经济学人下载:平息暴乱,英国警方遭猛烈抨击

Policing the mobs
平息暴乱

Under fire
英国警方遭猛烈抨击

The police stand accused of allowing mayhem to go unchecked
任由暴乱升级，警方遭猛批

Aug 13th 2011 | from the print edition

Trying to catch up
英国警方正在努力跟上变化节奏

AFTER five days of spreading Saturnalian anarchy on the streets of English cities, the disgust and anger felt for the rioters was accompanied by growing dismay at the failure of the police to get on top of the violent thuggery in some places. In violated towns and cities, there was angry incomprehension at the apparent willingness of armoured police to stand back while shops were pillaged and torched by marauding youths.

混乱狂欢般在英国数座城市蔓延了五天之后，人们对混乱制造者感到憎恶和气愤之余，也开始对个别地区警方无力控制暴乱局势感到失望。某些骚乱城镇，暴乱的年轻人对店铺疯狂地砸抢烧，而开着装甲车的警察分明就是束手旁观，这让人们感到气愤与无法理解。

A poll conducted by YouGov for the Sun newspaper reflected the widespread belief that the police had got their tactics wrong. Of those questioned, 90% favoured the use of water cannon; 78% tear gas; 72% Tasers (an electroshock weapon); 65% plastic bullets; 33% even wanted the police to use live ammunition against the looters. And 77% wanted the army to be deployed.

《太阳报》发布了调查机构“优戈夫”（YouGov）进行的一项民意调查，调查结果显示，人们普遍认为警方处理暴乱时策略失当。被调查者中，90%认为应使用高压水枪，78%赞成使用催泪弹，72%赞成泰瑟枪（一种防暴电击枪），65%赞成塑料子弹，33%甚至认为警方应该荷枪实弹制止暴乱。另外，有77%希望调用军队。

The criticism of the police is understandable, but is it justified? Most experts doubt whether the use of traditional riot-control weapons would have made much difference this week. Although water cannon and tear gas can be effective in getting a large mob to disperse from a particular area, or in allowing the police to “buy distance” or hold ground, they are indiscriminate and fairly clumsy. Tasers are not a public-order weapon—they cannot be fired into crowds—but a non-lethal method of individual incapacitation.

人们对警方批评可以理解，但这对警方是否公平？多数专家认为即使本周暴乱中警方使用传统抗暴手段也不会起太大作用。虽然高压水枪和催泪弹可以驱散某一场所的大批暴动者，可以让暴动者稍微退后或者让警方守住阵地，但两者都有可能伤及无辜，并且非常笨重。泰瑟枪不能用来对付大片人群，因而不是用来维护公共秩序的工具，只是对付个别歹徒的非致命性武器。