Policing Our Cops

 

Imagine you live in a country, where the color of your skin, your religion, your social class all of which is just a  lottery of birth, could get you killed, for walking at night with your children in the park, lying on the platform during lockdown or for even starting your own business,- you would probably say, “Who the hell is running this lawless country!!”  Surprise Surprise! to our clouds of ignorance, this IS the WORLD we are living in. Police brutality is a new leach feeding on justice.

Why do we notice police brutality to be on the rise in countries around the globe and especially in US and India?

1.    TRAINED TO KILL

Cops are trained to stay on their guard all the time to act instantly even before a threat manifests, so pre-existing prejudices means that they end up perceiving certain people to be threats to the society. This explains why cops think that an armed black man is likely to be a criminal. They spend over 129hrs in weapons and fighting drills and only like 8hrs on conflict de-escalation- that ratio is clearly way off, it is like if a pilot spent 95% of her training on emergency drills. We need guardians not assassins. Warrior training should end and end now!

2.    LEGAL PROTECTIONS

It is almost impossible to sue a cop in America which is ironic because Americans simply love to sue for anything. Cops are protected by “Qualified Immunity”- where to sue a cop, the onus is on you to prove that they violated your right which was clearly established- but, no right is clearly established until someone successfully sues a cop for violating it. So you can sue a cop for breaking into your house without a warrant, only if someone else has successfully sued them for exact same offense.  It is like a dog running in circles trying to bite its own tail.

3.    POLICE UNIONS

Police unions all across the world are immensely powerful. They don’t just work to get better pay, but they work to shield bad cops from legal consequences through acts like Collective bargaining agreements (like labor contracts that stop law enforcement agencies firing officers after egregious acts of misconduct) or through mass strikes during important occasions. Investigation process is made easy on them and their records of that are cleared in regular intervals. When bad cops know that they have got the backing of such an influential collective, that just green signals all those horrendous acts they commit.

4.    GLORIFICATION

Haven’t we all watched movies where Indian cop procedurals glorify extrajudicial violence and police killings ("Encounter Ekambaram")just because it adds that “mass” element to the movie, or perhaps is funny when a petty thief is beaten up? This issue of police procedurals and cop movies glorifying police brutality and anti-societal policing is particularly stark in thinking about what happened to #JeyarajAndFenix. Facilitated by a popular culture built around cults of personalities of specific big-name heroes, this feeds into a culture of hero-worship, particularly when it comes to policing.

“So,uh Ganesh what do you suggest we do about it? I upload stories on Instagram, take a knee during PL matches and had this real conversation with my parents isn`t that enough?” ENOUGH? Sure that is progress, but Dude that woke shit on the gram won’t last a week! Racism or classism doesn’t exist in a vaccum, it is a system, and has been institutionalized. 

But here is what I feel we could do about it.

1.       ACT ON PROBLEMS

Use social media to organize fund raisers for black organizations, donate your time and money to take part in student protests, doctors offer free healthcare to victims of brutality, IT dudes set up websites for NGOs, you graduated summa cum laude from Harvard law, proud, work pro bono for victims and prosecute those Indian cops who have lowest rates of convictions! There is something for  each and every one of us to do other than moaning about the problem; cause if we really care, we would act upon it.  

2.     LEGISLATION & VOTING-IT SCALES AND REWRITES HISTORY

Harass and push your representatives to end special protections and to aggressively demilitarize the police- we aren’t living in call of duty or robo cop, you don’t get cheat codes and cool weapons to survive as a cop. 2021 TN elections coming up, make this a talking point among politicians. There is a bill in the congress RIGHT NOW to end qualified immunity, make sure it gets traction. Google when your local councilor elections are then go and VOTE FOR PETE`S SAKE! Because this buddy-buddy bullshit amongst cops, DAs and local officials is actually the real obstruction of justice here.

3.     AMEND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Governments HAVE to make prisons more humane and offer prisoners essentials like skill retraining, counselling and better infrastructure within prisons like that of Norway and Denmark. We don’t need laws like mandatory minimums which has been the backbone of mass incarceration for long, instead push for Rehabilitation as a metric for criminal cases. And society please, don’t ostracize ex-convicts; people deserve a second chance. Be the person who puts people in the right path, not the ones pushing them to the wrong path again.

Look I am not Anti-police, I have great respect for those cops out there in this pandemic risking their lives to keep us safe and to be honest they dont get the recognition of such truly heroic acts as well. I am just anti bad cops

But hey, it is not our fight right? This is a black/white issue; this is rich/poor issue.

It IS our fight, all not only Indians but people world over are our brothers and sisters and we wont stay silent if something happens to them. Fighting oppression, brutality and societal hierarchies- that is our thing! We have been doing that long before and after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre. Whether you are an Indian or American citizen, you just don’t get to own the nation`s excellence, you ought to own its failures. So get in the ring and face those punches and swing some in return!