2014年12月21日 星期日

【警大考試】警察專業英文 - Police, Guns & Justice Part II

 


 


警察特考 警察專業英文 權威 - 呂艾肯老師  英文教室


 


 




* 該圖是諷刺右邊那張白人的臉即使在深夜開車也不會發生任何警察的攔阻


       但一旦是左邊的老黑朋友 即使在大白天 警方還是要鳴笛盤查


 


 


這幾篇老早翻好過了好幾天了,只是一直遲遲沒放上去。正如之前所預告的,美國境內的種族風暴山雨欲來。在昨天所發生的紐約殺警案後,坦白講,我認為不是一個段落,應該會有進一步更激烈的手段會再次發生。自從911後,美國國會通過《愛國者法案》(USA PATRIOT Act)。高舉反恐與國土安全的大旗下,隨後一連串big givernment的作為例如稜鏡計畫(PRISM) ,整合擴張地方與聯邦的公權力,對大眾造成的影響應該會在這幾年有所回應。


 


警政模式也是一樣,由最早的政治干涉時期1840~1920、專業化時期(1930~1970)、社區警政時期1980~,現在更提出由情資導向(intelligence-led)警政為主的國土安全警政(homeland security policing) 。美國警方的權力與火力配備提高到無以復加。但是警察並非軍隊。優先保護的是人民而非國家。美國目前的警民對立衝突升高,我想也該是警政模式再次探討的時候了吧。以古為殷鑑,現在的時間點就如同專業化時期的前夕,”1968年成立的 Kerner 委員會的研究發現,種族在過去 40 年來是必定存在的影響因素(Weitzer & Tuch, 2006),早期種族分類僅區分為黑白兩種族群 (Campbell & Schuman, 1972; Furstengerg & Wellford, 1973; Hadar & Snortum, 1974; Hahn, 1971; Zeit, 1965)。近年來的相關研究已將種族增加到黑人、白人及西班牙裔等三類,甚至於更多 (Reitzel et al., 2004)當時美國的民權與種族運對風起雲湧。跟目前的情況相近但還未到臨界點,但應該不遠了。


 


此外,美國警政模式在社區警政下變相的美其名為國土安全警政骨子裡卻是專業化方向的回頭路。專業化提升科技配備與戰術來解決犯罪問題,但同時間是否也忽略了程序正義而導致民怨與對立呢?這真的是要再次去思考的問題。本篇另外有提到stand your ground法案,這種強調正當自衛的法案,某種程度也變相的影響擁槍派與警方的裁量權。後續的影響各位可以參考也是在佛羅里達州發生白人輔警開槍射殺黑人青少年Trayvon Martin前案也同樣不予起訴,同樣引起美國人民對於擁槍權、自衛權和司法公正等等爭議。


 


 
* 警察手上拿的speed detecor 測速器 顯示的不是開車速度 而是駕駛膚色~~超酸的一張圖


 


 


No indictment - Brown案後另一起Garner案再次不起訴判決


 


Thanks to a number of leaks, it was no surprise when Robert McCulloch announced that a grand jury did not indict Darren Wilson, the white police officer who shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. The decision by a jury of nine whites and three blacks was no less upsetting for many Americans. Hundreds of people waited outside the court house to hear the lengthy decision in person. Some responded with tears, others with protests. An evening that began in sombre anticipation has turned violent.


多虧票數的外流,使McCulloch克宣布,大陪審團對射殺手無寸鐵的黑人少年Brown的白人警察Wilson不予以起訴時,不會讓人驚訝乍舌。9位白人和3位黑人的陪審團所做的決定對於許多美國人來說真是炸翻了鍋。數以百計的人在法院外等著親耳聽見此冗長的裁決。有些洗淚以對,其他則是抗議以對。抑鬱預期下的夜晚演變成暴力的衝突。


 


At least one police car has been torched, and several buildings, including a Walgreens, have been either looted or set on fire. Some protesters threw bottles, and there were reports of gun shots. Police in riot gear and gas masks have responded with gas or smoke to control the crowds. Airspace in the St Louis area appears to be restricted. Protesters have taken to the streets in other cities around the country, including Los Angeles and New York.


至少有一台警車被焚毀,一些建築物,包括一間藥妝店(Walgreens),被洗劫或放火。一些示威者投擲瓶罐,並據報有槍聲傳出。配鎮暴裝備與防毒面具的警方以催淚瓦斯或煙霧控制住群眾。聖路易斯地區的航空區則被管制。全國各地其他城市包括洛杉磯和紐約的示威者走上街頭。


 


Mr Brown’s parents were “profoundly disappointed” with the decision, but have asked that protests be peaceful. “Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction,” in a released statement. President Barack Obama echoed this request, even as he noted that anger is an “understandable reaction”. He asked that police respond responsibly: “they need to work with the community, not against the community,” he said, adding that officers should “distinguish the few people who want to engage in violence from the vast majority of people who want to protest peacefully.”


布朗的父母對此裁決“深感失望”,但要求和平抗爭。“以暴制暴並非適合的反應,”在發布的聲明中表示。美國總統歐巴馬對於此要求做出回應,就如同他指出,這種憤怒是“可以理解的反應”。他要求警方負責地處理:“他們需與社會各界合作,而非對抗社會各界。”並補充說,官員應“區分極少數想進行暴力行為的人跟絕大多數以理性和平抗議的人。“


 even as = just as


 


The president has instructed Eric Holder, the attorney general, to work with police, as there is otherwise “too much distrust” between police and some citizens. As Mr Obama said in his short statement, the law too often seems to be “applied in a discriminatory fashion”. Systemic racism is still a problem, and so-called “justifiable homicides” are on the rise. Two decades ago there were 1.92 justified homicides for every 10,000 violent crimes; in 2011 that number went up to 3.35.


