Working in schools with teenagers, I hear reports of police intervention in young peoples lives escalating at an alarming rate. There are police in schools; community officers in the surrounding parks; numerous stop & search reports; increased DNA sampling, court orders, ASBOs and electronic tags being wielded against some of society's youngest and most vulnerable wards.
However, if you want to really see how to get the policing of young people wrong, there is always America leading the developed world in it's quest to destabilise, incarcerate and disenfranchise our future leaders. The recent trial of a white police officer for murdering (oops, manslughtering actually) black Oakland resident, Oscar Grant, is a recent example to add to the immeasurable list of police abuses against the innocent being covered up and degraded through the lenient sentencing of perpetrators of institutional homicide.
As the numbers of police on our streets increases while their training, wages and entry requirements decrease, so this pattern of brutality will continue to require the collusion of a justice system that serves those that police at the expense of those that are policed.
Answers on a postcard to your local MP.
R.I.P. Oscar Grant 27/2/1986 – 1/1/2009
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