TWO weeks ago, the British government announced it was supplying 10,000 Taser stun guns to police across England and Wales. The British bobby on the beat has long been unarmed, which, compared to some of their intimidating and heavy-handed European counterparts, has made them seem more approachable, more popular and more respected. In a recent poll, the British liked their police more than any other country in the EU. But Taser guns are not water pistols: they deliver 50,000 volts of electricity into the body through two small darts attached to wires, with short term but painful results. Amnesty International have recorded over 200 deaths from their use since 2001, mostly due to misuse and multiple hits; it is not always easy to land the hit on your target, it needs careful and specific training.
What is certainly true is that Alexis Grigoropoulos, the Greek boy killed in Athens last week and Tyler Cassidy, also 15, deliberately targeted by police in Melbourne last week, would be alive now if police had been armed with Tasers and not guns.
Meanwhile, in the UK, the judge disallowed the jury in the Jean Charles de Menezes case to file a verdict of unlawful killing, which, of course, it was. De Menezes was absolutely innocent and was given no opportunity to give any defence. The jury therefore had no alternative but to record an ‘open verdict’. De Menezes was tracked and executed in the London Underground because the police, acting on false information, were convinced he was a suicide bomber. As the ex-Police Comissionner, Sir Ian Blair commented, in many ways they were not unsuccessful but too successful. If De Menezes had been a suicide bomber the police acted with absolute professionalism in strict accordance with procedure.
But the point is our democracies are based on the premise that we are all ‘innocent until proved guilty’. We cannot allow a situation where police shoot to kill before the full facts are known: this is simply death penalty by the back door. The cases in Greece and Australia also highlight another failure in policing methods, one that any teacher who works in a tough inner city school will understand. If you want to reduce the aggro in your classrooms, you do not meet aggression with aggression. You use other methods: negotiation, setting boundaries and above all understanding the underlying reasons for the anger of teenagers and channeling that anger into positive outcomes. That is not easy, it is time consuming, frustrating and involves trust and engagement with the society you serve. It involves liaison with schools, communities and it involves changing perceptions about police: that they are not state employed thugs, but an essential part of the community in the same way as teachers, doctors and social workers.
Heavy handed policing will not solve the problem in Greece: it has created it. On the other hand, we cannot expect police to be totally unarmed in dangerous situations. They are our frontline against unpredictable violence and we must give them the tools to protect themselves and us. But take guns out of police hands, put cops in communities and use Tasers as a last resort: then three young men, who should not have died, would be alive today and could account for their actions.