總統指示檢察總長Holder與警方合作,因為警察跟一些人民之間存在著很大的“不信任”。正如歐巴馬在簡短的聲明當中說到,法律似乎往往被“以歧視方式”運用在全國各地。系統性的種族主義仍是個問題,且所謂的“正當殺人”狀況越來越多。二十年前,每一萬件暴力案中有1.92件正當殺人;2011年,這個數字躍升到3.35件。


 


l  The concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law stands on the dividing line between an excuse, justification and an exculpation. In certain circumstances, homicide is justified when it prevents greater harm to innocents. A homicide can only be justified if there is sufficient evidence to prove that it was reasonable to believe that the offending party posed an imminent threat to the life or well-being of another. To rule a justifiable homicide, one must objectively prove to a trier of fact, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the suspect intended to commit violence. A homicide in this instance is blameless and distinct from the less stringent criteria authorizing deadly force in stand your ground rulings.


刑法中正當/自衛殺人的概念處在托詞,抗辯和開脫申辯的分界線上。在特定情況下,當殺害他人可避免無辜者更大的傷害時,它會是無罪的。假若有足夠的證據證明合理相信加害方會做出對他人生命或福祉有急迫的威脅時,殺害他人會是無罪的。要裁定是自衛殺人下,必須向法官提出客觀地證明,超過合理懷疑的認為嫌犯意欲犯下暴行。這種情況下殺人是無法責難的,並有別於不退讓法中授權致命性武器下較不嚴謹的標準


 


l  美國步槍協會(NRA)在積極推廣著31個州已通過的不退讓法”(Stand Your Ground),「站在自己的土地上」(stand your ground),就有權開槍不需要承擔刑事或民事的法律責任。此項法案甚至被反槍械團體形容為「先開槍再說法」(Shoot First Law)。該法允許民眾在他人侵害你,而公共權力又不能給你應有的保護時,可在生命安全遭受威脅有權使用致命武力保護自己。對抗中無需選擇退讓。這條法律,主要是因為在去年17歲的黑人少年馬丁在佛羅里達州的桑福德市被一名白人協警(類似義警)齊默爾曼槍殺。現在,齊默爾曼被判無罪,而這一審判結果也導致了美國很多城市爆發了遊行示威。要強調的是,齊默爾曼被判無罪的依據是stand-your-ground law—不退讓法。因為齊默爾曼說,他之所以開槍是因為當時他的人身受到嚴重威脅。而跟據較早通過不退讓法22個州資料顯示,由於該法律允許人們使用致命武力,合法兇殺案上升53%


不退讓法常常與另一條公民自衛法相提並論,那就是城堡法Castle Law堡壘原則Castle Doctrine




* 上圖則顯示在美國通過 "不退讓法" (Stand Your Ground)的州群


    下圖則顯示美國各州政黨的傾向。紅州較支持共和黨,藍州則較支持民主黨。


  「紫州」則是兩黨之間的搖擺州。大家應該有注意到各州政黨傾向與不退讓法通過與否有著驚人的正相關~
    


 


 


 


A probationary New York police officer shot and killed an unarmed black man in Brooklyn on November. In Cleveland a police officer shot and killed a black 12-year-old boy who made the mistake of reaching for a fake pistol. And as the grand jury trial reaffirms, it is very difficult to indict a police officer for killing someone.


紐約實習警察今年11月在布魯克林開槍打死名手無寸鐵的黑人男子。克里伏蘭一名員警開槍殺死一名不該拿假槍靠近警方的12歲黑人男孩。而大陪審團審判重申,要起訴警察殺害某人是非常困難的。


 


Race is America’s deepest problem, but multiple small changes can mitigate it.


種族問題是美國最深層的難題,而一些小小的改變,就可減緩。


 


Riots are rarely so widely anticipated. When the prosecutor announced the grand jury’s decision not to charge a police officer with a crime for shooting an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, cops in riot gear were already in place and barriers surrounded municipal buildings. Mr Brown’s parents and Barack Obama called for calm. Yet soon America’s TV screens were full of burning police cars, crowds coughing on tear gas, and young black men throwing bricks and smashing shops. America’s history of racial injustice looked as potent as ever.


很罕見暴動廣泛地被預期到。由晚上81124日,當檢察官發表,大陪審團裁決定不起訴開槍射殺手無寸鐵的黑人少年Brown的警察時,警方已整裝待命並在市府機關建築佈滿拒馬。儘管布朗的父母親和歐巴馬總統呼籲大家冷靜。然而,很快的全美電視螢幕都是警車起火,因催淚瓦斯咳嗽的群眾,且非裔青年投擲磚塊並砸店的新聞。美國史上的種族不平等看來仍力道依舊不減。


 


Looking back at the riots in Los Angeles in 1992 that followed the acquittal of four white police officers who had savagely beaten a black motorist, Rodney King, a lot has changed. America has a black president. The LA riots, which left 53 dead, happened in one of America’s great cities, and sparked violence in others. This time the focus was a struggling suburb; in Los Angeles black teenagers protested peacefully alongside white ones.


