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Over the years, I've heard a fair number of slurs shouted at campus cops. Seldom were they "pig" or "fascist." Far more often, they diminished the power of the officer, using words like " fake cop" or "rent-a-cop". This is which the power and class dynamics get tricky.(1)____ They are real cops. Employing by California, they are agents of the state.(2)____ They've got weapons. And the payment is not bad at all.(3)____
On the other hand, campus police at U.C. Berkeley and U.C. Davis, patrol kids who'd call them failures if they grew up to be cops; kids who have more opportunities than the children of the campus cops; kids who will most be more successful than campus cops; kids who even enjoy the ultimate loyalty of U.C. faculty and most administrators.(4)____(5)____ Just look at what happened before U.C. Berkeley administrators sent in cops with batons, and U.C. Davis administrators sent in cops with pepper spray.(6)____ Predictive quarrels occurred.(7)____ Batons and pepper spray were used. Images leaked. And suddenly administrators were launching investigations!(8)____ And issuing statements about how deeply they cared for the students! Did they fail to anticipate that the weapons would be turned on passive protesters?
They' d do well to read " Shooting an Elephant," George Orwell's reflection on his time as a British imperial police officer in Burma, if so. To be clear, I don't think imperialism is an apt analogy when police forcibly remove from Occupy Cal or Davis protesters.(9)____ And I do think Orwell helps us understand why officers who aren't monsters might use wildly excessive force.(10)____
