In the US between 2015 and 2020, police officers were involved in the killing of at least 2775 people. If we extrapolate from that, the figure for police killings of civilians between 2005 and 2020 – 15 years as opposed to 5 – would be well over 12,000 civilian. In the US between 2005 and 2020, just 5 police officers were convicted of murder. So that’s 5 police officers found guilty of murder in the case of roughly 12,000 killings by police. If you’re a police officer, the chances of you being convicted for murder should you kill a civilian are 0.04%. Truly long odds.
During the Troubles, the British military killed, we are told, 307 civilians. Just 4 British soldiers were given prison sentences for these killings, and all four were released inside 3 years.
There is a massive difference in size between the US and NEI, but the general approach is strikingly similar: if you wish to kill someone, maybe join the police or the military. Chances are you won’t be charged with murder and if you should be, your chances of serving a substantial prison sentence are tiny.
In the case of police in the US and British military here, it’s not as if there wasn’t lots of evidence. The testimony of witnesses, body cams, phone cameras – all provide layers of proof regarding the killings.
Protection: that’s what the police in any country are supposed to provide. Similarly, the job of an army is to protect the state and its citizens, not to kill citizens within that state. Where that happens, It’s the job of the state to see that justice is done.
So stop shaking your head sadly and answer me this: Have you ever heard an explanation as to why so few British soldiers here have been convicted, some for killings committed in broad daylight?
It’s almost touching to watch the American government’s efforts to reform its police forces. It’s almost perverse – no, it is perverse – that the UK authorities are outraged that even one soldier should be held to account for crimes committed in Derry almost 50 years ago.
So while the US authorities a little naïvely bend their efforts to transform their policing service, the UK authorities are bending their efforts to resist any of their armed forces being forced to appear in the dock for the murderous work they’ve done.
Give me cock-eyed optimism any day before cold-eyed cynicism.
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