lead us to believe that a large amount of a persons motivation to become a PC is their desire to serve their community. This is a large motivation of my own when I do volunteer work with the police (along with learning certain skills, like first aid, and learning more about the law and police proceedure). Why is this bad? "Because the police protect property and the state."
The average PC's work will involve patrolling their particular district of their borough. They will note down any apparent criminal damage to property, and try to diffuse any situations (such as disputes in the streets, like violent drunk people on the streets of nearly every town in England every saturday night). Most of the PC's and PCSO's I know also do voluntary safer neighbourhoods work on weekends for about 4-8 hours wiht groups of young (teenage) volunteers.
Thus far, no opression of the working class, ethnic minorities etc.
On demonstrations I go on, the police make sure there is no violence or criminal damage. There is nothing me or my friends and fmaily would want to do on a Save The NHS or Stop The War demonstration that we cannot do because the police stop us. In fact, on most demonstrations, I hardly notice the police are there.
Everytime one of my friends has been robbed, the police have dealt with it brilliantly.
When my own sister was attacked by a gang of guys down our street, it was dealt with by two lovely young female PC's.
When I go to football matches, I have never seen police violence. I have seen the police joking with the supporters, friendly banter.
Recently I was told by my mother of how a mentally unwell patient, I belive he either escaped her A&E ward or was with paramedics in an ambulance, with a large knife (it may of been a machete) that he had been concealing. This was around 8 ish in the morning on a weekday. Many children were going to school, and this mentally unwell, weapon wielding man was shouting and screaming and running around the high street where there were many children waiting for buses, walking to school etc. Police were called. About 8 or so police officers formed a circle around the man and, as it has been reported by eye witnesses, the local newspaper and people I know present at the time, they tried to tlak him down. No weapons. No batons. No sprays. The man lunged at the nearest PC, a female officer who is a friend of my mothers, and stabbed at her with the knife/machete. The knife made contact under the officers body armour, but was deflected by the metal buckle of her belt. The officers, seeing there not to be no choice, moved in and, yes, using force, and again, as said by those who saw it, reasonable force, subdued and contained this man. I believe he was then taken to hospital for medical treatment.
I have asked so many people (all, accoriding to msot definitions, working class) of what they think of the Met Police, their neccesity, their role, etc, including friends who are socialists, communists, anarchists, people of all ethnic minorities. The only criticism I have had of the Met Police, or indeed police in the UK in general, is from an anarchist friend, who also respects and to some extent admires the role of the police in capitalist society, and his only criticism was to do with the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. I agree that case was terrible and saddening, and should not ever happen again, and that the officers should, after thorough investigation taking into account all factors involved, be held responsible to the full degree for their actions. But this was one case. And yes there may be more. But in an insituation as big as the police there are mistakes. They are not justifiable, but they are to be expected, and the mistakes of some idiots, bad officers, should not represent the whole force. If one racist, right wing twat policeman uses excessive force on a protestor or a person from a different ethnic background, then he is scum, but that dosn't warrant for a full scale riot or cries of "Fuck the police".
This left wing love of hating the police is askin to Nazi Germany's persecution of Jewish people. "All Jews bring about the downfall of Germany! Fuck Jews!"
"All police are evil right wing opressors! Fuck the police!"
There are parralells. Ask a member of the BNP why he hates asian people, and he might site a crime commited by an asian person or some bad trait or an individual or group of asian people. But this does not make all asian people bad. It is so with the police. If we hate all police for the problems and mistakes of some, surely we should hate the NHS because the managers fuck around with it at the expense of our service and right to free healthcare? The laws I dont disagree with which are enforced by the police, such as the deportation laws, many raids, dispersing protests etc., are wrong, but laws are not made by PC's. PC's have to comprimise what they know to be right sometimes because they can't choose what laws to enforce or what ones not too, otherwise fascist officers could choose to ignore race hate crimes. The people who make the laws are the opressors, the bourgeoisie.
