Sunday, May 18, 2003
LAW "ENFORCEMENT" IN ENGLAND
Here's a piece in the Spectator that's similar to many news items we see these days: About the unwillingness of the police in England to enforce the law. In this case, it's a personal account of the author's inability to get the bobbies at the local station to do anything to find his stolen scooter, or to do anything to aprehend the thieves once he'd found the bike and witnesses who could identify the kids who stole it. We know from many, many other stories over the last few years that it is riskier from a legal standpoint in England to take any meaningful action to defend one's life or property than to be a criminal. Defending one's self is considered itself to be a greater crime by the police and courts than initiating violence in the first place. It seems that England has gotten itself into a real crisis of values here. The famous English sense of "fair play" has become infected with such a load of sympathy for the kinds of people who commit crimes that even the cop on the beat is paralyzed into inaction. What will it take to turn this trend around?
GB, THHotA
posted by Greg 8:32 AM
