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C00002 00002	THE POLICE AS GLADIATORS
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THE POLICE AS GLADIATORS

	The repeated  physical  confrontations between  demonstrators
and police raise some problems that should be understood. 

Scenario:  The police  are called  by the University  to clear  out a
sit-in.  There is  a fight. Some  demonstrators are injured and  some
police are injured.   There are arrests.  There  are accusations that
the  arrested  were mistreated.   Some  of  the charges  are dropped.
There  is a  trial  after  many delays.    Some  of the  accused  are
acquitted and some are convicted.  There are appeals, and some of the
convicted eventually spend some  time in jail where  they may or  may
not be mistreated. 

The above happens repeatedly. 

The demonstrator is a  volunteer; if he does not like  the results of
one  demonstration he is  free to avoid  others.  If  he is  not in a
combative mood today, he can  wait for the next demonstration.   Even
so, repeated participation in fights with the police has an effect on
his psychology, but I don't have a clear idea what it is. 

The  policeman is  not a volunteer  for the  particular duty.   He is
called out, usually on  overtime, taken to an unfamiliar  place, told
to wait  for an indefinite time  while the higher-ups  dicker with or
threaten the demonstrators and decide  what to do.  Sometimes,  he is
sent home, and sometimes  he is sent in to clear  out some unfamiliar
place and make some arrests.  He does not know what the demonstrators
have planned for him.  He has the psychological compensation  that he
has  superior force  and that  he  will almost  certainly succeed  in
occupying the area and at least scattering the demonstrators. 

	However,  he  may  get hurt,  usually  by  a  thrown object.  
Getting hurt is  not a normal part  of his job.   He does not  regard
himself as a  gladiator risking injury or death  for money.  Instead,
he regards himself  as a minor  bureaucrat, he tells  people to  stop
doing illegal things, he  arrests miscreants and takes them  to jail,
he engages in dull patrols in whcih nothing happens, etc.  

	What  are  the  likely  effects  of  repeated fights  on  his
psychology? 

	1. He wants to play  it safe; this means overwhelming  force.
Not all  police are  equally Gung Ho.   Some may  hang back  to avoid
injury,  and  some may  concentrate  their attentions  on  smaller or
female demonstrators  and leave  their  colleagues to  deal with  the
larger  male ones.   The  more combative  will be  preferred by  their
superiors even  at  the  cost of  forgiving  minor  pecadilloes  like
hitting too hard or hitting injured people or unresisting people. 

	2. He probably does not think too highly of the legal process
as  a  deterrent.    (He reads  in  the  paper  that charges  against
Poindexter were dismissed on the grounds that perhaps he  didn't know
that Angela  Davis was  a fugitive).   Therefore,  he is  inclined to
apply  his own deterrent,  i.e. to  hit harder than  necessary and to
beat up prisoners.  He knows this is wrong; deterrence  is to be left
to the courts.  What  will happen depends on his personality, whether
someone who hit  him the last  time got off  without punishment,  the
attitude of his superiors, and whether they can see him. 

	3. He  will be reluctant  to take part  in the  next fracas. 
Perhaps he  will be sick; perhaps he will  put pressure on his police
chief to refuse to  come next time or to  put on conditions like  the
police getting to handle the matter  in their own way without faculty
observers.  He may even develop an inclination to