回首19924名白人警察兇殘毆打黑人駕駛,Rodney King卻無罪釋放後發生的洛杉磯暴動,很多都改變了。美國有了位黑人總統。造成53死的洛杉磯暴動,發生在美國大城之一的LA,且引發其他暴力行為。這次焦點是在艱困的郊區;洛杉磯黑人青少年以白人青少年並肩和平抗議。


 


Blacks plainly still suffer prejudice across America: they account for 86% of the vehicle stops made by police in Ferguson. Blacks’ biggest problem is now poverty. Like many post-war suburbs across America, Ferguson is stuck between the prosperous white exurbs of St Louis and the city’s somewhat revitalised centre. In 1990 its population was three-quarters white; by 2010, it had become two-thirds black. The sub-prime mortgage crisis hit it hard. Many of its homeowners still owe more than they own.


在全美,講白了,黑人仍然遭受偏見:Ferguson警方攔停的車輛中有86%是黑人駕駛。黑人現在最大的問題是貧困。像美國各地許多南北戰後郊區,Ferguson卡在聖路易斯繁華的白人富豪社區和相當於新興都市中心之間。1990年,其人口有3/4是白人;2010年,已變成2/3是黑人。次貸金融風暴重創下。許多屋主欠下的遠超過擁有的。


 


Solving the problems of places like Ferguson is less about passing more anti-discrimination laws than about rekindling economic growth and spreading the proceeds. But there are also ways of making politics and policing work better that would contribute greatly to racial harmony in America.


通過更多的反歧視法來解決像Ferguson這種地方的問題比重燃經濟增長與擴展收益來的少。但還是有能大大地促進美國種族和諧政治手段與警政模式以將這些問題能做得更好的方式。


 


 


Racial Profiling 種族面相




* 以上這張圖則是顯示美國各州有無嚴定對於駕駛或行人不得有種族面像的歧視行為的分布圖


 


相關討論請參考: 警察專業英文 Police, Guns & Justice Part I


http://blog.xuite.net/luek1n/twblog/278842582


 


 


2014年12月20日 星期六

【警察特考】一般警察、警察特考修正草案


公告公務人員特種考試警察人員考試規則第四條附表二修正草案公務人員特種考試一般警察人員考試規則第六條修正草案各1份,請社會各界於預告期間惠示 卓見。

發文日期:中華民國103年12月20日
發文字號:選特三字第1031501725號

附件:

主旨:公告公務人員特種考試警察人員考試規則第四條附表二修正草案、公務人員特種考試一般警察人員考試規則第六條修正草案各1份,請社會各界於預告期間惠示  卓見。

依據:行政程序法第151條第2項及第154條第1項。

公告事項: 

一、修正機關:考選部。

二、修正依據:公務人員考試法第7條。

三、旨揭考試規則修正草案對照表登載於本部全球資訊網(http://www.moex.gov.tw)「考選法規」之「法規草案公告」網頁。

四、任何人得於民國103年12月26日前,以書面或電子郵件向本部特種考試司(地址:11602臺北市文山區試院路1之1號,電子郵件:000437@mail.moex.gov.tw)表示意見。



 



相關檔案     
公務人員特種考試警察人員考試規則第四條附表二「公務人員特種考試警察人員考試應試科目表」修正草案對照表


http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/main/news/wHandNews_File.ashx?news_id=1992&serial_no=1

公務人員特種考試一般警察人員考試規則第六條修正草案條文對照表 


http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/main/news/wHandNews_File.ashx?news_id=1992&serial_no=2

資訊來源:考選部 http://wwwc.moex.gov.tw/main/news/wfrmNews.aspx?kind=5&menu_id=317&news_id=1992


2014年12月10日 星期三

【警大考試】警察專業英文 Police, Guns & Justice Part I

 警察特考 警察英文 權威 - 呂艾肯老師  英文教室


 



 


從今年三月以來經濟學人就對美國的警方、槍支以及司法做了一系列的評論本次的po文也將分成兩回來針對這三個主題重點摘錄來給大家參考。首先第一回要探討的是美國警方是否越來越像軍隊,在武器配備以及特警隊(SWAR)的派遣上似乎有點矯枉過正。


另外,在不法所得品的扣押以及不自報身分的攻堅上,是否有稍嫌侵犯人權違背憲法精神? 這一段的閱讀就讓我想到基努李維曾演過的一部片街頭霸王(Street Kings),就有談論到這種濫權的問題。其實還有很多部片也都有談到,只是印象比較深的是這部(Persistence is a virtue)。還有丹佐華盛頓的震撼教育(Training Day)應該也算吧。


 




 


槍支問題上則討論到美國憲法第二條修正案




A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.



譯文:一支受規範的武力乃確保自由國家之安全所必需,人民持有及攜帶武器之權利不可受侵犯。
譯文二:紀律優良的民兵部隊對自由州的安全是必要的,因此,人民持有並攜帶武器的權利不可受侵害。



允許人民持有槍械對濫權的政府做出反擊,但事實上,真的是所有人都支持受到政府壓迫時,人民得以反擊嗎?一般來說,在美國要對於政府做出反擊是有兩種方式。第一種是利用制度措施,規則和法律(institutional measures, rules and laws)以限制政府不當的運用其公權力因此,法律的訂立原則就像戰神姚立明老師曾講過的主在約束政府,有明令的法條政府才能夠行使,才能告誡人民但法律沒規定的呢?則是政府機關不能做,但人民可以去做


第二種反抗的方式則是,公民團體直接地行使政治活動(direct political action by groups of citizens)就像是公民不服從運動(civil disobedience) 這些活動導致的結果就像文中所提到的這種行為會影響選情與推動政策的變化(this sort of action will affect elections and drive policy change) ,對照這次的九合一大選是不是很有既視感


