Good reason to keep faith with police neutrality

Many years ago, I was driving in New York City and got pulled over by police. There was a lot of shouting and, as I reached for my identification, I found myself facing drawn guns. Then the officers realised they had the wrong car. Without a word of apology, they rushed off to chase whoever it was they were after.

On other occasions, I have experienced rudeness from American and other overseas law enforcers while peacefully going about my affairs and I know lots of other people have had similar experiences.

Perhaps we are spoilt in Hong Kong. We are used to police and other officials who are, for the most part, polite and respectful. We expect that.

We also expect them to be politically neutral in the performance of their duties. Unfortunately, the police now find themselves facing charges of political bias. As a result, they face the possibility of greater hostility from those who take part in political demonstrations.

Like most people, I was not present at the now-famous incident when teacher Alpais Lam Wai-sze confronted and swore at police. I did see the video. I feel quite strongly that her behaviour was excessive. If she felt officers were being unfair in the way they were handling the two opposing groups that day, she could have gathered evidence and made a formal complaint. She herself was probably being unfair by blaming frontline officers who were trying to do a difficult job. In New York City, she would probably have ended up in handcuffs in the back of a van.

The allegation that the police are becoming politically biased is very serious. The idea that officers on the street are under orders from above to deal more harshly with one group than another seems unrealistic. The senior officer on any scene has a great deal of discretion about how to handle particular situations, and when there is pushing and shoving, or worse, he or she does not have time to take sides.