FRENCH GLOBAL SECURITY LAW PROTECTS POLICE AND ALL CIVIL SOCIETY

 FRENCH “GLOBAL SECURITY” LAW PROTECTS POLICE AND ALL CIVIL SOCIETY  

WITHOUT SUCH LAWS WE TURN PARIS AND NEW YORK INTO  “DODGE CITY” 

Recently, the French parliament has proposed and green lighted a “global security” law which aims to protect the police from those who would maliciously photograph officers while in the conduct of their duty.  The law would impose a stiff fine and or a jail sentence of as much as a year in prison on offenders. 

A casual observer might wonder what is the motivation? 

The French are a practical people who suffered through being the battleground of two world wars and have a long national history, punctuated by violence, uprisings, civil unrest stemming from their past colonial history etc. etc.  The citizenry suffered through their violent past and understand the importance of balancing the two cardinal objectives of any functioning central government: to keep the peace and enforce the laws of the state, as well, to protect the right of peaceful politicalr protest. 

There is a fine line that every functioning state must adhere to. It has to protect the rights of all its citizens to live in a law abiding  and orderly nation where citizens can conduct business and live in peace and security, and on the other hand it must also protect the rights of free assembly and free speech guaranteed to its citizens. 

Sadly, the French and the rest of the world at large have been witness in recent  months to fearful violent events in the USA where the excesses of officials of local and state governments ignor3d their function to keep the peace and enforce laws and under pressure from rioters undermined police function in an attempt to protect not only peaceful demonstrators  but even those who stooped to lawlessness,arson, looting, and horrible acts of violence.  .

The act of permitting police to be photographed and then using these evidences agasint them in a malicious manner has too often counter productive, dangerous and unwanted outcomes. It undermines the essential function of a state to protect its citizenry from lawlessness, violence and property damage. A civil productive, economically viable society can not survive in a “Dodge City”. We need an effective police force and law enforcement first. The French have made the right decision.  Order first...then justice and demonstrations can all  be possible. Nothing can be accomplished in a Dodge City. 

In Dodge City the only justice comes at the end of a baseball bat or the smoking muzzle of a gun. 

The French clearly are opposed to falling into a similar morass of riots and violence  They are a nation with a long history of respect for the law and a citizenry who too well remember the horrors  of the pitfalls inherent in uncontrolled  (even sanctioned) street violence we have seen here...

In every civil society both  the police, as well as citizens and journalists must be protected for it to continue to survive and function. The global security law of the French  parliament  is an attempt to keep these key elements in proper balance and insure that the French  police can function without fear of reprisal.  

Perhaps, some spark of intelligence may arise somewhere in our own government and result in a similar law here in the USA. 

The alternative to “global security” is police dysfunction, declining efficiency and recruitment, insufficient force level , rising anger from citizens who pay for security through taxes and receive nothing in return,  and civil unrest and vigilantism when a frightened  and armed citizenry is  forced to protect themselves—a return to Dodge City.