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| Police credibility shot down in flames | |
There is an childish school-boy Confusion joke to the effect:
Confucius say no such thing as rape: woman with skirt up run faster than man with trousers down.
This is offensive, silly and wrong of course. Its only real merit is its lack
of political correctness. That, and the fact that there are times when
the running away objection surely applies. Like when someone is running at you
with a jerry can full of petrol. Today's true story goes something like: 36-year-old (Aboriginal) Ronald Mitchell was (allegedly) threatening police
with a container of petrol and a cigarette lighter when he was tasered by the
police. 'No problem there' you might say, 'nothing like a few thousand
volts to calm the nerves, and create peace and harmony with the local
brudders', except for one thing: Ronald caught fire, and suffered third
degree burns to his face, arms and chest. Oops. Perhaps firing up a spark-plug on someone already dowsed in petrol is not
the smartest thing to do. Perhaps the Western Australian police force has
discontinued their policy of only recruiting the brightest applicants? Not so! Declared the West Australian Police Union. In fact a spokesman
appeared on our TV screens insisting the taser use was necessary because 'the
man was a threat to himself and the police felt they were themselves at risk'. Huh? Surely a fit, able bodied and intelligent (?) police officer can run faster
than someone carrying a jerry can and a cigarette lighter. Personally, I think I could do the 100 meters in 9.8 seconds in such a
situation, even when weighed down by a handgun, handcuffs, baton, radio,
notebook, taser and those gloves they use to do illegal cavity
searches. Actually I could probably even make pretty good time in full riot
gear if someone were chasing me with a jerry can and a cigarette lighter. So it really comes down to the police setting someone on fire because there
was a risk of him .. well .. setting himself on fire. What ever happened to 'Serve and Protect'? This is actually a reflection of the attitude of the police force, which is a
reflection of attitude of The State. It is acceptable to use any kind of force
to prevent 'self harm', even if the harm is greater than any self inflicted
kind. Enforcement of any kind of victimless crime follows the same pattern: if
someone is hurting themselves, hurt them even more to stop them! Because they
have no right to damage State Property! Remember: The State owns you, it is not there to be your friend.
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