另外第三種方式較為激烈,更確切來說,是美國從殖民地時期到現代的民情演進推論: 約束政府不敢侵犯公眾權力最重要的因素是普遍的槍支持有。(the most important factor constraining the government from infringing popular rights is widespread possession of firearms但第三種方式恐怕要保持存疑的態度。有撰文者提出,若是黑人弟兄為悍衛自身安全呢?以密蘇里州最近知名的黑人年輕人麥可布朗(Michael Brown)的案例,一樣都是受到壓迫,為何美國步槍協會不挺身而出。呼籲大眾要擁槍以對抗政府的濫權呢? 反倒是內華達白人農莊牛仔(redneck) 主人邦迪(Cliven Bundy)對於土地被公有徵收(eminent domain)的捍衛,則是大聲疾呼。這是否也算是種racism種族主義呢【】






* 關注 United States v Bundy. 新聞中最有趣的是武裝民兵(Armed Militia)展示的poster中引用了美國第三任總統 湯瑪斯傑弗遜(Thomas Jefferson)的話“美國人民自由的最大威脅是踐踏憲法的政府”。若是有興趣觀看此爭議的新聞可按下圖檔即會跳出相關影檔


 



蠻多值得我們台灣警方以及對於人權的思考方向,所以真的需要大家來思考以上的一些問題。因為我們不知道何時都有可能會遇到這些變化這些道德的選擇。


 


Cops or soldiers? 是警察還是軍人?


America’s police have become too militarised 美國警察變得太過軍事化


 


From the way police entered the house—helmeted and masked, guns drawn and shields in front, knocking down the door with a battering ram and rushing inside—you might think they were raiding a den of armed criminals. In fact they were looking for $1,000-worth of clothes and electronics allegedly bought with a stolen credit card. They found none of these things, but arrested two people in the house on unrelated charges.


從警方進屋的方式,戴頭盔面具,荷槍護盾在前,用破牆槌撞開大門蜂擁而上,你可能會認為他們正在奇襲的是武裝犯罪分子的巢穴。事實上,他們據稱為搜捕要價1000美元的衣服和電子產品的信用卡盜刷而來。他們沒發現任何可疑物,但以非初衷有關的罪名逮捕房內的兩人。


 


* 圖解battering ram   
 


They narrowly avoided tragedy. On hearing intruders break in, the homeowner’s son, a disabled ex-serviceman, reached for his (legal) gun. Luckily, he heard the police announce themselves and holstered it; otherwise, “they probably would have shot me,” he says. His mother, Sally Prince, says she is now traumatized.


他們只差點跟悲劇擦身而過。一聽到入侵者闖入,屋主的兒子,一位殘疾的退伍軍人,就拿起他(合法註冊)的槍。幸運的是,他聽到警方自報身分且把槍放進槍套; 否則,他說,“他們很可能就會向我開槍”。他的母親,莎莉說,她現在還處在驚恐中


 


It is easy to see why the police like to be better armed than the people they have to arrest. They risk their lives every day, and are understandably keen to get home in one piece. A big display of force can make a suspect think twice about pulling a gun. An awful lot of SWAT tactics are focused on forcing the suspect to surrender,” says New York’s police chief.


為何警察想要能比那些該被逮捕的人配有更好的武裝是很好理解的。他們每天都冒著生命危險,而且可以理解的他們渴望毫髮無傷的回到家。警方強大的火力展現會讓嫌犯拔槍前會再三思考。“一群厲害的特警戰術小組主要是迫使嫌犯不戰而降,”紐約警察局長表示。


 


But civil libertarians fret that the American police are becoming too much like soldiers. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams (ie, paramilitary police units) were first formed to deal with violent civil unrest and life-threatening situations: shoot-outs, rescuing hostages, serving high-risk warrants and entering barricaded buildings, for instance. Their mission has crept.


但是,民間的自由派人士則擔心,美國警方變得太像士兵了。霹靂特勤小組(SWAT)(即準軍事警察單位)最初是被編制來處理暴動內亂與危害他人生命的情況,例如:槍戰,解救人質,被委任高風險任務與進入封鎖的建築。他們的任務是謹慎秘密下(緩緩)進行


 


A professor at Eastern Kentucky University’s School of Justice Studies, estimates that SWAT teams were deployed about 3,000 times in 1980 but are now used around 50,000 times a year. Some cities use them for routine patrols in high-crime areas. Baltimore and Dallas have used them to break up poker games. In 2010 New Haven, Connecticut sent a SWAT team to a bar suspected of serving under-age drinkers. That same year heavily-armed police raided barber shops around Orlando, Florida; they said they were hunting for guns and drugs but ended up arresting 34 people for “barbering without a licence”. Maricopa County, Arizona sent a SWAT team into the living room of Jesus Llovera, who was suspected of organising cockfights. Police rolled a tank into Mr Llovera’s yard and killed more than 100 of his birds, as well as his dog. According to Mr Kraska, most SWAT deployments are not in response to violent, life-threatening crimes, but to serve drug-related warrants in private homes.


