Super Human Police
On Friday, WPC Sharon Beshenivsky was shot dead by armed robber in Bradford. This is tragic and very sad news and I sincerely hope that the people responsible are caught and brought to justice. Those that decide take up firearms to perpetrate criminal activity should be treated as severely as possibly within the constraints of our judiciary. If/when they are found they should be taken out of society for a very, very, very long time. Not only does this act as a deterrent to others who might consider using a firearms, it also rids us of one more low life from our streets.
But the reaction to this incident has been very odd. The BBC claim that the people in Bradford are "in shock" and are in "disbelief" that such a heinous crime should take place. I really don't understand this, surely people who are in the front line of catching criminals are the ones most likely to get hurt! Why are people so socked? There have been plenty of innocent people murdered by gun crime recently, so what makes the dead of a WPC so shocking?
And now the former head of the Met police, Lord Stevens, now states that the dead penalty should be reinstated for police killers. Is that because to kill a police officer is somehow a worse crime that to kill a lowly citizen? Are the police such super human beings that they should have their own set of laws? (perhaps we should ask the family of Jean Charles de Menesez…ouch).
I would also like Lord Stevens to consider if he'd be proud for this country to sit alongside the other countries that still permit the death penalty (Afghanistan, Cameroon, China, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Rwanda, USA…to name a few)
Yes, respect for authority is important, but when it comes to human life, we are all equal.
December 10th, 2005 at 7:21 pm
Couldn't agree more. Aside from the human angle, the office of police officer represents the authority of the state. I have blogged on these issues on my blog and come to the same conclusions more or less.