How Much Should We Trust The Police?

New Zealand Police Association President Greg O’Connor laments the lack of respect shown towards the police in our society.

That contempt begins with the abuse, insults, hiding in a crowd and pelting police with bottles, spitting and physical assaults routinely inflicted on police on a daily basis.

Conduct such as leaning into an officer's face on a Friday night and snarling "F*** you, pig" is tolerated - by the public, by the media, and by judges who write it off as essentially being "just something police have to put up with" and not serious enough to warrant legal sanction.

That kind of behaviour is never nice. If someone were to lean into my face and say "F*** you, lawyer", I would be offended, perhaps even frightened. But if that insult was not followed up by violence, what choice would I have but to live with it? It’s the price of free speech.

We need support from the public, the media, politicians, and the justice system - the judiciary and the Independent Police Conduct Authority - to begin to impose some consequences for the low-level behaviour that breeds the worst assaults.

If bottle-throwing, hurling abuse, spitting, shoving and punching police attracted half the public criticism and backlash that is so often directed at police who are involved in a chase, we'd have a far safer society for everyone - not just for police.

If someone hits a police officer or throws something at him/her, and that officer is killed or badly hurt, it makes the news in a major way. The recent attack on an officer in Tuakau is a good example of that.
In the same way, when a police chase goes wrong and someone ends up hurt or dead, questions get asked. Why shouldn’t they be? Why should minor altercations with the police deserve more attention than a pursuit that has the potential to turn lethal?

I don’t condone spitting or swearing at officers. But some degree of wariness towards police and the powers they wield is essential for the ongoing survival of democratic institutions. I want to know that if the police make a mistake they are accountable. And I also want to know that if officers can’t handle a bit of bravado and mouthiness from tanked –up or P-fuelled offenders, the rules won’t protect them from the consequences of their actions.

But O'Connor is in favour of excusing police for their "occasional" errors:

The system must also support - rather than criticise and condemn - police when they have to take decisive action, such as using reasonable force or the other coercive powers they rely on to keep the public safe.

The police get it wrong sometimes. However, they also do a hard, unpleasant job. But what is the alternative? What kind of society would we be living in if a policeman had the power to take someone off to the cells because they heard something muttered under someone’s breath? Or because they “looked” disrespectful? Think that won’t happen in O’Connor’s utopia?