Sunday, May 9, 2010

"I'll take career enders in the police force for SEK500, Axel."

Axel:  Alright, Olaf controls the board.
Olaf:  I'll take career enders for SEK500, Axel.
Axel:  Doing this could get you summarily suspended, demoted or fired.
Olaf:  Um ... what is ... being politically active in the Swedish Democrat Party?
Axel:  That is correct.  One would need to be active in the Swedish Social Democrat Party to ensure career advancement.  Okay, Olaf you retain control of the board ...

From The Local (Stockholm) -- "Police Launch Q&A Game to Solve Ethical Dilemmas":

Is it okay to be a police officer and be politically active with the Sweden Democrats, a nationalist party? Is it appropriate for police officers to write about their profession on Facebook? These are a few issues that the the Swedish Police Union (Polisförbundet) address in its new professional ethics tool, a flashcard game.

The aim of the tool, called MoralMatch and developed by police union activists, is to increase the ethical standards of the police.

"I hope this contributes to higher ethics in the police force," Police Union Chairman Jan Karlsen told The Local on Friday.

"It's necessary to make progress in ethical questions. A good way to start talking about it is with simple play. It is necessary to discuss ethics and very important for a police force. We have to remind ourselves everyday, so to speak."

Swedish police were dogged by allegations of racism last year after a police officer was disciplined for describing a suspect as a "negro" in an email, while Malmö police used fictional names such "Neger Niggersson" and "Oskar Neger" (Negro) for internal training purposes.

The new game hopes to prevent these types of situations from occurring and consists of 110 cards posing describing ethical scenarios raised from the responses of 3,000 members to a questionnaire.

Sure the references contained in the emails (cited above) were out of line. Emphatically so. And of course ethics are important in police work.  Again, emphatically so.  But, is this a "police union activist's" way of introducing mandatory sensitivity training for all, in order to wash away the publicized sins of a few?  Is it a way to encourage police to become Bjorn-again progressives?  If so, then it is asinine.

Well perhaps after they get through playing "quiz-master" with each other, they will have developed the necessary skills and scruples to 'sensitively' investigate and put a stop to such teensy-weensy problems as no-go zones, attacks on emergency personnel in 'certain' neighbourhoods, the harassment of Jews in towns like Malmo, and of course the rising tide of rape gangs.  Well, how about it?

So, here's to Sweden's finest.


But, as a palette cleanser, here's to Sweden's finest.