Does it seem that British police are becoming more routinely brutal, and that British laws are becoming more draconian? Not that they're the only ones, by far, but -- is that an accurate perception?
I know its been years since the friendly neighborhood constable has been a fixture, save only at the Holmes museum, but I have such a civilized image of Britain, that the possibility of them becoming Cheney-and-Chartoff-ized is, if anything, more distressing than it happening here.
3 comments:
The "reports" (tall tales) I get tell me the cops are getting more cynical.
They have to deal with so much - and they lack the backup of a weapon, it's almost as if they're forced to get cynical.
The neighborhood cop on the beat? He disappeared when Thatcher came into power. Seriously - he did.
Carolyn Ann
That is because the thugs and idiots out there have got more brutal. I'm VERY glad the ordinary Bobby on the street does not carry a firearm. We do have armed response squads if necessary. I don't know why people want the police to routinely carry firearms, why can't people realise that the right to bear arms is related to gun related crime? Arm the Police and the criminals will up the ante (gets off high horse) We do have a neighbourhood policeman, and I often see the police on bikes around my community.
Sarah -- thanks for your response, and welcome to my blog.
I assume that the right to bear arms that you refer to is the US Second Amendment, so beloved of gun owners. Some years ago, I asked a woman who was fiercely active in gun owners rights actions to explain to me why it was so important to them. Granted, this was just one person, but her explanation made sense to me. (I didn't agree with it, but I understood it.) What she said was, essentially, that self-reliance and independence were very important to guns-rightists (not, possibly, all gun owners; not sure); they did not appreciate the idea of others controlling what they could and could not do with their lives.
Some other attitudes - Some of them did not trust the government (which is where the 'from my cold dead hands' comments come from); those people tended to point to British crackdowns on private gun ownership, and registration of the same as part of the 'slippery slope' that appears so often in NRA rhetoric. Others simply enjoyed the skill that a gun requires, and liked gun ownership for that reason.
I'm not sure that the case can be clearly made that gun ownership is related to gun related crime. I think that ease of gun possession facilitates it, but rigid rules on ownership would not eliminate it.
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