Comment on London police defy ban on badges linked to far right and white supremacy
30mag@lemmy.world 1 year ago
In July, the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the “thin blue line” badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by “hard-right groups”.
The hard-right group known as “law enforcement”.
ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 1 year ago
The principle of it does go against the core ideas of how police in the UK are supposed to conduct themselves. Even if you take away the far right association.
The thin blue line suggests the police are a separate group, in-between you and some evil. This isn’t how police should think about their role.
Police officers should conduct their duties as members of the community for the benefit of everyone in the community.
Even the criminals they pursue. People who commit serious crime are often known to the police, early and constructive intervention avoids people becoming serious criminals. Crime is a slippery slope. Early intervention can turn a would be criminals life around. Police won’t see this as a possibility in their daily duties if the conceptualise their role as the thin blue line.
Policing by consent is how police forces in the UK were conceptualised initially. It’s how they should operate today. We shouldn’t import the policing practices if the USA. They are much less effective, and appear to cause harm.
30mag@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My point was only that the phrase is used widely in the United States.