People who are
unexpectedly arrested by police officers usually feel caught off guard. Hardly
anyone can keep a cool head in that kind of situation. But if you are, you should
stay as calm as possible even if you feel you are not guilty. This is the
advice given by “Attorney Rudolph.” Anyone who resists police officers
physically runs the risk of being charged with resisting arrest.
W h a t w o u l d y o u d
o ?
I googled
the term “police violence” and found the following post: Sefolosha, a
basketball player, was a victim of police violence five years ago: During a
stop, officers broke his lower leg. I wonder if police in the US are just that violent
during stops to begin with, or if Sefolosha verbally and physically resisted.
I posted this
on Twitter: Most police officers are not bad. We need the police! There
would be less police violence if people didn’t insult and attack police
officers. There needs to be de-escalation on both sides! anonym@maxs1r0h replied: This is blaming
the victim. That’s all you can really say about a post like this.
Why does
violence occur so often during police operations? Frequently, conflicts between
the police and the person being stopped develop according to this pattern
(Heinz Kraft, The De-escalative Deployment Model of the NRW Police):
1. The
parties involved in the conflict base their own actions on the actions of their
adversary.
2. The
actions by one party are followed by an immediate reaction by the other party
(“the first turn of the conflict spiral”).
3. Action
and reaction mutually reinforce each other and the tension in the conflict
increases (“escalation effect”)
4. The
escalation becomes more and more dynamic and the conflict gets out of control
for the parties involved.
Heinz Kraft
suggests engaging the “addressee” through conversation, thereby reducing the
likelihood they will run or exhibit aggressive behavior.
Right-wing and
left-wing extremist parties, groups of all colors and all worldviews should
urge people not to resist verbally or physically if they are arrested. Resisting
and running away leads to violence. If the police tolerated suspects escaping,
it would lead to chaos.
How can the
police be reformed so people begin to accept them more again? Significantly
more women and police officers with immigrant backgrounds should be recruited
on the police force, and sensitive operations should only be carried while
wearing bodycams.
It is important
to me personally that the police treat me with respect and as an equal during a
stop.
It has become
clear in Germany that there are police officers who spread radical right-wing
ideas amongst their ranks. Why are there hardly any people in the police who
support left-wing positions? In the GDR, all the police officers had left-wing views,
but in Western democracies there are hardly any police officers who are
politically left-wing. Many police officers hold views to the right of the
political center. The story is different for journalists. Most journalists hold
left-wing views, and so it happens that left-wing journalists often report
favorably on left-wing demonstrators who have confrontations with the police.
Everyone
generally agrees that the police have a monopoly on the use of force and thereby
serve to ensure the security of the citizens. The police should not abuse their
monopoly on the use of force and have to behave in such a way that they can be
seen as “friends and helpers.” However, there are segments of the population
that are frequently stopped and checked by the police, and who see the police
not as a friend, but as their enemy.
Openly calling
for a fight against the police should not be tolerated. As I pointed out in my
blog post “Aggressions", there are games where you can shoot rows and rows of
police officers (Google: youtube gta 50 headshots).
We all
appreciate the fact that we live in a free society, but we damage our free
system when we allow the police to serve as a whipping boy for people who
cannot find a place within our state.