An anarchist working for the police, or at least respecting the police, is no hypocrite or opressor, if they are doing it to protec the fundamental freedoms of the working class, such as the freedom for me and my friends to go out without fear of assault, rape or robbery. I see nothing in the job of an average PC which contradicts anarchist convictions. Surely if an anarchist saw someone fighting someone else, they would try to detain the person trying to take away other peoples right to live free of violence?
Yes, there are problems. The Met is not perfect. Their is ranking, their bureaucracy, hell, theres corruption. High up in the police there you might find the guardogs of the state, right wing bastards seeking to opress. The same way high up in all institutions you'll find bad people. Even the NHS, Britains holy grail of succesful socialism in action. And yes, high up, they're not issuing orders for Blair and Brown to be arrested as the war criminals they are. But this does not represent the service as a whole. The motivations of an individual officer are not the same as what your opinions of the purpose of the police are. Fuck bad, oppressive laws, fuck state and capitalist oppresion, but why "fuck the police?".
Why hate people who work against phaedophiles, rapists, murders, organised criminals, all things which are as much the enemy of the proletariat as the state and capitalism are. No one will care about state and capitalist oppresion if they are getting assaulted, threatened and robbed every night.
I am an anarchist first. And this compels me to want to serve and protect my fellow humans from those with evil intentions. But I am also one who respects the efforts of my fellow opressed to try to help their fellow people. I urge you to open your eyes to who and why you are hating.
And also remember, the police have a section, a large section, who deal with corporate fraud. Thats capitalists cheating at capitlaism, I know, but it's still making sure even the bourgeoisie obey the rules.
Comrades, I urge you to stop the mindless destructive hatred of your fellow worker, and direct your anger at the people who deserve it, as always, the bosses, and the state.
Alot of my friends are either in the police, or like most of us, have had some experience of the police. My mother is a nurse, and she sees the police helping when drunk, or just generaly violent people get violent to nurses in her A&E ward. She says that every officer there is very pleasant, they treat the people they deal with well, with respect, and diffuse many a situation peaceuflly and effectively. They also maintain friendly relationships with the workers on the ward. All of the police officers I know have been pleasant and polite. When asked what their reasons for joinging the Met, they reply to me that they feel obliged to serve their community. And this makes sense. The pay, for public sector, is good, yes, but it's not fantastic. So this could lead us to believe that a large amount of a persons motivation to become a PC is their desire to serve their community. This is a large motivation of my own when I do volunteer work with the police (along with learning certain skills, like first aid, and learning more about the law and police proceedure). Why is this bad? "Because the police protect property and the state."
The average PC's work will involve patrolling their particular district of their borough. They will note down any apparent criminal damage to property, and try to diffuse any situations (such as disputes in the streets, like violent drunk people on the streets of nearly every town in England every saturday night). Most of the PC's and PCSO's I know also do voluntary safer neighbourhoods work on weekends for about 4-8 hours wiht groups of young (teenage) volunteers.
Thus far, no opression of the working class, ethnic minorities etc.
On demonstrations I go on, the police make sure there is no violence or criminal damage. There is nothing me or my friends and fmaily would want to do on a Save The NHS or Stop The War demonstration that we cannot do because the police stop us. In fact, on most demonstrations, I hardly notice the police are there.
Everytime one of my friends has been robbed, the police have dealt with it brilliantly.
When my own sister was attacked by a gang of guys down our street, it was dealt with by two lovely young female PC's.
When I go to football matches, I have never seen police violence. I have seen the police joking with the supporters, friendly banter.
Recently I was told by my mother of how a mentally unwell patient, I belive he either escaped her A&E ward or was with paramedics in an ambulance, with a large knife (it may of been a machete) that he had been concealing. This was around 8 ish in the morning on a weekday. Many children were going to school, and this mentally unwell, weapon wielding man was shouting and screaming and running around the high street where there were many children waiting for buses, walking to school etc. Police were called. About 8 or so police officers formed a circle around the man and, as it has been reported by eye witnesses, the local newspaper and people I know present at the time, they tried to tlak him down. No weapons. No batons. No sprays. The man lunged at the nearest PC, a female officer who is a friend of my mothers, and stabbed at her with the knife/machete. The knife made contact under the officers body armour, but was deflected by the metal buckle of her belt. The officers, seeing there not to be no choice, moved in and, yes, using force, and again, as said by those who saw it, reasonable force, subdued and contained this man. I believe he was then taken to hospital for medical treatment.
