IT is very painful to see a young police officer fall dead while fulfilling his duty of ensuring security at the society. El-Hassan el-Sherif Ahmed was the last in a long line of police martyrs who lost their life at the hands of a group of thugs who made themselves widespread in society in the aftermath of the January 25 Revolution. One negative side of the revolution was the loss of self-confidence of members of the police force and their bitter sense of failure at their inability to contain the public anger in the first days of the revolution to the level of losing control even on police stations and prisons. These were subjected to organised attacks to loot weapons and free prisoners, the perpetrators still not yet having been discovered. This crisis that witnessed the first blood shed in the early days of the revolution, made the police withdrew from the street completely, leaving the streets open wide to thugs and criminals to threaten the lives and property of the people. Despite genuine attempts to help the security agency restore its position at the society and work with full efficiency, chaos and disorder have continued to prevail in society for different reasons. Topmost of these is the spread of weapons smuggled across borders and becoming possessed by ordinary citizens, without procedures being followed to well equip the policemen with weapons and new self-defence strategies enabling them to assume their task without being subjected to death at the hands of criminals. Some analysts attribute the present state of disorder to the attempts of some thugs who had suffered torture and suppression at the hands of the security agency during rule of Mubarak and who are working to avenge themselves on the police. A clear state of depression has overcome the security agency and prevented its members from assuming their responsibilities in securing public and private institutions as well as citizens' lives. Overnight, the police found themselves confronting huge legal restrictions controlling their work after they had enjoyed a free hand in arresting any suspect and subjecting them to investigation under the long-enforced state of Emergency Law. Without training in new strategies the security agency should follow today preventing it from using excessive force against citizens together with responding to public harassment when they dare to use weapons to restore order, the police have started to suffer from real despondency. This is reflected in their organisation of numerous strikes protesting the killing of any of their members by some armed thugs or religious militias. On this last occasion of the young police officer's murder, the police's anger drove them into violating all laws and turning into thugs themselves. On getting the news of shooting against their colleagues in the city of Minya, in Upper Egypt, while attempting to break up a quarrel between two families, some policemen of Minya Security Directorate gathered in Abul Helal suburb where the killing occurred. They blocked the area, smashed windows of some shops and threatened to start an open-ended strike if the authorities did not avenge the death of their colleague who happened to be the son of a senior police officer in the National Security Agency. The angry policemen exchanged fire with some citizens and caused the injury of a little girl. They also set fire to four houses they believed to belong to suspects of murdering their colleague. One could understand the level of anger the security men felt on hearing the news of that young police officer's death and many others injured while ending an armed fight between two families in the courser of their duties. However, one cannot accept seeing policemen, who are supposed to enforce the rule of law, terrifying citizens and threatening public life. In addition, it is part of the occupational risk of the police officers to get injured or even be murdered while confronting criminals that are no longer scared or deterred by the mere emergence of a man in police uniform! However, this does not mean leaving policemen working without sufficient means of self-protection while struggling to restore security to society. The time we request that new strategies be adopted by the police agency affirming their respect for human rights, public liberties and freedom of expression. One should also ask for ensuring protection of the police via legislation imposing deterrent penalties on anyone daring to target a police officer with a weapon, together with equipping them with modern arms and technology to cope with the widespread advanced weapons in hands of criminals. Otherwise, one day we will hear the answer, 'It is none of our business,' when phoning the 122 police emergency telephone number seeking protection from criminals.
