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2019年11月6日

EJ Insight

We must address the police question with urgency and reason

Weekend after weekend, Hong Kong descends into predictable violence. Shops are targeted, people of different political opinions abused and attacked by belligerents from both sides, with the police-civilian relations sinking to ever-lower depths. It angers me to see youths turning to vandalism, destruction, and other forms of violence to achieve what they view as a legitimate cause. The police have every right to deploy force against violent vandals who break the law.

Yet I also hope it is uncontroversial to say that against individuals who are neither violent nor involved in the destructive behaviors, there is no principled ground – by protocol or morality – to employ excessive force against them. From the inexplicable firing of tear-gas towards bystanders or peaceful onlookers, to the impetuous and vindictive haranguing of those who simply voice dissent towards the police, to firing colored water at the Kowloon Mosque – there are simply too many instances of unacceptable police actions over the past four or five months. The use of force by the police against violent lawbreakers is only persuasively justifiable and legitimate if they do not also indiscriminately deploy weapons of significant destruction – teargas rounds and live bullets – against those who are not violent lawbreakers: journalists, first-aid providers and emergency medical technicians, housewives, youngsters, and children.

Regardless of your political orientation, you should be concerned about this. A polity with minimal civilian-police trust is one where crimes are likely to proliferate, where vigilantism – as we already have seen – becomes the dominant mode of settling disputes outside the law, and where the legitimacy of the governing authorities becomes irrevocably damaged. It is no coincidence that one of the primary – if not the predominant – demands of the movement has now become a call for accountability and justice over police actions. If sustainable and publicly acceptable solutions could be found with regard to police violence, I am confident that up to 75 percent of the movement would dissolve and "sever ties" with those who continue to deploy violence. In contrast, persisting deployment of excessive force only fuels the protests and lends angry individuals on all sides a convenient excuse to continue to tear our city apart.

There is no excuse for inaction or apathy. We must address the question of police misconduct with a sense of urgency, a compassionate outlook, and pragmatic reasonableness. We must do away with inflammatory rhetoric or hatred, or presumptions that blind us to the inadequacies and flaws on all sides. We must act with the intention of solving – not exacerbating – the crisis.

First, it is imperative that police conduct and actions are investigated through a robust and comprehensive Committee of Inquiry, led by an independently appointed panel of judges. If pro-establishment forces suspect foul play or foreign money is at work, let's investigate that. If many moderates are indignant about the administration's shortcomings, let's investigate that too. Yet we must have a thorough investigation that takes seriously an issue that draws concern from 80 percent of the public (according to a mass poll by Center for Communication and Public Opinion Survey of the Chinese University of Hong Kong).

This investigation does not necessarily have to emphasize portioning blame on an individual level, but could instead focus on identifying structural loopholes and failures that led to today's impasse. Even a pro-establishment legislator as staunch and ideologically rigid as Priscilla Leung Mei-fun has repeatedly called on the government to set up a Riots, Victims, and Communities Panel that will address both concerns of police conduct and the causes of the ongoing protests. Those in power cannot afford to ignore the people's voices – any longer.

Second, we must recognise that the frontline officers are not the problem – some of them may be symptoms of deeper problems, whereas many of them are merely trying to do their jobs under an increasingly difficult circumstances. It would be absurd to insist that all policemen are immoral agents, but we must reflect upon and address properly the structural inadequacies that propel them to carry out unconscionable actions. It is high time that politicians and high-ranking bureaucrats in the administration stepped up to address the core issues at hand today – as opposed to continually exploiting the tenacity of the disciplinary forces as a shield from accountability and genuine solutions. At the same time, we must condemn ludicrous vigilante attacks on the lives of off-duty policemen.

Third, there are many imminent and visceral questions over police conduct over the past few months that merit open addressing – as opposed to opaque equivocation. Questions over the events of July 21, Aug. 31, Oct. 1 must be addressed, and the police should – as they have insisted previously – show the public both sides of the story. Transparent and frank communication would go a long way in assuaging the worries and fears of many moderates, in ways that obstinate denialism simply cannot.

What can we, as ordinary citizens, do? I suggest listening, embracing, and channeling – listening to the concerns and voices of both extremes, embracing that some among them could well be valid, and channeling these complaints and grievances into constructive proposals. I cannot say that I have come up with a panacea, but would suggest that if we shift our collective attention from emotive inflammation to lobbying for genuine accountability, we may find our tomorrow a little less bleak, our city a little less desperate, and peace and order a tad less far-fetched than they currently are.

A Concerned Hong Konger

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