I have asked so many people (all, accoriding to msot definitions, working class) of what they think of the Met Police, their neccesity, their role, etc, including friends who are socialists, communists, anarchists, people of all ethnic minorities. The only criticism I have had of the Met Police, or indeed police in the UK in general, is from an anarchist friend, who also respects and to some extent admires the role of the police in capitalist society, and his only criticism was to do with the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. I agree that case was terrible and saddening, and should not ever happen again, and that the officers should, after thorough investigation taking into account all factors involved, be held responsible to the full degree for their actions. But this was one case. And yes there may be more. But in an insituation as big as the police there are mistakes. They are not justifiable, but they are to be expected, and the mistakes of some idiots, bad officers, should not represent the whole force. If one racist, right wing twat policeman uses excessive force on a protestor or a person from a different ethnic background, then he is scum, but that dosn't warrant for a full scale riot or cries of "Fuck the police".
This left wing love of hating the police is askin to Nazi Germany's persecution of Jewish people. "All Jews bring about the downfall of Germany! Fuck Jews!"
"All police are evil right wing opressors! Fuck the police!"
There are parralells. Ask a member of the BNP why he hates asian people, and he might site a crime commited by an asian person or some bad trait or an individual or group of asian people. But this does not make all asian people bad. It is so with the police. If we hate all police for the problems and mistakes of some, surely we should hate the NHS because the managers fuck around with it at the expense of our service and right to free healthcare? The laws I dont disagree with which are enforced by the police, such as the deportation laws, many raids, dispersing protests etc., are wrong, but laws are not made by PC's. PC's have to comprimise what they know to be right sometimes because they can't choose what laws to enforce or what ones not too, otherwise fascist officers could choose to ignore race hate crimes. The people who make the laws are the opressors, the bourgeoisie.
An anarchist working for the police, or at least respecting the police, is no hypocrite or opressor, if they are doing it to protec the fundamental freedoms of the working class, such as the freedom for me and my friends to go out without fear of assault, rape or robbery. I see nothing in the job of an average PC which contradicts anarchist convictions. Surely if an anarchist saw someone fighting someone else, they would try to detain the person trying to take away other peoples right to live free of violence?
Yes, there are problems. The Met is not perfect. Their is ranking, their bureaucracy, hell, theres corruption. High up in the police there you might find the guardogs of the state, right wing bastards seeking to opress. The same way high up in all institutions you'll find bad people. Even the NHS, Britains holy grail of succesful socialism in action. And yes, high up, they're not issuing orders for Blair and Brown to be arrested as the war criminals they are. But this does not represent the service as a whole. The motivations of an individual officer are not the same as what your opinions of the purpose of the police are. Fuck bad, oppressive laws, fuck state and capitalist oppresion, but why "fuck the police?".
Why hate people who work against phaedophiles, rapists, murders, organised criminals, all things which are as much the enemy of the proletariat as the state and capitalism are. No one will care about state and capitalist oppresion if they are getting assaulted, threatened and robbed every night.
I am an anarchist first. And this compels me to want to serve and protect my fellow humans from those with evil intentions. But I am also one who respects the efforts of my fellow opressed to try to help their fellow people. I urge you to open your eyes to who and why you are hating.
And also remember, the police have a section, a large section, who deal with corporate fraud. Thats capitalists cheating at capitlaism, I know, but it's still making sure even the bourgeoisie obey the rules.
Comrades, I urge you to stop the mindless destructive hatred of your fellow worker, and direct your anger at the people who deserve it, as always, the bosses, and the state.