東肯德基大學法律學院的教授估計,特警隊在1980年出動了大約3000次,但現在一年大約是50,000次左右。有些城市甚至會在高犯罪率地區的例行行巡邏時加派。巴爾地摩和達拉斯利用他們破獲撲克賭博。2010年,康州的新港派出特警隊到疑似供應未成年者飲酒的酒吧。同年,全副武裝的警察突襲佛州奧蘭多的理髮店; 他們表示是在追緝槍支和毒品,但最後以無營業執照逮捕34人。亞利桑那州馬里科帕縣派出特警隊進到Llovera房間,此人涉嫌經營鬥雞。警方出動裝甲車撞進其後院搞死了他100多隻鳥,外加上他的狗。根據教授研究,大部分SWAT並非是在暴力,危及生命的犯罪行為時出動,而是在自宅內毒品相關的委任任務中。


 


He estimates that 89% of police departments serving American cities with more than 50,000 people had SWAT teams in the late 1990s—almost double the level in the mid-1980s. By 2007 more than 80% of police departments in cities with between 25,000 and 50,000 people had them, up from 20% in the mid-1980s (there are around 18,000 state and local police agencies in America, compared with fewer than 100 in Britain).


他估計,1990年代末期時,美國超過5萬人城市中的警察機關89%有特警隊,幾乎是1980年代中期的一倍。到2007年在25,00050,000人的城市中有超過80%的警察部門有,跟1980年代中期,同比增長20%(美國大約有18000個州與地方上的警察機關,相比的英國應該是少了100個)


 


The courts have smiled on SWAT raids. They often rely on “no-knock” warrants, which authorise police to force their way into a home without announcing themselves. This was once considered constitutionally dubious. But the Supreme Court has ruled that police may enter a house without knocking if they have “a reasonable suspicion” that announcing their presence would be dangerous or allow the suspect to destroy evidence (for example, by flushing drugs down the toilet).


法院贊同SWAT的突襲行為。他們往往倚賴“不需敲門”的令狀,這授權警方強行進入房子時不需表明身分。這曾一度被認為有違憲的可疑。但最高法院裁定,如果有“合理懷疑”自報出現可能有危險或會讓嫌犯破壞證物時(例如,將毒品倒馬桶沖掉),警方可進入房子時不需敲門。



l  A police officer may arrest without a warrant any person who he reasonably believes will be charged with or whom he reasonably suspects of being guilty of any offence: Police Force Ordinance (Cap 232) s 50(1).  


警方可在無令狀的情況下拘捕任何他合理地相信會被以某罪名起訴的人,或拘捕任何他合理地懷疑犯了罪行的人:《警隊條例》( 232)50(1)條。


l  The determination of whether reasonable grounds exist for the suspicion is an objective test and the fact that an officer may have an honest belief in facts which would justify an arrest does not inevitably mean that the belief is reasonable.  In order to establish a reasonable suspicion, it is not necessary that the officer have a prima facie case against the suspect and he may be arrested even if further enquiries are required.
對於涉嫌是否有合理理由的決定是種客觀的檢驗和事實且警方要真誠地信念證明相關的逮捕為正當的事實,並不可避免地表示其信念屬於合理。為確立合理懷疑,無須證明有關的警務人員有表面的案針對受疑人,而若須要進一步的查詢,他可能也會被拘捕。


 




* 為何沒有關於美國版的敲敲門之類的笑話阿? 答案: 因為不敲門搜索一點都不好笑!


 


 


Often these no-knock raids take place at night, accompanied by “flash-bang” grenades designed temporarily to blind, deafen and confuse their targets. They can go horribly wrong: Mr Balko has found more than 50 examples of innocent people who have died as a result of botched SWAT raids. In 2011 Eurie Stamps, the stepfather of a suspected drug-dealer but himself suspected of no crimes, was killed while lying face-down on the floor when a SWAT-team officer reportedly tripped, causing his gun to discharge.


通常,這些不敲門的奇襲發生在夜晚,伴隨設計讓人短暫失明,失聰,摸不著目標的“閃爆”手榴彈。但這可能錯誤的可怕:Balko發現超過50名無辜受害者死於拙劣的特警隊奇襲中的案例。2011Eurie Stamps,販毒嫌犯的繼父,但本身未涉及任何犯罪,在趴在地上時被特警隊人員據報是絆倒引起槍支走火而被殺。


 


Householders, on hearing the door being smashed down, sometimes reach for their own guns. In 2006 Kathryn Johnston, a 92-year-old woman in Atlanta, mistook the police for robbers and fired a shot from an old pistol. Police shot her five times, killing her. After the shooting they planted marijuana in her home. It later emerged that they had falsified the information used to obtain their no-knock warrant.


一聽到大門被破壞,住戶有時馬上拿起自己的槍。2006年的Kathryn Johnston,一位亞特蘭大92歲的老婦人,誤以為警方是搶匪就拿起破舊的手槍射擊。警方開了五槍殺了她。槍擊事件後,他們誣植她家有大麻。後來更出現用來不用敲門令狀的偽造訊息。


 


Big grants for big guns 對於火力強大槍支的龐大經費


Federal cash—first to wage war on drugs, then on terror—has paid for much of the heavy weaponry used by SWAT teams. Between 2002 and 2011 the Department of Homeland Security disbursed $35 billion in grants to state and local police. Also, the Pentagon offers surplus military kit to police departments. According to Mr Balko, by 2005 it had provided such gear to more than 17,000 law-enforcement agencies.


