Perspectives on Policing within the Middle East Region and the UK - Essay Example

Perspectives on Policing SC2037C Policing the Frontiers Difference of difficulties of policing within the Middle East region and UK Any key issue today, demonstrates how inter-linked we all are, no matter where we are positioned on this Planet Earth. Globalization and the technological revolution have shrunk the world to a virtual community. Communication, transportation, trade, cash flows and ideologies have rendered national frontiers increasingly immaterial. Talking of International Law Enforcement issues, Mr. Nye, Dean of Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, tersely puts the current scenario in these lexis: “The contemporary information revolution and its attendant brand of globalization are transforming and shrinking the world… On the chessboard in the transnational relations includes actors as diverse as bankers electronically transferring huge sums at the more benign end of the spectrum, and terrorists transferring weapons or hackers disrupting Internet operations at the other. September 11 illustrated these deeper changes. Technology has been diffusing power away from the governments, and empowering individuals and groups to play roles in the world politics- including wreaking massive destruction- that were once reserved to governments. Privatization has been increasing, and terrorism is the privatization of war. Moreover, the process of globalization are shrinking distance, and events in poor weak countries half way round the world- like Afghanistan- are able to have enormous impacts on American lives. The world has changed from the Cold war to the Global Information Age, but our dominant paradigms have not kept pace.” In a nutshell, it is not that such crimes were not prevalent before, but now with the development of cross-border communication we have become aware of the destructive potential of criminals in the developing world like Afghanistan. On this note, I recall a quotation of Sir Bernard Shaw and the connotation of it: “Those who can reform the system do not want to attempt it and those who really wish to reform just have no power or capability to do it.” Police produces service, but to most of the civilian population, police is not a service organizations. It is an arm of administration which bends and moves as per the whims and fancies of the ruling party of the country. And the police also makes no attempt to project its friendly and serving profile. But as all things, the police coin also has its other side which remains unportrayed. If police do not deserve public sympathy as human beings; police at least need a humane face to maintain minimum functional dealings with the members of the tax payers. What is obligatory is public co-operation through buoyancy building measures by the police. Sheer fire power corporal capability cannot restrain antisocial demeanor in a society. Policing during Colonialism The policing in colonies was a by product of development of global capitalism and expansion of European societies in 18th and 19th century. Influences could be traced to earlier Spanish and Portuguese empires. Colonies were of two types: 1. Colonies predominantly for settlement. 2. Colonies pacified for trade. In the former civilian policing styles tended to develop. In the latter more paramilitary styles with the two tier policing systems- One in urban centre for white Europeans, others called ‘Protectorates’ for the rural natives. Its job was to pacify natives; protecting economic interests and upholding the authority of the colonial rulers. The most obvious difficulty was to distinguish between Police and Military action. This was so because the Police was often recruited from amongst the Military. Most of the Police units were Paramilitary with many interchangeable duties with the military particularly in opening up areas for trade. Likewise most Military matters were about internal security again very close to policing matters. Example, in French West Africa Police was under the control of Military Governor and performed Military functions; French mounted Police were used in the pacification of Chad. In 1898 Lord Chamberlain merge all Police and Military in British West Africa frontier Force which eventually helped put Nigeria, Sierra, Leone, Ghana and Gambia under British rule. There were some civilian policing, but usually came later in colonial administrations. Significant example was local policing setup as part of local structures as native administration. But not all public was under policing. Some new socioeconomic conditions bread new crimes like mugging, banditry, illegal immigration and fraud in industry etc. The power of charter and concessionaire companies use private Forces. They often had exclusive trading rights over vast areas and wanted to protect this. All in all colonial policing was very much a reflection of colonial politics. Especially, during the years of colonization when much effort was extended to quell unrest. Post Colonial Theory Post colonial theory deals with the reading and writing of literature written in previously or currently colonized countries, or literature written in colonizing countries which deals with colonization or colonized people. It refers to a set of philosophical and literary theories that come to grips with the legacy of the colonial rule. Post colonial writers distorted the experience and realities of the colonizing culture and inscribe the inferiority of the colonized people. Post Communist Policing Sir Winston Churchill once eminently expressed democracy as, “the worst form of government – apart from others.” The social and political transformations taking place in and around central and Eastern Europe further fired the debate on comparative policing theories. This became a volatile political issues and many Governments were too eager to prove