Commentary
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8105400301 |
| Date | 01 July 1981 |
| Published date | 01 July 1981 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Violence against the Police
The last few months have witnessed the horrifying spectacle of raw
violence on the streets of this country. Not only in Ulster, where the
passions created by continuing sectarian differences raised the
already high threshold to a new volcanic peak, which must terrify
those who seek only to livein peace with their neighbours, but also in
Brixton, Finsbury Park, numerous pleasant seaside resorts and other
widely scattered towns not noted for abnormally aggressive
behaviour. In each location the police have been on the receiving end,
both as the victims of assault and abuse as wellas the targets ofintense
criticism.
Officers, performing their thankless tasks on behalf of the
community which they serve, have been physically battered and
mentally shattered,
not
so much by the fact of the attacksthemselves,
as by the stunning vehemence with which they have been delivered.
In many cases the attacks have been senselessly brutal and even lady
members of the Service have had to suffer at the hands of cowardly,
degenerate hooligans, with more than one being kicked whilst lying
defenceless on the ground. Oh for a return to the halcyon days of
gallantry and chivalry!; what qualities, indeed, to stir the emotions;
but
the actions of some of
our
young people today are dictated by
selfish motives
and
lustful desires, the satisfaction of which
apparently constitutes their raison d'etre. Fortunately, they
are
in the
minority!
Policemen have always accepted the inevitability of assault,
regarding it as inherent in the nature of the role which they willingly
undertake, as when alcoholic drink plays a leading
part
or domestic
disputes get
out
of hand,
but
to be the sole target of a concerted
attack as at Brixton
and
at Finsbury
Park
was as unexpected as it was
unwelcome
and
adevelopment in this rapidly changing society which"
requires urgent attention.
The law, for all its seeming weaknesses, represents the only means
by which civilized people can live together in relative harmony with
any feeling
or
reality of security.
It
protects all people
and
all people
are equal underit, whetherblack
or
white, rich or poor, old or young.
224 July 1981
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