Police functions

Police functions

It is time to review the functions of the police. They have failed to act in two of their most important functions. They are police. Their function is to stop people from breaking the law or if they can’t do that then to find the people who broke the law. The latter can be discouraging when the courts are lenient with criminals and the police must catch the same person again and again. However that is their job. Recently however in cases dealing with public protests they have failed to enforce the law and instead ensured that neither side in the protest or counter protest was injured. Their function is to enforce the law, not to act as witnesses so the matter can more factually be discussed at a later date. There is a comparison here with our army when they were part of the UN mission as intermediaries between two warring parties. If the parties were peaceful then everything was fine but if war or conflict broke out, our troops closed their eyes and left the scene. That was their job, although it was not useful. That is not the job of the police. They must, if possible, enforce the law at the time it is being broken.
Imagine if the police watched a home invasion happen without interfering and then later tried to identify the thieves. It sounds ridiculous but this is how
the police handle protests.



The second problem is that the police think that they are the only ones that can enforce the law and that the public is wrong to act in self defence. Thus people who act in their own defence are dragged off the prison or charged. Usually, thank goodness, they are eventually freed by the courts after much mental stress. Statistics indicate that there is less crime where citizens are allowed to carry concealed weapons. That saves lives even though there will be instances where guns will be wrongfully used to hurt others. The real problem is the use by criminals, not by people who want to protect themselves.

Lastly the police often seem mean and foolish. They hide behind bushes to give tickets. They give tickets for driving offences that are posted, but unreasonable. They spend much of their time at construction sites, talking to the construction workers and obviously doing nothing useful. They won’t answer the simple question of “How many points will that ticket cost me?” I know it’s a tough job, but my experience with the police is that when they are on duty they are neither polite nor helpful. It’s no wonder that they are not getting the respect that they deserve and would get if they were doing their job in an efficient and friendly way.