Wednesday 10 August 2011

Punishment For The Police Policing + Scum Of Society = Anarchy In The U.K.

It's a hot summer's day in July 2005, two days after the bombings that took place on 7/7. Armed police spot a foreign man in a large coat jump over the barriers at a tube station. When they approach him, he runs, and the police give chase shouting multiple times for him to stop. Finally, as he is about to board a train, they open fire, killing the man.
It turns out the man was in fact not a suicide bomber as the police officers had feared, but an illegal immigrant from Brazil who didn't speak English and was afraid he was about to be deported. There was a public outcry, the man's family sued, and the officers involved were fired.
I'm not sure what the police were supposed to do here. Were they supposed to hold back because this man in the middle of July and wearing a huge coat that could easily conceal a bomb two days after the worst terrorist attacks the UK had seen in years might not be what they thought he was? Suppose they did this, and it turned out they were right and countless more people were killed in a bomb blast? The big scandal then would have been "police have bomber in sights but let him go".

Fast forward a few years. There are riots in London. Nowhere near as bad as the riots the country is experiencing right now, but riots nonetheless. Riot police hit a man over the head with their batons who unfortunately dies shortly afterwards. This is caught on video, and sent to newspapers. The man was not one of the rioters, but an innocent looking to escape the area. There is a public outcry. The police are sued. The officers involved are fired.
The public outcry over this one is a little more understandable, but I have been in the area during an admittedly small riot before. The one rule for everyone to follow, whether you're one of the rioters or not is do exactly what the police tell you to do. The police don't have time to assess every single person to see if they are involved in the riots or not, so they have to rely on instinct and training. If you don't do as you're told in this situation, you are going to get a baton to the face. End of story. It's unfortunate that an innocent man was killed, but the police were doing their jobs.

It's July 2010, and a man named Raoul Moat has gone on a rampage with a shotgun. He shoots two people, one of which dies, and the other - a police officer - is permanently blinded. He then threatens to shoot more people. After a frantic manhunt that lasts days, they finally track him down and enter into a standoff which ends in Raoul Moat's death. There is a public outcry. Raoul Moat's family appear on TV claiming that he was not dangerous. A police investigation not only results in lawsuits and disciplinary hearings for the officers involved, but gets the tasers that they had used to attempt to bring him in alive permanently decommissioned.
If you need an explanation about why that situation is ridiculous, then I don't know what to say... but one thing is clear. There was only one way that story was going to end.

It's August 2011, and police in London raid the home of a group of drug dealers. No one is sure who shot first, but the result is the death of Mark Duggan. The only fact that we know other than his death, is that he had a gun. The only people disputing this fact are his family. There are protests in Tottenham. I say 'protests' instead of 'riots', because as stupid as the protest was, it was peaceful and passed by largely without incident. It was when a bunch of mindless thugs heard that there was a protest nearby and decided to take advantage of the situation that this current situation arose.

I've seen a lot of people trying to intellectualise this current turn of events, and wax philosophical about the causes over the last couple of days. In short, their reasoning is that the youth of the country are not content with the way the UK is now, and after years of attempting to get things done peacefully, they have resorted to violence as the only way to voice their discontent.
I'm sorry to call you on this, but no. That is not the case. You can see it in their eyes. All of the other riots that have taken place around the world this year (people claim they are peaceful protests, but when you're burning buildings down in Cairo, that's anything but peaceful), you can tell that these were people unhappy with their situation rising against the powers that be. You can see on their faces that they are discontent, and things have got to change. Now look on the faces of the rioters all across the UK over the last four days. The only thing you can see on their faces is fun. They are enjoying themselves.

The people involved in the riots up and down the country have been a growing problem for many many years. More and more people who care for nothing and no one, terrorize their neighbours whilst walking around town in large groups, etc. have become commonplace. The riots are no different to the stealing and wanton destruction that these groups take part in in their hometowns on a nightly basis. The only difference is now they're doing it en masse. Why? Because they've realised that they outnumber the police by a frightening margin. It proves a major point about the human race... by and large people only abide by the law through fear of being caught. Take that fear out of the equation, and you get the chaos that has gripped the streets of London, Birmingham, Manchester, etc. These are not political riots by a disaffected youth by any means.

A lot of people on the news were asking where the police were. Well they were around, but they were holding back, which allowed the situation to get out of control. And the reason they were holding back? Because every time they do their job as they have been trained to do it, they face a huge internal inquiry, lawsuits and the possible loss of their jobs. If you don't let the police police, this is what you get. If the biggest threat to underage offenders is an ASBO that is waved around their social group like a status symbol, this is what you get. It is not the lack of "opportunities" in the country. It is not the severe lack of jobs... most of them don't even want jobs. Why would they when a combination of illegal activity and Jobseeker's Allowance gives them all they need to survive? And it's not because people are fed up with not being heard. How many of these people who are old enough to vote do you think actually did so at the last election? It is purely and simply a combination of vile people, and the lack of effective policing.