Policing In USA And Bangladesh: Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid!
By Fazal M. Kamal
13 May, 2015
Countercurrents.org
New York: Against the ghastly backdrop of rogue law enforcement personnel around the world---by their own confessions---lying, cheating, planting evidence, killing innocent persons and then justifying the murder by being creative with words, here are two questions answers to which are no longer shocking since societies almost everywhere have begun accepting state excesses as “justifiable” and/or “necessary”. 1. Can a broken vehicle taillight end with the motorist’s death after being shot by a policeman? 2. Can an unarmed student be maimed for life by policemen for not complying with their illegal command?
As is well-known by now, sadly, the answers are in the affirmative in both cases; one occurring in the United States and the other in Bangladesh. These are obvious consequences of purported law enforcers enjoying ludicrous impunity especially in the wake of the horrid events of Sept. 9, 2001 as confounded governments reacted in ways administrations always do; i.e. by resorting to more and worse laws and simultaneously empowering police units with almost unlimited freedom in the expectation that these two measures would act as decisive deterrence to pernicious acts against the people.
Unfortunately in many countries, particularly where nervy ruling circles were determined to snuff out all dissenting voices, the enhanced authority of the state began to be utilized in the most bizarre partisan patterns possible which, in turn, resulted in police forces taking complete and unabashed advantage of the extant circumstances. In the US over the past decade there have been so many instances of (mainly black) citizens being gunned down by law enforcement officers that this tragic fact made one media outlet underline that “More black Americans were killed by police in 2014 than were killed in the World Trade Center attacks of September 11, 2001.”
Certainly there are other factors that have conspired to create this murderous situation (again, both in the US and in Bangladesh as elsewhere). Against the backdrop of the recent deaths of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Walter Scott---all black men---Karen Dolan commented, “The situation that led to the alleged murder of Walter L. Scott by a white police officer in North Charleston SC is indicative of the crisis created by the growing criminalization of poverty in America and the persistent de-humanization of black people. Poor people are targeted and aggressively policed for minor infractions such as the broken taillight on Mr Scott's car. Poor black people are disproportionately targeted within this demographic…When you put that overwrought situation in the middle of racial profiling and aggressive police action against black men, you get the killing of Walter Scott.” (AlterNet)
While this persists in the United States despite the existence of strong and mostly effective institutions, the conditions in less fortunate societies cannot but be worse especially for the more vulnerable. In developing countries police abuses and excesses have been causing the incarceration and often “comprehensive silencing with extreme prejudice” of those who either fail to satisfy the demands of rogue elements in law enforcement or if they fail to satisfy the demands of the powers that be which, it maybe underscored, are often engaged in frenzied efforts to protect their ill-gotten wealth. Here is one example of what can transpire in similar situations.
Not long ago The Associated Press reported from Cairo: “Egypt has arrested a journalist on claims he is wanted in seven different cases -- just days after he published a series of critical articles about the police. The country's Ministry of Interior announced Sunday in a statement on its Facebook page that Hussein Abdel Halim, a journalist for the privately-owned Dostour newspaper, was arrested Saturday as part of a routine round-up of fugitives. The statement claimed Abdel Halim is wanted for multiple cases dating back to 2003, including drugs, theft and bribery.” This in a nation where democracy was brazenly subverted---with internal and external instigation---and people are being executed and imprisoned for years under questionable judicial processes.
The unfortunate fact in the US, as is evident, is that racial profiling along with economic deprivation---& hence, an absence of sufficient power or influence to control or impact incidents---has been proving increasingly deadly while, as happens in most countries, the fact that uniformed perpetrators enjoy an enormous degree of impunity has generated a sense of braggadocio, to the detriment of both the people and the professionalism of the police forces around the nation. Belatedly, it seems due to the rising crescendo of public outrage some tentative steps have been initiated to examine police actions and curb their exuberance.
Equally unfortunately, in countries like Bangladesh, another type of profiling is conveniently utilized. That is fashioned primarily on the basis of political and sometimes economic factors. This therefore often results in the dead being, ex post facto, described as an “opposition miscreant” or a “wanted criminal” which works like voodoo rationale as this reason appears to justify all deadly actions (often covered under the rubric of “encounters”). In spite of the universal condemnation of this dreadful practice, sadly for the people, all political leaderships seem to find enough justification for these acts. And, certainly, it’s not just in Bangladesh.
And then there’s the magical action of making a person disappear (as has occurred repeatedly in the past some years) into thin air, as it were, following which a game similar to “twenty questions” ensue mainly with police spokesmen proclaiming they know nothing of this “disappearance” without seeming to realize that it’s their duty, especially as paid officials of the nation, to ensure that such incidents do not take place. And even if they do happen, it’s their duty to act with the appropriate alacrity to locate that person---even if he happens to be a member of the camp opposing the government of the day. Instead, to the bewilderment of the people, law enforcement officials assume a nonchalant attitude while their leaders spew incongruous political incantations which, naturally, do not and cannot assist in their primary functions in any conceivable way.
Equally significant in these circumstances is the rhetoric utilized by the top honchos of political and pseudo-social organizations. Belligerent and inflammatory statements, evidently, can’t be helpful other than in creating an atmosphere of abhorrence which in turn shapes the thought processes of persons already disposed toward hate and detestation. In the case of these United States, the incendiary words---frequently mixed with sufficient lies---of rightwing extremists have apparently generated a volatile situation. In places like Bangladesh, cynical proclamations of the leaders (some obviously without a modicum of lucidity) often made to curry favor with the highest office, certainly don’t aid in building the required tranquil environment.
The extant situation has however generated sufficient debate and inquisitiveness in the US for the authorities to begin scrutinizing the causes and effects to mitigate the imperviousness of the police forces across the country even as the rightwing extremists are busy trying to take the nation backward. (Which contradictory fact brings to the fore Mark Twain’s observation: “It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them.”)
Unfortunately, in Bangladesh, au contraire, the administration and its different tentacles have evinced not the slightest inclination even in examining the causes or the effects---other than disgorging bizarre proclamations, even some flippant ones---while the number of people dying in inexplicable circumstances or disappearing without a trace keeps moving northward (notwithstanding whatever the cabal of big kahunas may wish to declare).
The writer has been a media professional, in print and online newspapers as editor and commentator, and in public affairs, for over forty-five years.
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