Hi All,
As we approached the Sabbath there was news from America that there had been another police killing.One thing that is striking about this case in particular is that is was black officers beating to death a black person who had been pulled over alleged speeding, so rather than this being racially motivated this murder rather robbed those who make a big issue out of these matters the ability to climb on the bandwagon of shock and horror as to what had happened. Moreover it should shift the conversation to different grounds and fundamental ones : the relationship between the state(as represented by the police) and the citizen (everyone else) and how power is weilded. In failed and police states these powers are arbitary, total and one sided, rather than one of mutal consent.
But this does beg the question, what is going on in America's police forces? To be a police officer is to weild the power of the state, but this power is supposed to be proportional to the risk that the officers are involved in, not to be melted out in an arbitary and dare I say it criminal gang like way. How do Police forces recruit? Is it professional or are they elected ? How do they weed out people who clearly should never get into the force in the first place? It is a great responsibility and these incidents do no credit to the police, who are there to 'protect and serve', not 'do what I want because I have been invested with xyz powers'.
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