Letters | An attack on police is an attack on Hong Kong’s rule of law
- Officers do not deserve the abuse heaped on them for doing their job, and violent protesters are the ones putting the rest of the community at risk
I feel blessed to live in one of China’s special administrative regions – there are hardly safer places on Earth if we also take into account the freedoms enjoyed by the citizens here. While the police cannot be credited alone for this achievement, they account for a very significant part of the reason we have such low criminality. The force works day in, day out, to ensure that you can go to the darkest corner of this region and return unharmed.
In a time and place where becoming a banker, a doctor or a lawyer is supposedly more appealing, the police are still able to recruit people on the basis of the dignity of the profession and the inherently humbling glory of being on the front line when it comes to serving our community. That is, I assume, what drives our police officers to put on that uniform every day, patrol the streets and even take up mundane tasks, including managing traffic or standing guard, sometimes in dreadful weather.
It seems elementary to explain this, but the force, though it is a part of the government, does not draft or approve policies, it only executes orders. It thus seems obvious that any grievances that people have with policies (or proposals therein) should not be lodged with the police. The force is there to protect and maintain public order, not define it.
Those engaging in such conduct are not only being disrespectful towards the individuals whose job it is to protect the community, they are also hindering the force from doing its work and thus putting other people at risk.