A feeling I don't entirely share

[andrewducker]

but I am glad that we're edging ever closer to the Transparent Society, where the information imbalance is somewhat restored.

(cheers to pope_guilty)

Comments

[seph-hazard.livejournal.com]

You don't entirely agree with that? Whyever not?

[andrewducker]

I agree with each individual sentence, but the "Don't rely on the police" bit feels too extreme to me, as I've had useful encounters with them before.

So I'm happy not to rely on the police 100%, but I'm not anti-police.

[meihua.livejournal.com]

I felt like this for a long time, but nowdays I think that actually the sentence on the poster is about right. Don't rely on the police.

[hano.livejournal.com]

I think it's a little disengenuous. Don't forget the initial lies the Police told about being pelted with a 'hail' of bottles and missiles as they attempted to aid the victim. Which was bollocks, but duly reported as fact by the tabloids. So in fact the death was used as a way to tarnish the protesters as opposed to any attempts to sweep it under the carpet. Of course now the Met are coming rather unstuck and about bloody time.
That said, I agree that 'don't trust the police' is less than helpful, a lot of the time they get it right.

[matgb]

True, but it's "don't rely on" not "don't trust them", similar but not the same meaning.

The whole point back from the days of Peel was that the police were supposed to work with the community. That many, including many in authority, seem to want the police to do everything and let us be passive consumer of 'protection' is abandoning the british model of policing.