In the UK this week, anger over police violence spilled onto the streets, as family and supporters of Chris Kaba protested what they saw as a racist killing of the unarmed man by a police officer.
It’s a story that has been repeated in the media countless times across the world: unarmed Black man shot dead by police. It’s a story we will no doubt see again.
“Police cannot be judge, jury, and executioner. They must be accountable to the rule of law,” said Deborah Coles, executive director of a UK charity, INQUEST, that supports families of those who have died at the hands of the state.
Nineteenth-century UK Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel is considered the father of the modern police force. His view, often described as “policing by consent” was that policing requires the willing co-operation of the public; and to achieve that, police must be in the service of citizens. His view was that police should be unarmed, to demonstrate their difference from the military.
So when American demonstrations in support of police murder victims George Floyd and Michael Brown were quelled by police with assault weapons and driving tanks, it only heightened calls for the role of police in society to be examined.
Despite a slew of evidence from researchers across the world that a softer, more collaborative style of policing is more effective, militarisation of police continues — a continuum from black-ops style uniforms to all-out civil war against a nation’s people.
To circuit-break the arms race, research suggests systemic changes to policing, back to its Peelian roots, recruiting a new cohort of officers that serve all citizens. As historian Charles Reith wrote about the police: “The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.”
REALITY CHECK
Police in the USA kill more than 1,000 citizens a year. In Brazil, they are responsible for 13 percent of all homicides
In 2010, more than 75 percent of police forces worldwide used some form of militarised policing.
US SWAT teams originated in the 1960s in response to riots in protest of police brutality. US teams subsequently trained 52 other nations in how to assemble SWAT teams.
BIG IDEAS
Quote attributable to Rich Evans or Clare Farmer, Deakin University "With positive depictions of police gun violence in US television so widespread and long running, it is plausible that media depictions of police violence, including the use of firearms by police, influence beliefs about policing."
Quote attributable to Fachrizal Afandi, Universitas Brawijaya "In the reforms that swept Indonesia following the fall of the Suharto regime in 1998, the police seem to have escaped scrutiny. Reform is not complete until the justice system is addressed."
Quote attributable to Sergio Padilla Oñate, National Autonomous University of Mexico "Mexico is witnessing a slow-moving, insidious take-over by the military."
PERSPECTIVES
How not to do community policing: lessons from Brazil Ludmila Ribeiro, Federal University of Minas Gerais It will take learning the lessons of Brazil’s many failures of police reform to truly implement a safer future for all Brazilians.
Why police need to unlearn policing Andrew Poe, Australian Catholic University The history of police shows that policing does not need to be done in the same way it is now and that it can perhaps be undone.
Civil society the key to preventing an Indonesian police state Robertus Robet, State University of Jakarta Reforming the Indonesian police needs to be driven from the bottom up by civil society groups.
Cloak-and-dagger policing Thomas Nolan, formerly Emmanuel College Boston While people were worrying about military-style policing, US law enforcement quietly deployed the tools of spycraft against their fellow citizens.
Cop shows perpetuate a guns-blazing style of policing Richard Evans and Clare Farmer, Deakin University The high profile of firearms in American crime dramas so far appears to be the most persuasive argument for why police need guns.
The insidious take-over of Mexico’s police Sergio Padilla Oñate, National Autonomous University of Mexico Disorganised attempts to improve policing in Mexico have led to the slow creep of the army and skyrocketing murder rates.
Deadly high costs of US police overmilitarisation Federico Masera, UNSW Equipping police units with military equipment can help fight crime but there are spillover effects that cannot be ignored.
Police a missing passenger in Indonesia’s reform train Fachrizal Afandi, Universitas Brawijaya Indonesia’s constitution separated the military from civilian politics after the fall of Suharto in 1998. But the police didn’t get the memo.
Violence continues under Indian piecemeal approach Hoineilhing Sitlhou, University of Hyderabad Legislation from last century allows paramilitary violence to continue in the North East of India.
