this post was submitted on 14 Apr 2024
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Anthony Albanese has praised a lone police officer who pursued a man on a stabbing spree through a shopping mall, saying ‘there is no doubt that she saved lives through her action’ (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
30 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The senior officer, Amy Scott, was conducting routine duties nearby when she was directed to head to Westfield shopping centre following reports a man was using a “massive” knife to stab shoppers.

Within minutes, the officer was inside the centre and began chasing the offender.

“This all happened very, very quickly,” the deputy commissioner of police, Tony Cooke, said.

“The officer was in the near vicinity, attended on her own, was guided to the location of the offender by people who were in the centre and she took the actions that she did, saving a range of people’s lives.”

Albanese thanked the officer, other police, first responders and the “everyday people” who reacted to help victims.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Okay, I’ll bite. I think she did her job well here. I don’t think her job should exist. I guarantee, whether intentionally or not, that she has wielded her power to make a minority’s day shittier during her career, when they didn’t deserve it. Giving that sort of power to a person, giving them that control over other people, almost always leads to corruption. A few people shining through is the exception, not the rule. Victoria police ran a scare campaign in the media last year about the decriminalisation of public intoxication. How it would cause an outbreak of other crimes, and make their job harder. But no such thing has happened. Even if you don’t believe the police should stop existing, it’s undeniable that they’ve systematically lobbied for more and more powers, which disproportionately affect minorities and the poor. Reducing those powers and shrinking the force has more benefits than not doing so or allowing their power and sizes to continue to balloon.

Edit: To be clear, the decriminalisation was directly off the back of the Royal Commission into an indigenous woman, Aunty Tanya Day’s death in custody. She was arrested for public intoxication after she fell asleep drunk on a train. Think of all the drunk footy fans you’ve seen snoozing on a train home before.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I've no doubt that the prejudices of individual officers affects their policing and in some cases may be racist or anti-minority. I think the way around this is more accountability for police officers: they must have bodycams when doing their jobs which are publicly available (we live in a Democracy do we not?) and officers can be removed due random reviews. There is no internal process, it is done by an independent commision. In incidents like this or when in a dodgy area I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a low police presence. I'm not sure what the alternative to police would be, something like the second amendment in the US?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a low police presence.

Are you Indigenous Australian? A person of colour? LGBTQ? Homeless? A drug addict?

Because from my experiences, these groups tend to feel most comfortable when there’s a lower police presence. And I think their experiences should be considered as just as important as yours.

I'm not sure what the alternative to police would be, something like the second amendment in the US?

You’ve got to be joking, right? Personally, I’d rather not start seeing local school shootings on the evening news. It’s hard enough hearing about the ones in the States. Let alone how much more trigger-happy their cops are due to fearing that any person they interact with may have a concealed gun on them.

I’d go the opposite direction. Take guns off regular uniformed police. That’s how it is in London. De-escalate the threat of violence and bad people are likely to do the same. Wouldn’t you pick a bigger knife if you knew the people showing up in response would have guns?

I think the solutions needed are social ones. Victoria built, and is building, sobering up centres. They are staffed by nurses and social workers, and have drug and alcohol counselling available as well as being able to do referrals to other services. Increasing these sorts of services and improving social safety nets and public housing all have negative effects on the crime rate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I mostly agree with what you have said. I'm not denying that the problem is societal:

I’m not sure what the alternative to police would be, something like the second amendment in the US?

What I meant by that statement was what do we do to prevent crimes (especially of the violent kind) when societal change fails to prevent it? My solution would be a much, much smaller police force that can run more efficiently with much higher standards of training and accountabilty

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

me:

Reducing those powers and shrinking the force has more benefits than not doing so or allowing their power and sizes to continue to balloon. 

you: 

I wouldn't feel very comfortable with a low police presence.

me:

Because from my experiences, these groups tend to feel most comfortable when there’s a lower police presence.

you:

My solution would be a much, much smaller police force

I literally already said that but alright mate.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Sure grab some quotes, don't engage with the whole comment. I can change my mind on things. I don't know why this needs to be about trying to hurt me rather than have a reasonable debate

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Mate it was because you said “My solution” and then basically repeated what I had suggested 3 comments earlier as if it was your own idea. Rather than admitting on any level that I may have been right earlier. That’s not a debate, that’s just bad faith.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

You never said that we should have less police, you only said that certain groups feel safer with less police. I was under the impression that you didn't want police at all

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

Even if you don’t believe the police should stop existing, it’s undeniable that they’ve systematically lobbied for more and more powers, which disproportionately affect minorities and the poor. Reducing those powers and shrinking the force has more benefits than not doing so or allowing their power and sizes to continue to balloon.

This is from my first comment in this thread, I bolded the relevant section for you this time.

I was under the impression that you didn't want police at all

I don’t, but I’m willing to compromise to get there. I also do believe that disbanding the police force overnight would cause more harm than good, it’s not the path we should take. Systems need to be developed to slowly replace their functions with ones that don’t cause the same harm. I don’t know what all of those systems would look like. But more than once I’ve joked with friends that we should get little old grandma’s out there doing breathos, who’ll lovingly shame you into alcohol counselling.