Bheki Cele, warts and all, must be disheartened by the ongoing number of dead cops. I read that, at one stage, he was attending a police funeral every weekend over a period of nearly two months.
That’s really depressing.
Killing cops is certainly a symptom of an ill society, no matter which way you look at it.
Hi Jerm. Love your work.
Just a quick observation: In large state-orientated societies such as SA we tend to peddle this fallacy that a cop’s life is somehow more valuable than an ordinary civilian’s life. At its core, this is of course nonsense. Killing a cop is somehow seen as the unpardonable sin. I’ve even heard it around intelligent dinner table conversation, “we need a straight death sentence for cop killing”. Huh?
It would be quite interesting to see your take, if you were so inclined, on this strange social norm that has sprung up where we totally irrationally venerate the lives of cops above civilians.
Keep it up.
> Just a quick observation: In large state-orientated societies such as SA we tend to peddle this fallacy that a cop’s life is somehow more valuable than an ordinary civilian’s life.
I’m not sure if there’s a connection between state-orientated societies and cops’ lives. Dead cops receive the same amount of attention in most countries. The reason is simply because cops are “supposed to be” the protectors of civilians and add a general sense of security. So, when they’re mowed down, a heightened awareness becomes evident.
Similarly, babies are not more valuable than adults. But when they’re found dead in dustbins, a heightened awareness, again, becomes evident.
@Russel – it would be pretty disastrous if we didn’t have ANY cops left because they were scared of being mowed down. The thing about cops being killed is more complex than merely taking a life:
1. The cop is usually in the process of apprehending a criminal in the process of committing a crime – more often than not the worst kind of crime; as such said cop is not only protecting a civilian (or civilians) and/or their property but upholding the law of the land.
2. In the process above the cop is risking his own life to save the lives of others or the property of others.
I think it’s only fair that they, therefore, receive extraordinary protection under the law.
@ Jerm – when it comes to children, their lives most certainly are more valuable than those of adults; they’re innocent and we all have the duty to protect our children at all costs – if not, we are worse than animals.
@ Jacoba – the fallacy always has its apologists and I see you are one. Yes, cops put their lives on the line. They get paid to do that (one can quibble about the amount of remuneration elsewhere). Private security guards do the same. Are their deaths equal to cops and more important than ordinary civilians? What about any risky job? Take miners for example, they risk their lives for other’s well-being and prosperity: are they also in your special class? Civilians also put their lives on the line during violent criminal attacks, for no pay.
Your singling out of cops for “extraordinary protection under the law” is ultimately arbitrary, not to mention failing to account for the reality that in many instances cops ARE the criminals. Moreover, in the pursuit of criminals in the case of drug busts for example, we can even question the validity of the law they are supposedly “upholding”. A drug dealer engages in peaceful voluntary exchange with a drug buyer. A cop comes, forces the one to go to rehab and pay a fine, and shoots the other.
We need perspective here. Cops being murdered is horrid, just like anyone being murdered is horrid.
Peace
@Jacoba – one other thing: be careful of making sweeping moral statements about the “value” of life. Inherently all life is equally valuable in holistic moral sense, but we will all make subjective judgements about which lives we personally value most because at it’s core value (i.e. what individuals value) is subjective.
If faced with the choice, would you choose to let your spouse die or your worst enemy’s infant?
I don’t know your answer and it doesn’t matter anyway, because at the end of the day it would your subjective preference.
@ Russel, I don’t consider myself an apologist but I’ve seen too often what happens in countries were the police force is non existent. Look, I’m the first to agree that the South African police probably ranks right down at the bottom of the list of effective police services and when it comes to corruption we’re having an epidemic.
However, I saw what happened in Angola when nobody knew whether there was a war or not, the Congo when they were having their fun & games and a few other African countries when there simply wasn’t any cops to be seen because they were terrified …. the thought that it could happen here terrifies me. I still have nightmares about it. Unless the cops have a comfort, they’re simply not going to do the job. And then? Don’t tell me private security companies will step in because no company has enough money to pay those guys what they will demand to police the lawless country that we have become. The army? Yeah right …. yawn.
@ Russel – I am a mother. Unless you know what it feels like to be a mother, you cannot possibly understand that I could never see a child harmed under any circumstances. I’m also a pacifist so I pray that I never have to be faced with something like that.
@Jacoba – I see where you are coming from and don’t want to pick a fight where there isn’t one:)
I would urge you to be careful of conflating the undoubted benefits of peaceful law and order with a strange, arbitrary reverence for the police per se. The police are but one of a number of pillars in society that offer protection and safety (leaving aside the argument that they do not really provide protection and safety!). Parents for example are the chief protectors of their children.
“Don’t tell me private security companies will step in…”
I don’t have to tell you, I can show you. The private security industry in SA has ALREADY ‘stepped in’. South Africans spend billions a year on pvt security. Pvt security forces keep complexes and streets safe, pvt security mobile squads conduct raids, shoot baddies, and risk their lives daily. There is enough money to pay for these services, which is why they exist in abundance. Even car guards are pvt security. They earn a few bob for their efforts but car theft in parking lots in SA has fallen off a cliff since car guards arrived on the scene. The market needed protection for parked cars, people were willing to offer the service, and the market solved the problem.
Lastly, you will see that your motherhood has given you a very specific perspective on the value of life. A subjective perspective – which was my point. The example of the choice between your spouse vs your enemy’s infant is highly implausible, but I hope it allows you to see that making blanket statements about subjective values leads one into tricky waters.
Lastly, lastly, my overall point is that, when you break it down, distinguishing between the value of a cops life and anyone else’s life is completely subjective and arbitrary, and I believe unwarranted. I am not saying people are not allowed to hold that view, only that I think it is silly to do so:)
Ad your para one: I agree that the police are but a number of pillars in society but I want to point out that South Africa is not a first world country and what applies in Italy, for example, does not apply here. The majority of South Africans cannot afford private security – I can and you can but we are not the majority so it’s not a solution. You have to think of South Africa as a whole and this is why I included a reference to African countries. Here the Police are very very important because the masses don’t have money for bread, let alone private security.
In Italy the police work pretty well (at last) – even in the deep South where the Mafia rules the roost. In Germany, where my daughter lives, the cops are there but the mentality of the people are such that I can leave my handbag with a lot of money in my car, not lock the thing and go shopping, knowing full well the bag will be fine – let me just try that in Cape Town.
When it comes to the life of child, I stand firm. Our children are always more important than ourselves and it will be sad, sad day indeed when society stops protecting them …. that said, South Africans have been treating their children very shoddily indeed.
Dead miners get cartoons. So do babies. In fact, anyone gets a cartoon if they’re headlining enough.
@ Jerm – can I have one?
Jacoba, are you headlining? :-)
Sadly, no – in the lives of my very large family always but in the eyes of the world I’m pretty insignificant and that’s just how I like it. Oh dear, that means no cartoon of me …. I’ll just have to live with it .. ;)
Maybe someone needs to compare statistically whether our cops have a higher murder rate per cop than our general population doper citizen? Let’s face it we do lose a lot of cops and too often not in the line of duty but in the dead of night in their own homes but at the same time our murder and violent asssault rates per 100000 citizens are also among the highest in the world.
Murder is a South African way of life and has been since the year dot through the colonial years and the apartheid years.
The question is how do we break this endless violence – are the police not our front line and failing at it – yes at times to their own cost.
Get the courts to work – get the prosecuting authorities to handle the files that the police give them – get the police to handle every crime without consideration for the potential bribe for losing a file and only then crime will start to dissipate
do per (not doper – they should be caught and imprisoned)