聯邦的資金-首先用在毒品的宣戰,之後是在反恐,已用在許多特警隊使用的重裝武器上。20022011年之間,美國國土安全局提撥350億資金在州與地方警力上。此外,國防部提供多出來的軍用套件給警方。根據Balko2005年之前,國防部已提供這類裝備給17000多個執法機構了。


 


These programmes provide useful defensive equipment, such as body armour and helmets. But it is hard to see why Fargo, North Dakota—a city that averages fewer than two murders a year—needs an armoured personnel-carrier with a rotating turret. Keene, a small town in New Hampshire which had three homicides between 1999 and 2012, spent nearly $286,000 on an armoured personnel-carrier. The local police chief said it would be used to patrol Keene’s “Pumpkin Festival and other dangerous situations”. A poll found that 58% of Americans think the use of drones, military weapons and armoured vehicles by the police has gone “too far”.


這些方案提供有用的防禦裝備,像防彈衣和頭盔。但為何北達可達州,一座平均每年不超過兩起謀殺案的城市Fargo,需要一台配有旋轉砲塔人員裝載裝甲車就讓人百思不解。紐罕布夏一座1999年到2012年間僅發生3件兇殺案的小鎮Keene,花了將近286千美元買裝甲運兵車。當地警方首長表示,它將用在Keene“南瓜節等危險情況”的巡邏上。一份民調中發現,美國有58%的人認為警方使用無人駕駛飛機,軍用武器和裝甲車已經“過猶不及”。


* drone (v./ n.) 本意有懶漢或雄峰嗡嗡聲之意,但目前則專指無人機這種科技產品  


 


 


Because of a legal quirk, SWAT raids can be profitable. Rules on civil asset-forfeiture allow the police to seize anything which they can plausibly claim was the proceeds of a crime. Crucially, the property-owner need not be convicted of that crime. If the police find drugs in his house, they can take his cash and possibly the house, too. He must sue to get them back.


由於法律的曲解,SWAT的奇襲可褲袋滿滿。民間資產沒收的規定讓警方可扣押任何他們振振有詞地聲稱是犯罪所得的物品。重要的是,不需要物業所有人罪刑的定罪。如果警方在屋內發現毒品,他們可以帶走現金且可能也扣押房屋。他必須要控告警方才可能要回房子。


 


Many police departments now depend on forfeiture for a fat chunk of their budgets. In 1986, its first year of operation, the federal Asset Forfeiture Fund held $93.7m. By 2012, that and the related Seized Asset Deposit Fund held nearly $6 billion.


許多警方部門目前都靠沒收非法所得為預算中的主要部分。1986年,聯邦資產沒收基金運作的第一年,其基金為9370萬元。到2012年,該基金和相關資產查獲存款基金以將近有600億。


 


Mr Balko contends that these forfeiture laws are “unfair on a very basic level”. They “disproportionately affect low-income people” and provide a perverse incentive for police to focus on drug-related crimes, which “come with a potential kickback to the police department”, rather than rape and murder investigations, which do not. They also provide an incentive to arrest suspected drug-dealers inside their houses, which can be seized, and to bust stash houses after most of their drugs have been sold, when police can seize the cash.


Balko先生力辯,這些沒收的法條是種“極其基本的不公平”。他們“嚴重影響低收入人群”,並給警方提供了不正當的激勵將重點放在“有對警方的潛回扣”的毒品相關犯罪而非性侵和謀殺的犯罪調查的。它們也激勵在大部分毒品已售出後,當警察能夠扣押現金時,在涉嫌毒品交易商的房屋內逮捕,扣押藏匿居所。


 


Others retort that Mr Balko and his allies rely too much on cherry-picked examples of raids gone wrong. Tragic accidents happen and some police departments use their SWAT teams badly, but most use them well, says Lance Eldridge, a former sheriff’s deputy in Colorado.


他人則反駁說Balko與其盟友過度依賴失控的突襲理想化的案例。慘事的發生,和一些警方部門不當利用特警隊,但多數則是用得恰當,科羅拉多州前副警長蘭斯埃爾德里奇表示。


 


The Ferguson protests


Guns, police and the people


For the past week the people have been in the streets of the St Louis suburb of Ferguson, Missouri. Most have been waving placards, raising their arms in the air and shouting, "Hands up, don't shoot!" A few have tossed rocks or Molotov cocktails, and in at least one instance some seem to have fired guns. The police have been in the streets of Ferguson, too. They have been firing tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets, bearing long truncheons and automatic weapons, and pointing assault rifles at protestors from atop their armoured vehicles. (They have also manhandled and arrested reporters.)


過去一周,人們聚在密蘇里州聖路易斯弗格森的郊區街道上。大部分一直揮舞著標語牌,高舉手臂在空中大喊,“高舉雙手,別開槍!”少部分人扔擲石塊或瓶裝汽油彈,至少有起事件是有些人似乎持槍。警方也已在弗格森的街道上。他們發射催淚彈和橡皮子彈,帶長警棍和自動步槍,並在裝甲車頂用突擊步槍指著抗議群眾。 (他們還動粗,並逮捕採訪記者。)


 


l    Molotov cocktail  n.(名詞)


A makeshift bomb made of a breakable container filled with flammable liquid and provided with a usually rag wick that is lighted just before being hurled.


燃燒彈:一種用裝滿可燃液體的可炸裂性容器制成的臨時替用炸彈,通常用碎布撚成引線,在扔出前點燃


 


 


The cause of the conflict is the latest in a string of police killings of unarmed black men across America. The police chief in St Louis has said Michael Brown, aged 18, was going for an officer's gun when the officer shot him. Multiple eyewitnesses have stated that the officer shot Mr Brown as he was trying to get away, after an argument that started (according to a friend of Mr Brown) when the policeman issued an expletive-laden command for the two friends to walk on the sidewalk, not in the street.


