How do we get rid of the Police
Discussion
This is not a Police bashing thread (!)
I hear the phrase 'policing by consent' a lot and it irks me.
Quite clearly we need the Police and I also think it is quite clear we could never remove the Police and apart from reforming how they work I don't think you could repalce it by any other system (not when the rest of the world pretty also have Police like us).
So what does policing by consent mean? Does it mean if we remove our consent to be policed by the police they would all be sacked off?
How would we remove our consent - 1m on a demo? 10m on a demo? A referendum? Parliament legislating?
Or does it mean something else? Maybe the consent is HOW we are police not IF we are Policed - i.e we always have the Police and we cannot remove them - the best we can do is kick up a fuss when they do something we don't like.
It is clear the Police are a 'living beast' they evolve as time progresses (based on their own knowledge and experience) and Parliament can of course legislate to make them or stop them doing some things but to some extent they are free to oeprate how they wish. So its not like they have to wait for Parliament to tell them to do something (the consent) before they do it.
As I say, its not a police bashing thread, more of a discussion on the theory.
Thoughts?
I hear the phrase 'policing by consent' a lot and it irks me.
Quite clearly we need the Police and I also think it is quite clear we could never remove the Police and apart from reforming how they work I don't think you could repalce it by any other system (not when the rest of the world pretty also have Police like us).
So what does policing by consent mean? Does it mean if we remove our consent to be policed by the police they would all be sacked off?
How would we remove our consent - 1m on a demo? 10m on a demo? A referendum? Parliament legislating?
Or does it mean something else? Maybe the consent is HOW we are police not IF we are Policed - i.e we always have the Police and we cannot remove them - the best we can do is kick up a fuss when they do something we don't like.
It is clear the Police are a 'living beast' they evolve as time progresses (based on their own knowledge and experience) and Parliament can of course legislate to make them or stop them doing some things but to some extent they are free to oeprate how they wish. So its not like they have to wait for Parliament to tell them to do something (the consent) before they do it.
As I say, its not a police bashing thread, more of a discussion on the theory.
Thoughts?
I agree that the Police are probably held back too much by nonsense opinion of a small section fo the public.
My actual question I think was not really whether the Police should behave as we want but more a black and white can we get rid of the Police or not.
Dereks answer suggests not - the consent element is more about how they behave not whether they exist.
Its not a Police bashing thread - its a legal/constituional question.
My actual question I think was not really whether the Police should behave as we want but more a black and white can we get rid of the Police or not.
Dereks answer suggests not - the consent element is more about how they behave not whether they exist.
Its not a Police bashing thread - its a legal/constituional question.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff