July 30 2010

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Pigs and their dunkin donuts torture

David Cano

More bad news for Britain's Metropolitan Police as it has been revealed that six officers are at the centre of an inquiry into claims that they subjected suspects to waterboarding. That's right, waterboarding, the torture technique recently condemned by the US government.

Few details have been released, but allegedly, officers in Enfield, north London, forced suspect's heads into buckets of water whilst interrogating them. So who were these suspects? Murderous criminals? Terrorists? Errr.... No actually. They were arrested for selling cannabis. Yes, weed, ganja, the devil's broccoli, apparently no longer a class C drug but now a substance with the potential to jeapordise national security. The allegations emerge in light of the 276 complaints made to the Independent Police Complaints Commission following the G20 protests in April. Complaints mostly based on accusations of excessive police aggression.

What on Earth is happening to our boys in blue? Since when did they start going all Rambo on us? Have they been watching The Wire on a loop, shoveling spoonfuls of confiscated yayo up their flaring nostrils? Are they suffering from some sort of intense, paranoid delusion of persecution? We can't even take pictures of them anymore. Next, we won't be able to look them in the eye, we'll have to doff our caps as they walk by and only speak to them when spoken to.

Hopefully, the rest of the country is waking up to a situation that has faced certain inner city communities for many years. There is a seemingly growing arrogance in the way the police are handling their business and it is encouraging a strong division. A separation between "us" and "them" that, though not by any means a new thing, is ever widening.

The police force is an integral and important part of our society. No matter how much you blaze NWA's "Fuck the Police" out of your iPod, you would be thankful if the fuzz showed up whilst someone was trying to stab you for aforementioned gadget. However, when they start to become physically intimidating, assault legitimate protestors, employ torture techniques on cannabis dealers and indeed, harass anyone of a slightly darker tone of skin than Brooke Shields, we're getting into very iffy territory. They cannot be untouchable and must be held responsible for the crimes they commit, just like the rest of us.

submitted by davidcano23 on June 10th 2009

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