Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Respect Must Be Earned

Police Minister Judith Collins has said:
"I think it's very important to acknowledge that over the last decade or so there have been numerous attacks (in the media) on the police. There have been the reports into police conduct, all those sorts of things, none of which have actually encouraged people to increase their respect for the police."
Louise Nicholas
The thing about respect is that it has to be earned. There have been attacks on police in the media in recent years, but not all of this attention has been undeserved. Perhaps Minister Collins has forgotten about Louise Nicholas, or about the series of assault charges various police officer have faced in recent years.

Distrust of the police as an institution is a healthy thing in a civil society. That doesn't mean that most police don't do a good job, or that we should not support the ordinary efforts of hardworking coppers. But the police should be scrutinised, and if they stuff up I'm quite happy for the media to be all over them like a great big dirty all-over-thing.

If we ever find we are giving deference to people simply because they wear the blue uniform we will probably be well on the road to dictatorship.

3 comments:

  1. you said that well, this whole "respect the Police " thing sets my teeth on edge, as you say, respect is earn't it's not a given.

    When i last rec'd a speeding ticket about 3 years ago, the cop was a real jack boot , I can see why his type wind up getting assaulted..

    Still I was easy pickings, White, wearing a suit and tie driving a 2 year old Passat...

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Still I was easy pickings, White, wearing a suit and tie driving a 2 year old Passat..."

    Oh, oh! Let me guess what comes next - '...and speeding'?

    ReplyDelete
  3. yes 118km per hour... fine day, just me and the unmarked car...on S/Hwy 1. The way he carried on you'd have thought that I had just carved up a minivan full of Nun's..

    ReplyDelete

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