AGONY
UNCLE
Q: I was on a train in South
London recently when I saw
a group of young teenage
boys walking down the car-
riage brazenly trying to steal
from people’s bags. Passen-
gers were distressed. I spoke
to the person next to me, a
local schoolteacher, who sug-
gested I call the police. I did
so, but paused when the ques-
tion came: ‘And what race are
they?’ I am a person of colour
so I know as much as anyone
that London’s police force is
institutionally racist and dis-
proportionately targets dark-
skinned people. Telling the
operator that the boys were
black would licence offic-
ers to profile all the young
black boys in the area, pos-
sibly leading to violent and
alienating encounters. At the
same time, nobody should be
a victim of this type of theft.
In short: is it right to call the
police when you can’t trust
that they won’t act in a racist
manner? – Concerned of
South London
A: In the United States, to call
the police on a black person –
especially if they have mental-
health issues – is to put them
closer to death. It’s as simple
as that. In London, we know
from the MacPherson Report
that the police force is ‘insti-
tutionally racist’, as you say,
and that deaths in custody are
at their highest for a decade in
England and Wales. Across the
world, it tends to be the poor,
folk, with strong ties and
respect in the community, can
often play a mediating or dis-
ciplinary role that bypasses
the state and this can lead to
a more meaningful resolution
of social conflict than calling
in armed brutes.
But what if you’re not part
of a community or if this
happens in a transitory public
space like a train? Having
reflected on your dilemma, I
would have seriously consid-
ered not phoning the police,
particularly given the lack of
violence and age of the sus-
pects. As Dr Adam Elliott-
Cooper, an expert in police
violence at the University of
Greenwich, tells me: ‘If ourthe marginalized, the indig-
enous who feel the brunt of
racist policing, as the historical
and essential function of the
police is protecting the inter-
ests of private property.
In this context, the notion
that it’s not worth calling the
police when you see people
breaking the law is just stating
the obvious for some com-
munities. The Chicago-based
educator Benji Hart writes that
‘finding alternatives to calling
the police...has long been a
way of life’ for black, poor and
undocumented people in the
US.^1 He writes about watch-
ing a community elder chas-
tise a group of youngsters who
engaged in violence: elderlyprimary concern is the safety
of everyone involved, both
passengers on the train and
the group of young people,
then calling the police is
unlikely to make either group
safer.’ What’s likely to happen
is the police arrive ‘long after
the incident has taken place,
collect statements (and perhaps
some evidence) and move on’.
And even if they do appre-
hend the suspected thieves,
Elliott-Cooper continues,
‘there is little evidence that
prison or other punitive
measures make people less
likely to become involved in
crime – in fact, it is quite the
opposite: the trauma and iso-
lation of incarcerations often
further alienates people from
their communities, families
and services they may need
to access. And while non-cus-
todial sentences may have less
of a detrimental impact on the
wellbeing of a young person,
there is still little evidence
that it reduces the likelihood
of getting sucked back into
crime.’ The police cannot fix
social problems. They make
them worse. Deep social and
economic transformation is
called for. Until this happens,
avoid enabling unnecessary
encounters between the police
and the policed. OSEND YOUR DILEMMAS TO
[email protected]1 Benji Hart, ‘There’s nothing new
about not calling the cops’, In These
Times, July 2018.Ethical and political dilemmas abound these days. Seems like
we’re all in need of a New Internationalist perspective.
Enter stage: Agony Uncle.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2019 81
ILLUSTRATION: EMMA PEER