Raoul Moat the aftermath

The violent death of Raoul Moat ended a week long manhunt that will be seen as one of the most bizarre historical police investigations of all time.The events of the last week will also have changed the lives of a lot of other people for ever. Some changes will be evident immediately but some will not be noticed for years to come.Moats second victim and the mother of his child will one day have to explain to their daughter all the details of what happened.About how her dad was jailed for hitting his son. If it was true or not. About how she left him for another man, a man just as violent if not more so as Raoul Moat.How she goaded him.There is no doubt the lives of Raoul Moats family will be difficult and traumatic for some time to come.In the wider world the information coming out about Moat and the way the police conducted themselves has started a great debate about the rights and wrongs of Moats and the police behavior.
Why Moat is seen as a hero to some people. These heroes only arise in times when people judge the forces of oppression,the law to be of lesser moral value than the criminal they are trying to catch, that's what a folk hero has always been, they are never nice people. Very few people in the country will have met Raoul Moat, but a lot will have met the Police. I get to see the police in two places. One in the countryside were they are still your average British bobby. And the other way in the city were they are seen as corporate enforcers for the mob.Why is that? They have been involved in too many incidents such as the Ian Tomlinson death and Jean De Menese.Were innocent people have died.But were every time someone is killed the investigation results in them getting away with it.What message does that send? We can do what the we want.There is no doubt about it we need to take the police down a peg or two and make them more responsible to us. They work for us they are not our masters. But if we don't do something now they soon will be. Not by design but by natural progression as we will be seen as children unable to take responsibility for ourselves.