(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
The police want to use "expanding bullets" – better known as stupid-stupid bullets. Such are prohibited under the Hague Conventions. The police are now counting these around 100-year-old rules of war under international law not to fit in the fight against offenses in peacetime. The police have a common denominator here with the United States' new Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, who in a legal note claimed that the Geneva Conventions are no longer appropriate and may be "outdated" and "old-fashioned". It opened up for torture in Abu Ghraib.
Police justify the desire that the new bullets, which are tissue-rupturing and more deadly than usual, would lessen the danger of bullets passing through a person and hitting innocent audiences. In this argument, there is MUCH to grasp.
So the police are thinking of shooting people with innocent crowds standing around? – Only the scenario refers to situations the police have so far been entitled to avoid. But now it is planned for that.
Since the Stavanger robbery, where the police fired first, the police have adopted a "shoot first" strategy against robbers. During the Jessheim robbery on 16 August, where the Ullensaker police had full control, the "shoot first" strategy was continued – with reference to the Stavanger robbery. The robbers did not fire shots, but one of the two was life-threateningly injured by the police eight shots, four hits. Had stupid-stupid bullets been used, the robber would hardly have survived, or probably at least lost both legs. "Among police officers, the action at Jessheim is considered a very important signal to the robbery community" (VG, 17.08.04).
The "robbery environment" is so shooting that ordinary considerations can not be taken, the police claim. This reasoning quickly disregards the fact that 1) the police concept of "robbery environment" consists of poorly coordinated individuals who according to Norwegian law should not be punished collectively, and that 2) it is the police who have been willing to shoot first, resulting in a police death. The police instruction (§ 3-1) clearly states that "The police shall not use any stronger means until milder means have been tried in vain…". This main rule now seems to give way to the exemption provisions, as to when milder means are "inappropriate".
It has become "inappropriate" for the police not to shoot first. Then the level of conflict in society is greatly dramatized, precisely by the power body that is obliged to reduce the drama as much as possible. Stupid-stupid bullets further brutalize.
The worst thing about the reason for expanding bullets is that they should not be able to go through someone and hit others, is still that here the considerations are turned upside down. It is claimed that in order to avoid injury, greater damage must be created. In the name of humanity, the inhuman is justified. Orwellianism has taken over the police: War style is peace by other means…
Suddenly, the people the police are not shooting at are important anymore, just the innocent ones. Understand that when the police first shoot, they are considered guilty. But they may be totally or partially innocent. There are examples of this. A car thief was shot and killed by the Ullensaker sheriff's office in 1993 because the policeman mistakenly believed the thief had a weapon in his hand. SEFO dropped the case, and the policeman stayed in the job. With dumb-dumb bullets, such accidental lethal mishaps must be expected to happen much more often (especially if Frp's proposal for general arming of police against all reason is realized). The good or bad judgment of police officers may in practice result in the death penalty for eg. car theft.
In an agitated situation, a lot can be misunderstood. The stronger the means of force involved, the greater the chances of accidents or excessive use of force. This is elementary psychology that the police should show that they understand. Instead, the police go the opposite way. They are constantly demanding and getting wider and stronger means of power – bigger clubs, wider powers, heavier "security". The Norwegian tradition of using cleverness instead of power is losing. But in the long run, it is only with wisdom that we can keep the use of force in society down to livable levels – literally meant. Before we too much imitate brutal approaches from the United States, we must think through what makes the murder rates in the United States ten times ours. There is a close connection between accepted means of force and the use of force in society. The police are spinning this spiral of power higher than sensible. The police cannot expect to be able to be raw themselves, without creating roughness in return. Coarser means of force also create coarser use of force.
As the public, we as the public must demand that the police be kept low, before ordinary behavior is exposed to the grossest means of force from the police. Like for example. that a highway is blocked off for 2-3 hours and frightened people are driven to the hospital, while bomb experts and a police helicopter chase a person who has behaved a little strangely on the bus and had a thicker bubble jacket than others – a person who turns out to be a frozen, terrified (and unarmed) dark-skinned person. It happened recently.
The police, as the only people with the right to exercise physical power, are primarily responsible for the level of conflicts in society. This responsibility is too unconscious for the police. Fear in society cannot be shot with stupid stupid bullets. But the fear level can clearly be increased with them. Confidence that police use of force is predictable and limited is a major factor in keeping other use of violence down. Rescue people often defend themselves by all means, even against the police. It is a human impulse that cannot be ignored. Only thoughtful, firm response can dampen the effects of desperation in all forms, including wild crime. While the use of weapons escalates desperation. One task for the police is to keep open the surrender to the authorities, which rough weapons too easily close.
Fear, which is more dangerous than any weapon, can only be combated with the continuous demonstration that de-dramatization and damage-free conflict resolution – even towards suspected criminals – are the main style we live with. Stupid-stupid bullets like normal ammo for the police will work the opposite way.
