00100	THE POLICE AS GLADIATORS
00200	
00300		The repeated physical confrontations between demonstrators
00400	and police raise some problems that should be understood.
00500	
00600	Scenario: The police are called by the University to clear out a
00700	sit-in.  There is a fight. Some demonstrators are injured and
00800	some police are injured.  There are arrests.  There are accusations
00900	that the arrested were mistreated.  Some of the charges are 
01000	dropped.  There is a trial after many delays.  Some of the
01100	accused are acquitted and some are convicted.  There are appeals,
01200	and some of the convicted eventually spend some time in jail
01300	where they may or may not be mistreated.
01400	
01500	The above happens repeatedly.
01600	
01700	The demonstrator is a volunteer; if he does not like the results
01800	of one demonstration he is free to avoid others.  If he is not
01900	in a combative mood today, he can wait for the next demonstration.
02000	Even so, repeated participation in fights with the police has
02100	an effect on his psychology, but I don't have a clear idea what it
02200	is.
02300	
02400	The policeman is not a volunteer for the particular duty.  He is
02500	called out, usually on overtime, taken to an unfamiliar place,
02600	told to wait for an indefinite time while the higher-ups
02700	dicker with or threaten the demonstrators and decide what to do.
02800	Sometimes, he is sent home, and sometimes he is sent in to clear
02900	out some unfamiliar place and make some arrests.  He does not
03000	know what the demonstrators have planned for him.    He has the
03100	psychological compensation that he has superior force and that
03200	he will almost certainly succeed in occupying the area and
03300	at least scattering the demonstrators.
03400	
03500		However, he may get hurt, usually by a thrown object.
03600	Getting hurt is not a normal part of his job.  He does not
03700	regard himself as a gladiator risking injury or death
03800	for money.  Instead, he regards himself as a minor 
03900	bureaucrat, he tells people to stop doing illegal things,
04000	he arrests miscreants and takes them to jail, he engages in
04100	dull patrols in whcih nothing happens, etc.  
04200	
04300		What are the likely effects of repeated fights on his
04400	psychology?
04500	
04600		1. He wants to play it safe; this means overwhelming
04700	force.  Not all police are equally Gung Ho.  Some
04710	may hang back to avoid injury, and some may concentrate their
04720	attentions on smaller or female demonstrators and leave their
04730	colleagues to deal with the larger male ones.
04740	The more combative will be preferred by their superiors even
04750	at the cost of forgiving minor pecadilloes like hitting too
04760	hard or hitting injured people or unresisting people.
04800	
04900		2. He probably does not think too highly of the
05000	legal process as a deterrent.  (He reads in the paper that charges
05100	against Poindexter were dismissed on the grounds that perhaps
05200	he didn't know that Angela Davis was a fugitive).  Therefore,
05300	he is inclined to apply his own deterrent, i.e. to hit harder
05400	than necessary and to beat up prisoners.  He knows this is wrong;
05500	deterrence is to be left to the courts.  What will happen
05600	depends on his personality, whether someone who hit him the last
05700	time got off without punishment, the attitude of his 
05800	superiors, and whether they can see him.
05900	
06000		3. He will be reluctant to take part in the next fracas.
06100	Perhaps he will be sick; perhaps he will  put pressure on his
06200	police chief to refuse to come next time or to put on conditions
06300	like the police getting to handle the matter in their own way
06400	without faculty observers.  He may even develop an inclination
06500	to