I remember visiting London in the mid-60's. The street police were unarmed, strolling, seemed to keep some sense of order. I remember thinking about how that could be. It has to be by consent of a pretty reasonable respectful population.
We didn't visit any place but tourist downtown. No, rough areas, nothing tough, poorer. I wondered how that policing would work out of where we were, other than calm suburban and rural areas.
I returned to France, where I was wrongly accused of a crime. The contrast from the US Army police and the Gendarme who treated me as if I was guilty until proven innocent made a strong impression on me.
When we returned to a system in USA with, at the time and place, a judicially upright system by consent, I was proud and happy to be American with a constitution, a Bill of Rights.
Then, The later 60's opened my awareness to inequities. Then, I saw repression, spying FBI, political interference, brutality, entity, and more, even murder. Over the years, there has been a constant erosion of rights and militarization of the police, bullying official procedures, escalation toward totalitarianism and fascism. I read of similar erosion over where you are and have often wondered what has happened to the unarmed bobby.
Police procedures are control by intimidation these days. Police are wearing black, jack boot uniforms and looking like cold dangerous machines. The reasonable, protect and serve cops are disappearing quickly. You want to avoid police. They are isolated and often sticking with their own reinforcing these pig behaviors. Many are cynical and frustrated.
Very wrong direction there.
When you see a naked guy beaten at a concert, you know it is out of whack, but then that's way the unusual and "others" have often been treated through American history.
Jbee
