THE POLICE OFFICER WHO FINALLY UNDERSTOOD FREDRICH NIETSCHE MUCH TOO LATE Whenever I read articles on police corruption they are often laden with cliche catchphrases ranging from the pseudo-intellectually sounding systemic corruption to the lazy generalisation of it being rife. While the use of these expressions have no real cogency beyond its employ by some as a rhetorical device to serve their own expedient political and/or academic ends, they do not provide us with any meaningful answers to understand individual cases, or its prevalence in policing at all. This problem was especially evident in the empirical testimony by some expert witnesses testifying at the Khayelitsha Commission of Enquiry into the alleged breakdown of relations between the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the community in the area. In 2002, an ex-police officer Rafael Perez from the gang unit of the Lost Angeles Police Departments (LAPD) officially known as the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums unit (CRASH) went on trial for stealing cocaine from the evidence store, shooting and framing an innocent citizen, murdering the rap artist Notorious BIG, covering up a bank robbery, and being a member of the Bloods gang. On 25 February 2002 he testified to various philosophical mottos written on the doors of the CRASH units offices such as Some rise by sin and by virtue fall and We intimidate those who intimidate others and explained how this inspired collegial pride among members of his unit. He created the impression that among some CRASH gang unit members, these pseudo-philosophical slogans appeared to reinforce a delusion of seeing themselves as elite guardians of civil order above and against what they regarded as a hostile community whom they were mandated to serve. At his trial Rafael Perez commented on his and some of his gang units slide from expedient politically supported operational licentiousness and often publicly demanded excess in the execution of their duties which inevitably seeded the corruption of which they were accused as follows :- Whoever fights monsters should see to it that they do not become a monster. Perezs use of this particular quote from philosopher Frederich Nietsche work reflects a profound grasp of what happens to those we expect to fight the monsters we create, especially when we allow them the licentious latitude of our blind eye to their operational excess when dealing with crime in the interests of political expedience. However, in an age when demands for SANDF deployment of troops in gang areas and reference to the best practices of military policing along the lines of Rio de Janeiros Batalhão de Operacões Policias Especias (BOPE) unit are expediently peddled to gain political currency in the media to generate support to fight gangsterism, something else Perez neglected to mention when he did not complete the Nietsche quote at his trial speaks much more directly to the implications of this political expedience. Nietsches quote in full captures its essence better with his next statement: And if you gaze long enough into the abyss, it will gaze back at you.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:42:29 +0000
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