Police, targeting deviance.

[ThomCat]

I am catching up on some academic journals. The topic is how law enforcement interacts with experts in in hostage situations to understand the people on the other side of the barricade.

I found a description of the law enforcement industry that seems very concise but accurate. "deviance driven"

They are concerned with punishing people for being different from the social norm. Supposedly that means people who break the law, and a criminal is definitely one example of a social deviant. But so is an activist, or anyone who is a minority, or anyone who is visibly poor (all categories of people who regularly report being targeted by police).

Anyone who has ever felt targeted by police will tell you that the police are far more concerned with order than law. Many cops have very little concern with what is actually illegal. They often seem to want to any excuse to bust the person who gets within reach.

This idea that police target deviance rather than illegality explains racial profiling and the different treatment you can expect from cops based on race.

I've been pondering this for a few days now, the extent to which the culture of law enforcement officers encourages them to target deviance instead of illegality. What are your thoughts?

[FiveGoodMen]

1. This goes back a LONG way!

http://www.livescience.com/animals/060126_monkey_cops.html

[ThomCat]

3. That's an interesting article.

I'm not usually keen on simplifying social/political/institutional organizations to instinctive behavior. Instinct might be a factor, but sociology and social psychology are almost certainly far more important.

Still, it is interesting to see that complex group behavior has some roots in instinctive behavior.

[FiveGoodMen]

5. Not just complex group behavior, but the specific instinct to enforce conformity.

While we've certainly added subtlety and imagination to our routines, I think we're really trying to satisfy parts of our brains that evolved a long time ago. (Note, it's not even the great apes the article talks about, it's monkeys!)

[lips]

2. The point about disorder and legality rings very true for me

however, there are plenty of law enforcement stages that can be made targets for dissent, which instantly negates certain arguments that follow the lines of; 'if you support, are, or give money to the police then your just as bad as the artists who use large brushes.' Law enforcement officers are the enemies, except when they happen to bust the meth den down the block.

Police busts are too 'random', meaning that they do not follow legal reason or adhere to the principles of legislation in a general sense, in their execution and reinforced by money to the point of de facto martial law. They may not be on every corner with barricades and checkpoints, but policing a city has come to indicate more than arresting someone for rape or murder and less about arresting the corrupt council member who engages in the same actions.

[ThomCat]

4. I would disagree that police busts are random.

Or even mostly random. I think they are very targetted and very consistent. They are just consistent based on rules that are not based entirely (or even primarily) on law.

[Bolo Boffin]

6. This cop would agree with you.

"Whoo-wheee! Got to taze me a loudmouth!"