Daughter of the Ring of Fire » Blog Archive

Mar

2009

Police Violence

Posted on 18:36, March 2nd, 2009 by EKSwitaj

Read my latest flash, Venison, at 52|250.

Police violence has become so commonplace, so expected, that my first thought on learning about the King County deputy who attacked a teenage girl was that at least it was being investigated, and at least he was being charged with a crime. That crime, however, is only misdemeanor assault.

Can you imagine what this girl would be facing had she tackled and pummeled him?

Of course, she was handcuffed and much smaller than the Deputy Schene, so it’s unlikely that she could have. She probably wouldn’t have lived to see a court date either. The point, however, is that in the police force, we have created a class of people authorized to carry guns, detain people, and use force in a variety of situations and added strong penalties for those who resist, attack, or threaten them. The parameters for police use of force are supposed to be strict, but the penalty for stepping outside those bounds, on those occasions when it is applied at all, is minimal.

Essentially then, our society has a special that is heavily protected and minimally restricted. If you’re someone coded as worth protecting, you may find this comforting (at least until you run afoul of someone higher in the police-protection hierarchy). It means the police can protect you however they see fit. If you’re someone coded as potentially dangerous, if you’re poor or a person of color especially, the effect is just the opposite. It means that the police can and will attack you for any reason, or even for no reason at all.

EDIT: Read more at Flip Flopping Joy, Injustice in Seattle, and Feministe.