Role of Police (1 Viewer)

[The Brucemaster]

Ok as promised here is my (hopefully) politically neutral thread.

Im interested to see what everyone thinks the role of police in society is. Do you think they should be a primarily reactive force that responds to crime or should they take a more proactive role in implementing proactive crime prevention strategies. Also, what do you think of the way that the police deal with crime a la the numerous riots etc. and also the recent announcement of the Middle Eastern Crime Squad.

These are just some issues to get people started so if people have other concerns about the boys in blue then please feel free to raise them.

A few things before we begin though, lets try and keep to one issue at a time, otherwise we dont achieve anything (this is hard, yes i know) and also personal attacks dont do anyone any good so if you don't like someone then please get over it and just analyse their argument for what it says not who it was written by.

Im largely biased towards the police force as i want to join next year so im going to try and keep my bias restrained as much as possible and stick to the arguments etc. but just so everyones aware of where i stand thats where it is.

 

[gerhard]

dont be a policeman, get a degree and join asio instead

 

[davin]

Well, what do you mean by implementing crime prevention stratagies?

 

[santaslayer]

Crime prevention strategies have always been implemented. The issue is whether it is enough/effective or not.

 

[The Brucemaster]

By crime prevention strategies, I meant such things as increased police presence in crime hot spots, increased community support from police (counselling services etc.) and increased networking (police informants etc.).

 

[loquasagacious]

How are police a politically neutral topic?????

Also you need to define crime prevention in that drug legalisation can be viewed as crime prevention however is clearly a legislative issue.

 

[gerhard]

i dont believe in crime prevention where it violates civil liberties without warrants.
for instance sniffer dogs at train stations

in my idealised police force, sniffer dogs could be obtained just as a warrant could be obtained, and so when the police had evidence that a large quantity of drugs will be moved through redfern station etc, they can get a warrant and bring the dogs in.

also i like a nice separation between police and politics.

 

[yy]

dogs are not effective at all though, i went somewhere where there were lots of dogs and nearly everyone was on drugs. it's just so easy to hide from them.

as to role of police, sometimes it appears to be a waste of resource, trying to shut down parties etc. instead, efforts could be used elsewhere

i <3 police in general, however.

a question regarding police and seccies: why are most of them chubby? doesn't that deter them from running and chasing potential criminals?

 

[gerhard]

compared to what exactly?

 

[Optophobia]

I have an essay question on this exact topic. It scared me for a minute, i thought maybe the person who posted this was in my course.

 

[Mongke]

compared to what exactly?

the gestapo, the spanish inquisition, the salem witch hunts, the crusades, Mao, Stalin, the apartheid police force

 

[HotShot]

the role of the police is to shoot bad people.

 

[Schorn]

The role of the police is to leave me alone

 

[banco55]

dont be a policeman, get a degree and join asio instead

These days nearly all of them have degrees and are paid quite well. The days of cops being sort of blue collar workers is over. In the nineteenth century the british had a good line about police that they should be "citizens with a few extra powers". Admittedly given the threat of terrorism etc. that's not really possible anymore. I still think the move towards police becoming paramilitarized social workers is highly questionable.

 

[frog12986]

The progression towards a 'professional' police SERVICE was instigated by Commissioner John Avery and continued following the contentious Wood Royal Commission. Whether or not it has contributed to the effectiveness and reliabilty of policing in NSW is highly dubious. The move has undoubtedly assisted in complying with legislative restrictions that now govern the main areas of police work.

The Evidence Act, LEPRA and the like all require a fair degree of understanding and a fair element of professionalism to ensure that that understanding is not just rudimentary but in-depth and knowledgeble. The problem is that all these measures are targetted at reactive areas of policing such as investigative procedures, and the obtaining of evidence, hence promoting such responses by the force itself. The original role of the police was a preventative one; a role which has now been eroded to an extent. Or have the dynamics of society made this task too difficult..

This debate could go on forever and you would get a different answer every time..

 

[Enlightened_One]

The progression from the former days when the cop who was a big gruff fella would take a shifty character down and toss him down the stairs are long gone, but so to is anything like those sort of cops. If anyone here knows of Tim Priest (articles written by him have been used in this forum before), he pointed out the growing trend toward the softly softly approach.
Simply, the police no longer are as repsected, feared and domineering as they once were. These days it's all public policy and not offending every body and doing everything correctly, which leads to the politicisation (Damn I'm tired, I don't know whether I spelt that right) of the police force. This in turns lleads to social unrest and was evidenced in the Cronulla riots.
At the basis it becomes a question of your rights or your safety? If you value your safety then a blind eye may be turned to some acts, but if you favour your rights then you forgo your safety by giving potential criminals the ability to avoid police powers which would aid your safety.

It seems to be a question of balance for which I do not possess an answer.

 

[loquasagacious]

So queensland under peterson had what is in Priests mind a good police force?

 

[transcendent]

Maybe the social unrest is due to policing priorities. Stopping the average joe for a significantly minor offense while there are murders going on everywhere. I also totally agree with the idea that the role of police is to stay as far away from me as possible.

 

[frog12986]

Maybe the social unrest is due to policing priorities. Stopping the average joe for a significantly minor offense while there are murders going on everywhere. I also totally agree with the idea that the role of police is to stay as far away from me as possible.

Interesting point you make..

Murders going on everywhere? That is merely a moral panic created by the media. The facts remain that over the past 15 years the homicide rate has decreased fairly consistently. Laws, even minor ones, are in place for a specific reason. Whether or not you agree with them is irrelevant, so too is its apparent importance.

That attitude is fairly consistent with what Enlightened_One said with regards to the public disrespecting both police and often the law that governs police action. Whilst, conveying a knife in a public place may appear to be a minor and usually explainable offence, permitting such actions creates greater scope for more serious offences to then inadvertently occur. Whilst such laws will not totally remove related offences, they do in fact minimise them and provide police with powers to search persons and act proactively as oppose to reactively; much of what this debate is about.

The same principle applies to drug offences. Whilst they appear to be victimless crimes, that does not remove the problems that they inflict upon society in a broader sense, and often create vicitms elsewhere. Individually, one may use them sparingly and happen to get caught out on one of those occasions; what injustice. However, what isn't taken into consideration is the fact that these drugs are also sold to addicts and the like, who steal, assault and sell themselves to maintain their habit. This isn't a legalisation debate, but rather justifying that police have a legal and 'moral' obligation to undertake searches, dog searches or similar. Again powers conferred to police in a proacive step to prvent the effects of drugs or the initial sale itself. Like it or not..

Someone once said:
" we are a sad, uncivil and unethical society if the only reason people do not rape, pillage and murder is because there is a law against those deeds"
And how true it is...

 

[_dhj_]

I'm not convinced that society is descending into chaos due to a lack of respect towards police.