Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2012, Blaðsíða 12

12
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 6 — 2012
Opinion | Smári McCarthy
Shocking
Solutions To
Unclear Problems
In October 2007, a Polish
man named Robert Dzieka-
ñski landed at the Vancouver
airport tired and confused af-
ter a long f light. After spending many
hours waiting for his mother to meet
him in the baggage area—a secure area
that she couldn’t enter—he became agi-
tated. Bystanders couldn’t help him, as
he spoke no English. The local police
wound up shooting him a total of five
times with their electroshock weapons,
resulting in his death.
There has been an ongoing discus-
sion in Iceland about whether the police
should be allowed to carry electroshock
weapons. Such weapons generally shoot
out needles connected to wires, through
which high voltage, low current electric-
ity is pumped into the target. In most
cases, receiving such a jolt causes people
to lose voluntary control of their muscles
and fall to the ground. But sometimes—
if the victim has a certain range of heart
or lung problems, for instance—the
shock may be lethal, for instance due to
cardiac arrhythmia leading to cardiac ar-
rest or ventricular fibrillation.
Between 2001 and 2007, Amnesty
International recorded 150 deaths due
to electroshock weapons, most of which
occurred as a result of irrational use of
force—such as in Robert Dziekañski’s
case. As the supposedly non-lethal
weapons appear to be lethal, some coun-
tries, such as Germany, have banned
them.
I have no qualms with police car-
rying electroshock weapons, such as
Tasers, but under certain conditions.
Firstly, police who choose to carry elec-
troshock weapons should be subject to
them once a month, via a trial shot. This
is to ensure that they are fully aware of
the force involved, and also to guarantee
that the weapons are non-lethal.
Secondly, I’d suggest that if the po-
lice get to carry “non-lethal” weapons,
the general public also be allowed to do
so, under the same conditions. This is
mostly to put the public on equal footing
with the state, and to prevent the police
from being f lippant about abuse of pow-
er.
Finally, it would be useful to have
at least fifty insulation suits available
to the public per Taser in circulation,
during peaceful protests, as a defensive
measure for people who are exercising
their right to free expression.
You see, there is not a single society
in the history of mankind that has been
improved by increasing the amount of
violence the state applies to its people.
When police are armed, it serves to
give them the upper hand against vio-
lent domestic enemies of the state and
to ensure public safety. The discussion
in Iceland is dominated by the idea of or-
ganised crime in the form of motorcycle
gangs. I know little about these motor-
cycle gangs, but I think I have a reason-
able expectation that if people are com-
mitting crimes that could be deterred
by Tasers, it would be equally possible
to arrest the criminals in question and
bring them to justice.
If the worry is that the gangs are
violent, well, the Icelandic police force
already has lots and lots of guns. You’d
be surprised. They have H&K MP5 sub-
machine guns, H&K G36 assault rif les,
Glock 17 pistols (which have no safety
toggle by the way, just a drop catch to
prevent accidental discharge), Steyr SSG
69 sniper rif les, Blaser R93 sniper rif les
and Mossberg 500 shotguns, for in-
stance. They should be able to handle a
couple of gangsters—heck, they should
be able to handle a minor war. The fact
that they don’t ordinarily carry them
around is a good thing.
So we are forced to ask ourselves: If
the supposed organised crime syndi-
cates are not the actual problem, then
from whom does the threat come that
is to justify further arming of the police
force? And weapons that, due to their
“non-lethal” quality, are frequently used
by police to enforce their whims rather
than the law.
The answer is not obvious. Protests
in Iceland have mostly been peaceful,
and almost without exception have esca-
lated only when police have aggravated
the situation. What is the threat that
can be solved by electrocuting people?
Drunk people on Laugavegur?
When the police explain the threat
model, we can start a civilized discus-
sion about whether it is justifiable. Until
then, it is not, and even f loating around
the idea of arming the police is ludi-
crous.
Iceland | Crime
Murder And Suicide
Through The Ages
Iceland saw its first official
murder of 2012 this February. A
22 year old man showed up to a
police station claiming to have
done something awful. Given
his history of drug offenses, the
police saw reason to investi-
gate. That’s when they found a
woman, twice his age, lying on
the floor of his home, having
been stabbed to death
Murder is a relatively rare event in
Iceland. There are on average two
deaths attributed to murder every
year, according to data collected
by Statistics Iceland over the last
three decades. That’s less than one
per 100.000 inhabitants, which is
amongst the lowest murder rates
in the world.
Perhaps it’s simply difficult
to kill given that handguns are il-
legal? Well, this may very well be
part of the reason that murders
are so rare, but it doesn’t stop a
far greater number of people from
taking their own lives. There are on
average 33 self-inflicted deaths re-
ported per year, according to data
collected during this same time
period. It should however be noted
that suicide is a rather taboo sub-
ject in Iceland and such deaths are
rarely reported in the media.
While suicide and murder seem
like unrelated enough events, per-
haps there is a common underlying
cause—something pushing peo-
ple over the edge—as these rates
loosely rise and fall at the same
time, both peaking in 2000 with
six murders and 55 suicides. Then
again, perhaps it’s merely a coinci-
dence.
Suicide
Murder
1981
0
10
20
30
40
50
1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009
ANNA ANdERSEN
This is a pretty glum page. Electroshock weapons, suicide and murder. Well done,
page 12. Hopefully page 14 will contain articles about kittens and sunshine.
“What is the threat that
can be solved by electro-
cuting people? Drunk
people on Laugavegur?”
THE NUMBER 1 MUSIC STORE
IN EUROPE ACCORDING TO
LONELY PLANET
SKÓLAVÖRÐUSTÍG 15, 101 REYKJAVÍK AND HARPA CONCERT HALL