Part two of the the mighty triumvirate of internet content deals with conspiracies. There are a lot of them – military junta’s, communists in Washington, oilmen in the third world, the CIA pretty much everywhere, the list goes on… Our beef however, is the police. No matter where you go they always tryin’ ta keep a brother down.
Well, the Inquisition is lucky enough to be based in Ireland, where except for a few notable exceptions (link) there has been a long history of goodwill, in general towards the police. In fact they see themselves as true guardians of the peace and uniformed members do not carry firearms as a result. Of course, they will bash the odd knacker or defenceless boy around the head (link) but these incidents really are the exceptions that prove the rule.
Recent occurances globally (Irish example) seem to support Lisa Simpson’s theory; “aren’t the police the protective force that maintains the status quo for the wealthy elite? Don’t you think we ought to attack the roots of social problems instead of jamming people into overcrowded prisons?” Of course, the translucent skinned populace of the internet are very quick to pounce on these stories, furiously blogging and twittering from a safe distance about the erosion of civil liberties.
While the Inquisition is not so foolish as to suggest that this erosion is not happening, especially using post-9/11-hysteria as justification, you do have to wonder why the internet is full of such a preponderance of this stuff.
So, without further ado, here is an explanation of the main areas of “study”. These are broadly broken into the UK and USA because this is where the blogging fraternities will have you believe democracy is most at risk, and absolutely not in countries like Zimbabwe or Somalia. Russia would also get a special mention were it not so potentially dangerous to even breathe its name (Link)
This is the frontline for the war between the cops and the internet. Cops are actively suppressing less-than-savoury information and unfavourable views of them (link). The goings-on in the force are myriad, including racism , the planting of evidence, homophobia, more homophobia, general despotic acts, unwarranted wiretapping (no news there), hit and runs and more.
According to the New York Times “The United States has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. But it has almost a quarter of the world’s prisoners.” (link). The New York Times article is a fascinating indictment of the American penal system but in many ways George Monbiot’s article is even worse. The US incarcerates children for life. The country that tells the rest of us about freedom, democracy, human rights and responsibility even kills them along with those other freedom-loving states – China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iran and Pakistan.
By far and away the greatest internet debate on American policing techniques is on the use of the nominally non-lethal taser (link). This is the biggie – link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4, link 5, link 6 and on it goes. If true, these are shocking stories, genuinely not the actions of a responsible force in a free society.
Two recent incidents have highlighted the British policeforce’s tendency for extrenuous actions – Jean Charles de Menezes’ killing and the death of a “protester” on his way home through the G20 summit protests.
The Brits don’t do things like their American cousins; they are much more insidious, preferring measures that are supposedly preventative. After all, if everyone is afraid all the time, they won’t commit crimes, right? Right?
The British police love things like DNA profiling everything and everyone in sight, getting almost blanket cctv coverage of the entire kingdom and just out and out espionage.
To be fair they are open about their machinations and as a result everyone knows that these are sanctioned actions not just rogue coppers. See for yourself how brazen and open these bullying tactics are. They are also shockingly one-sided – the police can film you but you can’t photograph them (link). The game is definitely weighted to one side.
An honourable mention must go to Henry Porter who single-handedly and with dogged determination is documenting how Britons are losing their freedoms in the Police’s attempts to “protect” their freedom.
It is now against the rules (though not actually illegal) to photograph anything to do with transport in England. As many blogs and various news media have already pointed out – they survived 25 years of IRA attacks without suppressing their own freedoms and by only arresting people for being Irish (relax, that’s a joke), so why are they introducing these ridiculous measures now? What’s next?
American cops just don’t know when to stop. Seemingly the Brits don’t either.
There is no letting up. This is harrowing.
Does no-one tell US Police officers when they sign up that they are to uphold the law but are not above the law
Here is a long list of Law Enforcement malefactors in the USA.
This article was posted on
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at
05:01.
It is archived in Culture, Internet, Legal, Travel, Wild Places and tagged crime, freedom, law enforcement, Morris Tribunal, Police, prison, surveillance, UK, USA.
If you enjoyed this article, please help The Inquisition grow by sharing it.
Comments are closed.
