A police officer in the US has just received a 22.5 year sentenced for having caused the death of a suspect held down during an arrest. My personal view on this is that the police officer is a victim of mob justice, and that he did nothing unusual during the arrest. His sentencing is entirely political. However, my sympathy for the officer doesn't go very deep. His career was based on the enforcement of arbitrary laws related to petty crimes like drug possession, prostitution and loitering. Only people with a sadistic streak are attracted to this kind of work, and I see no reason to be upset about his sentence.
But his fellow officers in police departments throughout the US are no doubt of a different opinion. They too, must find his sentencing unusually hard, and the thought of ending up in a similar situation must be troubling. Many must wonder whether the joy of hunting down petty criminals is worth the risk of ending one's days in jail. Why bother? Why not join a private security company, or start one on their own? If they quit in large numbers, crime rates will spike and there will be plenty of businesses and private individuals willing to pay good money for protection.
The only drawbacks are the lower salaries and the fact that private security companies don't allow their officers to intervene in crimes unrelated to life or property. Private security officers don't chase drug dealers and prostitutes. At most, they ask them politely to take their business somewhere else, and they only do this if the activity is a disturbance to their clients.
The advantage is that private officers are unlikely to find themselves in the sort of situation that the police officer got himself into. Private officers don't hold suspects down by force unless there's been a crime related to life or property, and the crime must be severe. Otherwise, they risk embarrassing the business or private individual that hired them. People don't like their security guards to behave like thugs. The security company risks loosing business if their officers use excessive force, so they train them to be reasonable.
Had the police officer acted as he did for a private security firm, he would at the very least lost his job. The only reason he didn't hold back was his assumption that he would not suffer any consequences. However, his assumption was mistaken, and he's no doubt wondering why he didn't realize this in time. As for all the fun he had while he was still free to chase down petty criminals, he must be wondering if it was worth it, and the answer I'm sure is a resounding no.
 |
| Private security guard |
No comments:
Post a Comment