Hey Nick, I didn't see your last comment before you withdrew it - but i don't mind people getting a bit irrate in my comments section - it leads to quality discussion and that's the whole point of articles as far as I'm concerned.
The police were called when my house was broken into a few years ago and they took electronics. They walked around and told me it was very unlikely the burglar could be caught and this sort of thing happens all the time. They gave a crime number and that was pretty much the end of it. They seemed to be a lot more thorough when they caught me going 4mph over the speed limit. This, for me, is part of the problem. The police never have enough men and resources, until of course there's a royal wedding or the Government wants to begin the battle of Orgreave again.
However, you can't rely on anecdotes alone and your point about a civil society requiring a police force is a good one. And alas I must concede that you are right - there must be people who uphold justice and who are given the power to keep the peace. A society without some form of this power would rapidly fall apart and turn into anarachy. At least to some degree - already areas of London are flirting with having their own private police forces. It's a complicated problem and not one easily solved.
You're right, I didn't advocate shutting down the NHS in the light of Harold Shipman, but I do recommend that people thoroughly question their doctors and are insistent when they aren't listened to and get second opinions. There is a power imbalance in the doctor's surgery too that needs addressing - and far too many people die as a result of it. However, the NHS do not act as enforcers of the Government law.
My main issue with the police is best understood by the book Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning. The book is about the turning of a polish reserve battalion into an Einsatzgrupen death squad. That isn't likely to happen here, because we have a moderate and liberal Government - but if that stops, the police force don't go away. They have a duty to enforce 'the law' they don't have any say over direction of travel of the law.
That's why things like the recent reforms are problematic in my eyes. I'm a libertarian, I want the police (as the instrument of the state) to be as hands off as possible. Part of that is, as you've stated, the proliferation of sociopaths and psychopaths. A few of those in the top end of power making and changing the laws and we're in trouble. Laws are there as a balancing act between parties, not a tool for Government to get their own way. The latter is a tempting direction of travel the rest of us must guard against.
My judgment on BDSM was a non judgment. I'm fine with BDSM because I'm a libertaraian. Consenting adults and all that. The point is rather how many people would apply for a police force if the standard to do so is 'open book'? If you looked at a BDSM site in 2008 that would be known to the public, but so what?, but... if you've got a long standing fetish for handcuffing people and beating them with a stick (fine when consensual) that's pertinent to the role you're applying for.
Companies can phone up and check my DBS if they like. I have a pile of them. If my computer history was ever checked I would be painted in the most outrageous light ever. That's why I have this as my mousemat.
Thanks for jumping in and adding to the conversation. As always, there's an air of sensationalism and clickbaiting in what I write. Those things do work, but they are underpinned by a genuine feeling of anti-state control. :o)
