How dare people care about others
At a time when the only coverage of police issues revolves around angry confrontations with protesters, it's good to have a story about the cops showing their more caring community-based face, isn't it?
Well, it is, unless you're the Daily Express*. Cops trying to show respect for trans people is HOSTING POLITICALLY CORRECT CANDLELIT VIGILS FOR SEX SWAP CRIME VICTIMS. It really is PC gone mad, isn't it?!?!? And of course, some 'critics' are wheeled in to tut-tut at this reaching-out by the police:
But critics questioned whether sending police officers to the events was a wise use of resources in the face of looming budget cuts. Tory community safety spokesman Bill Aitken said: “Clearly, anyone who has been the victim of crime deserves to be remembered... I am surprised that the police had the time and resources at a weekend to carry out this service. Perhaps things are not as tight as they think.”
It's the classic 'public expenditure / PC gone mad' narrative: here are these diversity-loving bleeding hearts, wasting taxpayer cash on, ugh, being inclusive and stuff, when they could be, well, doing something else instead. But here's what is really unpleasant:
Richard Cook, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, added: “The police need to remember that catching criminals is the reason people pay their taxes in the first place, not for them to hold vigils like this.”
Do you know what, Richard Cook, of the Campaign Against Political Correctness? You're wrong. Don't you dare tell me what I want my tax money spent on. This is what irks me most about the Tax Payers Alliance / Campaign Against Political Correctness astroturf rentaquotes: they presume to speak on everyone's behalf, and are taken as such by the journalists involved to try and create an angle. But where is the welcoming for this move by the trans community?
No, this isn't news, this is just one-sided pie-chucking. The paper says "Strathclyde Police statistics show that there have been no homophobic murders or attempted murders since officers started recording hate crimes", as if murders or attempted murders are the sum total of all hate crimes. It's wilfully bad journalism. So some police took some time out to go and try a bit of outreach? Good for them, and as a taxpayer I, for one, am very glad they're doing that. But then, no-one asks for my comment on these stories, because I'm not going to give the desired 'PC gone mad' quote.
* I'm not sure if this version is specific to the Scottish Daily Express or is there for everyone to enjoy.
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November 24th, 2010 - 18:25
I hadn’t seen that Express piece but it’s so unpleasant that i now feel slightly sick. Thanks for bringing it to my attention though.
November 24th, 2010 - 18:27
No one ever asks but I would willingly have my tax money spent on horse whipping and/or throwing rotting fish at the tax payers alliance until they admit they are just a bunch or right wing nut jobs
November 24th, 2010 - 18:45
*applause*
November 24th, 2010 - 19:27
Raising awareness of crime is a rather important part of preventing it in the future, and arguing against awareness raising efforts, saying that they’re a waste of time, just normalises the crime.
Just another example of privilege arguing against a measure that is designed to stop a something horrible that they’re very likely never going to experience. It smacks of I’m all right jack.
November 24th, 2010 - 20:06
It’s the last line that seals it for me…
“no additional costs”
So… Where’s the story then? If it didn’t cost them anything extra, it’s got precisely bollock-all to do with their budget has it?
Fuck’s sake.
November 24th, 2010 - 22:39
I believe the Prime Minister himself has said that the police should be a Force, not a Service. People like the Prime Minister don’t pay their taxes* so that little people can be Serviced by a Service. People like the Prime Minister pay their taxes* so that little people can be Forced by a Force.
*To the extent that they pay any taxes at all, that is.
November 25th, 2010 - 08:06
Worth reading all the way to the very end of the article, where the police point out that “No additional costs” were incurred by the events. So the basic premise of the article is flawed – whether or not this is a good use of money is irrelevant, as NO MONEY WAS SPENT on it. I wonder if Tory community safety spokesman Bill Aitken bothered to check this before spouting off.
And I wonder if he bothered to read his own government’s “Working for LGB and T equality”, which was launched with much fanfare by David Cameron and Theresa May back in the summer: http://www.equalities.gov.uk/media/press_releases/theresa_may_government_commit.aspx
It included these two promises:
“We will promote better recording of hate crimes against homosexual and transgender people, which are frequently not centrally recorded. We will improve access to, and the quality of, support and reporting services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of hate crime. We will also continue to review the progress made across Government and consider what further steps could be taken to tackle homophobic and transphobic hate crime. This will include raising awareness of transgender issues and increasing training for Crown Prosecution Service staff in dealing with transphobic hate crime cases.”
In other words, we will do what we can to make LGBT people feel like they can trust the police and have their complaints about hate crime taken seriously.
I expect the Express to peddle this kind of filth (my favourite bit is the sarcastic scare quotes around “personal safety classes” – how dare the police try and prevent crime!) and I wouldn’t piss on the TPA if they were on fire, but you’d hope a relatively senior member of the Conservative Party would at least be aware of his own policies.
November 25th, 2010 - 11:37
Primly:
From the above it is clear that you have never met Bill Aitken. I have had that dubious pleasure on a number of occasions – miles to the right of even the Scottish Conservatives mainstream, he really is utterly untainted by any self-doubt, wholly unwilling to consider any counter-argument; a “Daily Mail” editorial made flesh.
The meeting when a group of criminal justice professionals (governors, lawyers, criminologists, psychologists) tried to persuade him that their battery of experience and statistical evidence might be preferable to his half-dozen homely anecdotes from Glasgow District Court, without any success, is something that with time I may be able to forget, but I doubt it.
November 25th, 2010 - 09:56
If the police are only there to cath criminals then the people who the taxpayers alliance and the anti PC people are no longer allowed to complain when the victim of a crime is forgotten about
November 25th, 2010 - 12:13
“The police need to remember that catching criminals is the reason people pay their taxes in the first place, not for them to hold vigils like this.”
