Jackson, Cops put through futile mano dura motions

The other day, as I was washing my clothes at a Via España laundromat, I witnessed Mireya Moscoso’s “mano dura” --- hard hand --- in action. It wasn’t a pleasant sight.

Cops in green fatigues were going down the street, stopping every adolescent boy or young man who happened to be black and furthermore wore clothing or a hairstyle reflecting the hip hop fashion. The police searched such persons and demanded to see their ID. One of these stops took place in front of the laundromat.

I didn’t see anyone arrested, nor was anybody physically brutalized in my presence.

Nevertheless, I saw Panama’s social fabric tearing.

The two officers who performed the search, a man and a woman who were as black as the young man they stopped, wore expressions that made it appear that they were even more annoyed than the object of their attention. They did not seem to be angry at the kid, and other than the unwarranted search and interrogation based on a generational, cultural and racial profile, they were perfectly courteous to him.

I watched and listened, but stood back and asked no questions. Not having asked the police about their opinions, and lacking the power to read their minds, I can only guess at the reason for the officers’ scowls.

It seems that the politicians had sent the police on a quixotic mission, one that more than anything else would serve to poison the cops’ relationship with some of the people on their beats.

The politicians who ordered this unreasonable crackdown will be out of office soon enough. The officers I watched, however, will remain at their posts. The people whom they stopped and searched will also be around for many years to come --- long after hip hop will have become passé --- and they will on the whole tend to be less inclined to lend a hand when law enforcement needs their assistance.

The job of maintaining order in society is frequently unpleasant. Even when it’s easy to distinguish the total jerks from the suffering citizens, it’s not a lot of fun to play the heavy to the bad guys. But when an institution systematically disrespects a segment of the population, reciprocity kicks in and the representatives of that institution will usually be repaid with sullen non-cooperation and worse from the objects of that disrespect.

When the police want to know which way the purse snatcher ran, or need information to solve a murder case, guys whom the cops once singled out for their baggy pants or radical hair and who are in positions to help aren’t likely to volunteer their assistance.

I am not for a police state. Throughout my life, a number of my dealings with police forces have been of an adversarial nature. Despite that I realize that we need cops to maintain some minimal standards of civilization. Most cops, in turn, realize that they need public cooperation to do their job.

What I saw on Via España the other day undermined that cooperation, and I suspect that the officers involved were acutely and uncomfortably aware of that.

Yes, Panama does need to face up to some serious law enforcement problems. I hope that the next government will go about that task intelligently and professionally, without insisting that the police go through the futile motions that I observed.

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opinion

Going through the futile motions