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This is a very good question. In my experience there is an absolute gulf between what the average person on the street thinks they know about the law and the actuality of the law. How many times have I heard the cry "I know my rights!" followed by them proving otherwise. THREAD. https://twitter.com/gmhales/status/1316775679241990144
I am certain I'm not alone. Ask any officer how many times they have been told by a MOP they "can't" do something which they know, categorically, that they can. It will be every officer. The real question is why does the gap exist. Why are people so confident they are right?
Part of it is the constant characterisation of Police as thick or corrupt in news outlets, TV shows, books. It's a tradition going back to Shakespeare. Clive Emsley covers it well in The Great British Bobby, which I highly reccomend if you haven't read yet.
This view is carried on by The Guardian and the Daily Mail/Sun in particular but is pretty much across the board. There is absolutely no aknowledgement of how hard or complex the training is for many units or the breadth and depth of knowledge needed to be promoted etc.
The second part of this unholy trinity is that there is virtually no civic education in the UK. We don't teach people the law. It should be on the nat curriculum but it isn't. How can you have a view on the legitimacy of a vehicle stop if you don't know what sec 170 RTA says?
We (Police) also don't do a great job of publicising the realities of the job. Use of force *never* looks pretty. We have 8 hours of training A YEAR. That's why bundles look the way they do, like people clinging on for dear life. We could discuss this openly, ask ppl to try it?
I remember once explaining to a friend of mine that she didn't have an "absolute" right to be stop searched by a female (jacket, outer coat, gloves only) She was educated, pretty savvy. She didn't believe me. She was adamant I was lying. Now imagine if your cynical to begin with!
The final part of the trinity is that for the last 20 years we have been told that our opinion matters. That your lived experience is as valid as any experts facts, figures or science. For every astonomer on TV we also need Jim from Bolton to talk about the Earth being flat.
News shows have asked YOU to text/email in YOUR opinions, and we will read them out and pretend they have equal weight. We have coddled a nation into believing The Individual is king. Your rights are unassailable, your consent is sacrosanct. You cannot be offended or upset.
Everything is someone elses fault, everything is ******ist or ******phobic (insert chosen characteristic here). When viewed through this lens of victimhood, how can it not be? Occams razor is lost. It's fair easier to blame others than it is to educate oneself.
We have elevated people with no talent, expertise, or skill to positions of power and influence and allowed them to tell us that expertise doesn't matter. "We've had enough of experts" i think was the line used. We have devalued people who know their craft inside and out.
We have a nation of people for whom the top google search or facebook post is their gospel. Into this void the Shysters and manipulators moved. The Freemen of the Land, Sovereign Citizens, dodgy protest lawyers, Mackenzie friends and more. Spreading fake legal advice like tar.
Enter the poor copper. Trying to choose the least worst option, which is usually the essence of the job. When this meets the perfect storm of distain, a lack of knowledge and absolute self righteousness, what results is usally a complaint. A complaint which will rarely be upheld.
