Like many of my generation, I was raised with a deep respect for authority and for those who are meant to serve and protect us. I trusted the police and thought that if anyone could keep us safe, it would be them. The problem is that the more time that has passed and the more things I’ve read and heard, the more I feel the roots of my beliefs shaking.
Over the past decade, various online and offline complaints have been made about how the force is being run post-Police Commissioner John Rizzo. However, this week’s report of an occurrence that happened in mid-August definitely deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame of traumatic police interventions.
Imagine being fast asleep in your own home, which is meant to be your safe space. Now, imagine that sleep being violently broken by male officers who literally ripped your apartment door out of its place, woke you up and bound you with tie clips.
You are topless and not handed any clothes, which, of course, makes you feel even more vulnerable. You are made to sit in a state of undress for 20 minutes with the police searching your home. You are not shown any warrant or given any reason for the search. After the search is concluded, you are informed that you’re no longer under arrest, and it is only now that you’re asked for your details.
It’s later revealed that the raid of your home was wrongfully conducted as the target wasn’t meant to be your apartment but the apartment below yours. You’re too traumatised to work, but when you file a criminal complaint at the police Professional Standards Unit, the corps claim that “nothing irregular” happened.
Even reading this back makes my blood boil. It’s not just the alleged undue overall roughness with which this solitary individual was treated but the seeming refusal to accept any responsibility for the woman’s justified feelings after the fact. I mean, every other ghastly thing aside, would it really have cost anyone there anything to hand this woman a towel or a T-shirt so she at least wouldn’t have to sit there dazed and half-naked? Even if she were a criminal of the highest order, does she not deserve the most basic dignities? And if the outcome of all this was that “nothing irregular” happened, then perhaps we need to call into question how people are being trained.
How can we continue to have faith in one of our highest institutions when things like this are happening? Does no one see how damaging events like this are?
Uniforms used to mean something both for the wearer and the person seeing them, but incidents like the Marsa one that happened just a few short weeks ago are a reminder that the tides are turning in a horrifying way. The very fabric of our institutions appears to be crumbling, and no one seems to want to address this in any tangible way.
Now more than ever, I look forward to a time when the “Lord, Guide Us” motto stitched onto police uniform sleeves starts meaning something great again.