that they could curb and control the social phenomena considered dangerous to the newly coming democracies they were trying to construct. In the realm of policing, the issue would appear not to be to curb crime by whatever means possible but instead to establish the democratic means of policing. This has been one of the prime issues during the second electoral campaigns in countries like Ulbania, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Lithuania. Police in the new democracies do not necessarily have to ape the west but implement there successful policies into their own social and political environment. Policing in Middle East Region Policing in the Middle East is completely under dominance of Islam. It is the religious police which functions in this part of the world. It serves differently from the other polices of other countries. Crime is not as per the definition followed in the rest of the world. Crime is going against morality which is as per instructed by the religious police. A number of states suffer under unstable conditions; where no strong centralized control (dictatorship) or pluralistic consensus is part of the rule book. Such states undergo long term conflicts between contradictory ethnic or ideological groups. 1 These policemen prowl the streets and shopping malls, hunting down women who don’t shroud themselves and Muslim men who ignore the call to prayer. They check that women wear the abaya, the all enveloping black cloak, that men and women together in public are related, that drugs and alcohol are not being traded and that Muslims do not observe “frivolous” customs such as Valentine’s Day. Saudi Arabia’s pervasive and powerful morality police have been a pillar of the ultra-conservative kingdom since its foundation. The influence of the morality police varies through Saudi Arabia and is strongest in the central Riyadh area, a bastion of the kingdom’s unique, strict Muslim creed known as “Wahhabism”. 2 An example to it is: On 11th March 2002, 15 Makkan school girls lost their lives when they were charred alive, and several were injured when their school burnt down but the religious police would not allow them to leave the building, nor allow the firemen to enter. Answerable only to King Fahd and separate from ordinary police, members of the “Authority for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” patrol with police escorts, ensuring that their strict interpretation of Islamic social customs remain the norm among a youthful, Westernized population with wide access to the internet and satellite TV. About the increase in the followers of Osama-bin-laden, some Saudis say that the religious police – known as the ‘mutawaeen’ or ‘enforcers’ – are at the core of this problem. People also say that the mutawaeen, with their trade mark beards and loose fitting red scarves, are on the lookout for people using the latest mobile phones with cameras, lest they use them for flirting and to identify possible suitors. But that does not mean that there is no one to oppose it. Hopes of reform have risen. Conclusion The time has come for the critical evaluation of the contribution of the police in the society. As said earlier, the police fails to promote its good image; blame it on the media which hypes ever deed done wrong more than the good one. To overcome this impression, community policing should be brought into service. By Community Policing, I mean policing brought into working by the co-operation of the citizens. Co-operation to make, maintain and imply law and order on one and all in same proportions. Policing should be such that people instead of fearing the men in uniform should think of them as a guardian angel and come forward to help them. But unfortunately, this doesn’t seem likely till the forces portray their goodwill. To emphasize, I can relate an experience of an acquaintance, who is a police officer. One day when he reached the police station, he was informed that a vehicle has run over a policeman at the next crossing. And he went on the spot to enquire, and asked a shop owner if someone has been run down by a vehicle. But the shop owner wouldn’t tell him anything. After much soliciting he was told that it was not a person but a policeman who got run over by a car and has been taken to the hospital. So, policemen are not even considered a person. Police should initiate to curb this mentality, and create a friendly image. People hardly know about the good side of the police and care even less. The need of the hour is to motivate the men in the uniform towards: Continuous Training and Development Professionalism Aim for Excellence. Stress on team playing. Works Cited Ashley, Brien., 1971. Law and Order. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. Coatman, J. 1959. Police. Oxford University Press, Reith, Charles. 1956. A New Study of Police History. London: Oliver &Boyd. Evans, Peter. 1974. The Police Revolution. London: Allen and Unwin. Ingleton, Roy D. 1979. Police of the World. London: Ian Allan Ltd. Nigel Fielding. 1995. Community Policing. Clarendon Press. N. M. Namte., and V. K. Telang. 1980. The Police In India and Abroad. Bombay. General Printers and Publishers. Ghosh S. K. 1981. Police in Ferment. Light and Life Publishers. Dr. Jha R.C., and I.P.S; 1991. Police Surveillance and Community Security. New Delhi: Swan Publishers. Police and Postcolonial Rationality in Amitav Ghosh’s. “The Circle of Reason”. Chris A. Williams. Home and Away; the Cross Fertilisation between ‘Colonial’ and ‘British’ Policing. 1921-1985, Journal of Imperialism and Common wealth History, 2007 Bradley, John. R. 2003. Selves and Others. Saudi Religious Police in Firing Line. http://www.selvesandothers.org/article6532.html (accessed April 30, 2007). Saudi Police ‘stopped’ Fire Rescue, 2002. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1874471.stm (accessed April 30, 2007). Read More