Subtle distinction, but I want the police to deter as well as detect crime. Does holding events like this help prevent crimes? I don’t know, but it sounds worth trying. How will we find out otherwise?
No additional costs? Sounds like the best kind of outreach experiment. Cost = £0.00. If the benefit is >0 then the benefit per unit cost = ?ERR? – uhoh, that calculation broke my brain. It’s Political Correctness gone mad!
November 26th, 2010 - 00:26
There’s certainly a plausible mechanism by which such initiatives can not only help deter crime, but also catch criminals when crimes do occur.
When a group of people (a “community” if you like) collectively have a bad relationship with the police (or officialdom in general), two things are more likely.
First, if two people within the community have a personal grievance they may be more inclined to settle it without police involvement, potentially involving violence. If the potential aggressor felt it more likely their complaint would be taken seriously by police it might discourage such violence. Equally, the potential victim may be more likely to seek some form of police protection before the issue escalates to violence.
Result: crime deterred.
Second, victims of, or witnesses to, crimes may be more likely to co-operate with the police if relations are improved. Without such co-operation, prosecutions are much harder to bring and convictions much harder to get. So improved relations also helps solve crimes.
It doesn’t even have to be crimes where both the victim and perpetrator are within the community. If you asked any policeman whether the state of community relations in Toxteth or Brixton in the 80s helped or hindered them in solving crimes committed by people in those communities against outsiders, I bet we could all guess the answer. Belonging to a community who distrust or feel threatened by the police gives any criminal within that community some level of protection they would not otherwise have.
November 27th, 2010 - 14:40
Just lately, I’ve noticed that trans no longer condemn their criminal element or offer only a token comment. All the anger is directed at the scum-bandits and shit-scribblers. It wasn’t like that a year ago. Even when we tell the police, we have to face a court appearance which means yet more humiliation.
There’s only one way of dealing with the situation realistically and we saw that back in 1980-81, as you say. I warned the PCC about this a year ago. They didn’t even acknowledge my letter. You can see it coming a mile off. I’ve held off saying anything about it publicly until now, lest it become a self-fulfilling prophecy, but there’s a momentum building and I don’t think it would be wise to keep it quiet any longer.
November 25th, 2010 - 13:41
What I find most sickening in that article is the subtext that this is a waste because trans people aren’t worth remembering and aren’t deserving of compassion. It’s fucking disgusting, I know I should expect no better from the Express or any tabloid but the total marginalisation of incredibly vulnerable people is just appalling.
November 25th, 2010 - 14:22
Quite. The Express seemed quite keen on people holding vigils for dead soldiers, ex-princesses, missing toddlers and Baby P. But dead transsexuals? Meh, waste of (no) money.
November 25th, 2010 - 16:02
My Dad’s just forwarded me a ‘hilarious’ email in the form of a dialogue between Admiral nelson and Hardy, which is an ‘hilarious’ extended comic trope along the lines of can’t-say-that-about-the-French, Diversity Officers on board, Health and Safety Gone Mad and so on. It’s made me gag I’m so fucking annoyed about it.
It’s only tangentially related to this post but I had to get it off my chest.
Carry on.
November 25th, 2010 - 18:48
That’s actually a Littlejohn article.
November 27th, 2010 - 14:32
I emailed Bill Aitken and told him what had taken place at Glasgow. Mr Aitken told me that he’d been told something somewhat different and asked to comment on it. Bill Aitken recently steered the hate crime legislation through the Scottish parliament which doesn’t chime with the sentiments that the Express attribute to him. I’ve not challenged the CAPC yet, but really, there’s little point. We know what the Express are trying to achieve and how they operate.
November 29th, 2010 - 08:23
I’m sorry I’m a few days late with this; I’ll hope you’ll forgive me. I didn’t read so far as the editorial in the copy of the Scottish Daily Express that I bought (the shame).
Editorial from the Scottish Daily Express
Tuesday 23rd November 2010, page 12
Police Are Losing Touch
According to the police, their attendance at a transgender day of remembrance was to help them tackle “transphobic” hate crime. It would help if we had a definition of the word transphobic; very possibly it would have been useful to the officers who were told to attend as well.
Obviously, all groups in society should feel safe from attack, physical or verbal, but this police obsession to pander to every minority, particularly if they are defined by their sexual preferences, is becoming preposterous. It is also giving the great majority of the public the impression that some groups are more worthy of police protection, sympathy and understanding than others.
Very many crimes go unreported because the public believe the police are not interested in following them up. If the police persist with these highly questionable poses, they can hardly be surprised if public confidence in them dwindles any further.
November 29th, 2010 - 12:42
Wait so what they’re saying with “Very many crimes go unreported because the public believe the police are not interested in following them up. If the police persist with these highly questionable poses, they can hardly be surprised if public confidence in them dwindles any further.”
Because the Police attended a vigil for transpeople in order to foster better relations with the community, other (apparently more important) groups will loose confidence in them.
Are they advocating that the police ignore transpeople and transphobic crimes? Is it even legal to print that?
November 29th, 2010 - 12:52
Trans Media Watch is working to challenge this sort of hatred. The Express is a difficult one, but we are increasingly seeing editors of other papers, and broadcasters, acknowledge that the endemic transphobia in the media is a big problem and one that urgently needs to be challenged. Our hope is that we can eventually isolate journalists and editors like those behind this article, exposing them for the bigots they are. If you would like to help, find us on Facebook or check out our website at http://www.transmediawatch.co.uk – we’re volunteer run and can always use assistance.