The police are not here to protect you

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-police-are-not-here-to-protect-you/
Date Written:  2017-10-17
Publisher:  redpepper.org.uk
Year Published:  2017
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX21582

The police spend little of their time making arrests, and most crimes are not solved, writes Alex Vitale - their real purpose is social control

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

The police exist to keep us safe - or so we are told by mainstream media and popular culture. TV shows exaggerate the amount of serious crime and the nature of what most police officers actually do all day. Crime control is a small part of policing, and it always has been.

Arrests for serious crimes are a rarity for uniformed officers, with most making no more than one a year. When a patrol officer actually apprehends a violent criminal in the act, it is a major moment in their career.

The bulk of police officers work in patrol. They take reports, engage in random patrol, address parking and driving violations and noise complaints, issue tickets, and make arrests for drinking in public, possession of small amounts of drugs, or the vague 'disorderly conduct'. Officers I've shadowed on patrol describe their days as '99 percent boredom and 1 percent sheer terror' — and even that 1 percent is a bit of an exaggeration for most officers.