Dear Dirty America

DDA

Robocop, the reality! Armour plated policing!

Robocop, the reality! Armour plated policing!
August 04
13:08 2016

MICHAEL J BLAIR
Perthshire, Scotland

“Yes, we feel much safer with armed police officers on every street corner!”

This was what a middle aged couple said when asked about their views on more armed police on the streets.

And so it has happened. The day when it became the norm rather than the exception, to have heavily armed police officers wearing full body armour, with their faces hidden, carrying machine guns, patrolling the leafy peaceful streets of Great Britain.

credit: dave conner

credit: dave conner

I forecast this event over four years ago, in a piece called “The Sneaking Militarisation of Police“. This is something which successive governments have striven to implement for a long time.

All the scare stories. All the terrorist attacks and non attacks, have paid off at last. Politicians must be rubbing their collective hands together at the thought of having almost complete control over the ovine population. Baaa!

The UK was one of the last major European countries to have “unarmed” police on their streets, so it was only a matter of time before this became a reality.

I say “unarmed” but even without a firearm, British police officers carry a vast array of “non lethal” weapons. A US style baton. A taser gun. Pepper spray and handcuffs. Plus with a massive belt to hold these and other items, it’s no wonder they can’t catch a suspect on foot! I’m surprised they can move at all, carrying that lot around.

They also have lapel radios and some have small video cameras attached to their uniform.

There have always been specially trained armed police units, but always in the background, just in case they were needed. And we have become used to armed officers at airports. But not what is now being proposed.

Here in Scotland, the newly created Police Scotland, which incorporated all of the police regions into one enormous centrally controlled monster, has become a complete shambles.

Lacking civilian staff to run call centres, because they have mostly been made redundant. Officers having to fill in instead of actually doing what they are trained to do. Local police stations closed to the public. The list goes on. All in the name of streamlining the force. Or cost cutting as it’s usually called!

There was a move to routinely arm police officers regardless of the catastrophic possibilities of this idea. We had armed officers attending minor incidents, for which there was no need for lethal weapons. Photographs of armed officers attending a stramash at a chip shop was the last straw for the media here. Maybe the police were worried they would be battered!

Just madness, and thankfully the idea was withdrawn after media and public outrage.

With the news that English police officers will be armed and dressed like paramilitary thugs, will no doubt encourage Police Scotland to try and go down the same route.

We will be told that there is no alternative, if we want to be kept safe from the terrorists, which we are told on one hand that their threat is fairly minimal to the general public, and on the other hand that we being scared into accepting police officers dressed up like extras from a low budget film, by politicians who say it’s not if, but when there will be another terrorist attack on the streets of Great Britain.

Once members of the public can’t see what is happening to their country and readily accept these paramilitary type police officers on every street corner, then there is no going back.

We are already on the slippery slope to a police state in the name of security. This is totally unacceptable for a “free democratic” country.  I watched the riots in some parts of the USA and saw the same paramilitary style police attack people who, for the most part, were protesting peacefully.

If the state is so afraid of the public, then the state is obviously doing something wrong! We saw how China and Russia dealt with unrest amongst their citizens, and the western world leaders and media were first to protest about human rights. They are either blind to what is happening in their own countries, or they are massive hypocrites.

I’m going with the hypocrisy theory.

These people believe that giving their populations a chance to vote every few years for some of the most unstable people on the planet, is democracy. Look at the choice of Presidential candidates this time round! This is not even close to any kind of democratic process.

The media are used to making sure the “right” people get all the exposure on television and radio. Candidates are vetted to make sure they will do what they are told. We can’t have candidates who are free thinkers. That would never be tolerated.

They have to be able to keep the population in a state of fear. This is the key to complete control over lives of the public. This in turn, allows the police to be used politically. The police being police, aren’t going to baulk at the chance to indulge in some gratuitous violence without any chance of being charged, never mind convicted, of any unfortunate deaths which might occur in the course of their “legitimate” actions.

Once the police are told that they can do whatever they have to do, in order to keep the public quiet, then there is no turning back.

I’m not anti-police. They just need to do what they are employed by us to do. Catch criminals, making sure people can trust them. Be around locally to reassure people.

But I am anti police who are politicised and who bear no resemblance to the officers of only a few years ago. They cannot be allowed to become the tools of government.

It may already be too late to turn the fast moving tide of the police state, but we have to try. Otherwise the game is over and the state has the ball.

ALSO BY MJ BLAIR

Vote Bollocks Or Water Buffalo

Out Out Out! What’s next after Brexit?

The Brexit Turkeys have come home to roost

Michael J Blair contributes political analysis to DDA, and he can be reached at: michaelblair43@googlemail.com. His Twitter handle is: @mmjblair

[Robocop police header photo courtesy of katesheets, Wikimedia Commons; 1920s constable, Wikimedia Commons]

Tags
Share

Related Articles

0 Comments

No Comments Yet!

There are no comments at the moment, do you want to add one?

Write a comment

Write a Comment

Leave a Reply

Brave Media

Subscribe

Don't miss a new post! Subscribe & receive access to behind-the-scenes material, updates, & more!

Dear Dirty America Copyright

© Dear Dirty America, 2011-2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Dear Dirty America with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.