衝突的起因在最近全美國各處有一連串警方殺害手無寸鐵黑人的案例。聖路易斯的警察局長表示18歲的邁克爾·布朗,當警方向他開槍時,他試圖搶奪警方的配槍。多位目擊者表示,在警察對走在人行道上,而不是在大街上的這兩名難兄難弟發出咒罵命令(根據布朗的朋友)的爭執過後,警方在布朗試圖逃跑時開槍。


 


Confrontations between angry citizens and oppressive authorities figure prominently in the American political imagination. Americans are educated to believe that their country was established to end arbitrary government repression and tyranny, to make government accountable to the people. For the people of Ferguson that is precisely what fighting police brutality is all about. So it's worth revisiting how Americans conceive of the struggle to restrict the government's use of coercive force.


在美國的政治成見中,憤怒市民與威迫人的當局之間的對抗很明顯地點出來。美國人被教育要相信其國家的建立是為了終止專制政府的壓迫與暴政,要使政府對人民負起責任。對於弗格森的居民,這正是對抗警方的暴行。所以這值得重新審視美國人是如何理解限制政府在強制力上的使用。


 


There are several ways to constrain government agents from employing their power tyrannically. First, you have institutional measures, rules and laws. The police are subordinate to democratically elected officials. Their actions are limited by laws and regulations, undergirded by the rights enumerated in the constitution: limits on the duration for which suspects can be detained without charge, requirements for warrants for searches and arrests, situational rules governing the use of force. They must justify their actions to judges. Officers who break the law can be jailed themselves. These cross-limiting institutional checks and balances are supposed to prevent those who enjoy the privilege of state-sanctioned use of force from wielding it indiscriminately.


有幾種方法來限制政府人員不能暴虐地使用其權力。首先,有制度措施,規則和法律。警方隸屬於民選官員的監督。其行為是受到法律和法規的限制,受到憲法列舉的權利所支持:嫌犯在沒有起訴的狀況下可以持續拘留的時限,搜索和逮捕令狀的要求,管理武器使用的情境規定。他們須向法官證明自己的行動合法。犯法的官員自己將入獄。這些交互限制的機構性制衡應預防那些享有國家允許武力使用之特權的人不會隨意濫用。


 


A second way to push back against arbitrary state force is direct political action by groups of citizens. When large numbers of people demonstrate in the streets, when they boycott businesses, occupy buildings or neighbourhoods, or engage in civil disobedience, even authoritarian governments generally have to respond. In democracies, this sort of action will affect elections and drive policy change: either compromises will be struck, or aldermen, governors, perhaps even occasionally a member of Congress or two will lose their jobs. Run hard against police brutality and you may just find yourself mayor of New York City. Indeed, the demonstrations in Ferguson had already forced changes in tone and policy. Jay Nixon, Missouri's governor, took control over the town's security away from the local, nearly all-white, police department, which had botched the job, and handed it to Ron Johnson, head of the state's highway patrol, who is black. Mr Johnson quickly exhibited a deft touch, walking in a memorial march with protestors and dishing out hugs and empathy. Political action of this sort depends on an aggressive free press, and on citizens' liberty to communicate and organise.


抵制不受控的國家機器的第二種方法是通過公民團體直接性政治行動。當大批民眾上街示威,當他們抵制企業,佔據建築物或街區,或進行公民不服從的權力,即使獨裁政府通常會回應。在民主國家,這種行為會影響選舉和推動政策變化:要嘛妥協不成,不然就是市議員,州長,甚至偶爾是一兩位國會議員丟了工作。競選主打警方暴行,可能發現只有是紐約市市長。的確,弗格森的示威已迫使調性跟政策的變化。密蘇里州州長Jay Nixon,從當地幾乎清一色是白人且將事情搞砸的警方部門中接管該鎮的保安,並交與國道巡警的黑人局長Ron JohnsonRon Johnson明快地展現打動人心的靈敏行為,在紀念遊行中抗議群眾同行,並拋出擁抱和同理心。這種政治行動取決在積極自由的新聞媒體,以及對人民自由的溝通與組織。


 


l  civil disobedience  n. 非暴力反抗又稱消極抵抗(passive resistance)


Refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means.


文明抵制,非暴力反抗:為引發政府政策或立法的改變而拒絕服從政府法令,其以消極抵制和其它非暴力方式為特徵


指拒絕服從政府當局的要求或命令,也不抵抗政府後續的逮捕和懲罰。特別用作一種非暴力和通常是集體運動的手段,以迫使政府讓步,它已成為非洲和印度民族運動、美國民權運動和許多國家的工人運動和反戰運動的重要手段。非暴力反抗者認為自己有責任以更高的原則來打破某特定的法律。這種哲學思想根源於西塞羅、聖托馬斯·阿奎那和H.D.梭羅;甘地是現代最明確地表達非暴力反抗觀念的代表。在美國,馬丁·路德·金最充分表達和運用非暴力反抗的策略和哲學。


Action on the part of citizens in protest against laws regarded by them as unjust.  Examples may be refusing to pay taxes, or breaching regulations pertaining to public meetings or public processions. Questions about what (if any) civil disobedience is permissible are related to the jurisprudential debate over whether or not an unjust law is in fact a law and also whether a citizen’s obligation to obey the laws of his community is unqualified.  
公民就其視為不公平的法律而提出的抗議行動,例如拒付稅項、違反有關公眾集會或公眾遊行的規例。就何等公民不服從的行為(如有的話)是可獲容許,則與以下的法學辯論有關:不公平法律事實上是否法律,及公民遵從其社會的法律上的義務是否絕對的。


 


In recent years, a third theory about how to restrain arbitrary government power has become popular in America. Increasing numbers of Americans have become convinced that the most important factor constraining the government from infringing popular rights is widespread possession of firearms. Since the 1990s the National Rifle Association (NRA) has insistently argued that the right to bear arms is the "first freedom" from which all other freedoms flow, and that governments will eliminate the rights to freedom of speech, religion, association and so on unless citizens are able to shoot back at government agents. The NRA and the more radical group Gun Owners of America have used confrontations between federal agents and cantankerous gun-owning dissidents to make the case that only gun ownership stands between individual freedoms and government oppression. "The founders warned of the 'monopoly of violence,'" said Glenn Beck in his keynote address to the NRA convention in 2013, "because they knew that governments could turn against their people. And if the government had a monopoly of violence, tyranny would go undefeated." (The concept "monopoly of violence" was not used by America's 18th-century founders; Max Weber coined the idea in 1919. But you get the gist.)


最近幾年來,關於如何抑制專橫政府權力的第三種理論在美國廣為風行。越來越多美國人確信,約束政府不敢侵犯大眾權力最重要的因素是普遍的槍支持有。自1990年代的全國步槍協會(NRA)執意認為,在所有其他的自由洪流中,攜帶武器的權利是“自由的濫觴”,以及除非人民有能力回擊政府官員,否則政府將剔除言論自由,宗教自由,結社等自由的權力。全國步槍協會和更激進的美國擁槍團體利用聯邦特工和在槍支擁有理念不同的脾氣古怪者之間的對立,挑起個人自由與政府壓迫之間槍支擁有權的情況。“創辦人警告”暴力的壟斷,“Glenn Beck2013NRA會議其主題演講中表示,“因為他們知道,政府可能會對付人民。而且如果政府能壟斷暴力,暴政將無人能敵。


“( “暴力壟斷” 此概念並非是美國18世紀的創辦人的原意; 1919年馬克斯·韋伯杜撰了該理念,但你了的。)


 


Curiously, observes Francis Wilkinson in Bloomberg View, gun-rights advocates have not used the confrontation in Ferguson as an example of a situation where possession of a gun might have protected a citizen from the illegitimate use of force by a government agent. They have not argued that Michael Brown might be alive now if he had been able to shoot back at the police officer who killed him, or that the demonstrators who fired warning shots when police tried to shut down protests would have been justified in shooting officers to defend their right to freedom of association. No such arguments have been heard with regard to any of the unarmed black men killed by American police officers over the past few years. One wonders what might account for the fact that gun-rights advocates defend the right of a white Nevada rancher to shoot agents of the Bureau of Land Management, but not the right of young black men to shoot police officers.


令人好奇的是,觀察在彭博觀點的Francis Wilkinson,槍支權利擁護者並未利用Ferguson的對立來當成若擁槍的話可能可以保護人民不被政府人員不法使用武力的情境案例。他們並未爭論若布朗先前可以對殺了他的警察回擊,他可能現在還活著,或者說當警方試圖中止示威抗議時,鳴槍示警的抗議群眾在對警方開槍上可被理解是捍衛自己結社自由權利的合法行為。至於過去幾年中手無寸鐵的黑人男子被美國警方殺害上,在這樣議論從所未聞。人們不禁要問,槍支權利擁護者對於捍衛內華達州白人牧場主人對土地管理局的官員開槍,但卻隻字不提年輕黑人男子對警察開槍的權利,此事上的解釋。




 


In his 2013 speech Mr Beck actually argued that black men ought to buy guns to defend themselves from racist violence, decrying the fact that Martin Luther King was denied a gun permit in Alabama in 1956 "because he was considered a challenge to the people who were in control of the system." It is not clear whether Mr Beck was arguing that King should have shot police officers in Birmingham when they beat peaceful civil-rights protestors and set dogs on them. It's such an interesting lacuna, really: to argue that government officers are agents of oppression, that people should own guns to defend themselves against government oppression, that not just whites but above all blacks should recognise the need to own guns to protect oneself against government oppression, yet somehow to pass in silence over the question of whether black people should actually shoot government officers to defend themselves from oppression.


2013貝克演講中實際上主張黑人應購買槍支以保護自己避免種族主義暴力,並公開譴責,馬丁·路德·金恩在1956年時阿拉巴馬州被拒絕持槍允許證“此事,因為他被認為是對掌控體制一群人的挑戰。“目前尚不清楚貝克是否主張當伯明翰警方毆打平和的民權運動人士並放狗咬人時,金恩博士該對警方開槍。這是片有趣的空白,真的:要主張,政府官員是壓迫人民的工具,人們應該擁有槍支以自衛並對抗政府壓迫,這不僅只限於白人,而是所有黑人應體認擁槍保衛自己免於政府壓迫的需要,然而不知為何,黑人們是否的確應為自保不被壓迫而對政府官員開槍的問題卻是安靜的跳過。


 


But perhaps we should be grateful for the inconsistency. The killing of Mr Brown did not happen because America's citizens or its police are too lightly armed, or too reluctant to believe they have a legitimate right to shoot someone in a disagreement. It happened because America's citizens and its police are too heavily armed, and too quick to believe they have a legitimate right to shoot someone in a disagreement. It happened because Americans are losing the talent for solving social conflicts by building responsive institutions, and are instead of embracing video-game fantasies of solving social conflicts through violence.


但也許我們應該感謝這樣的不一致。布朗的命案並未發生是因為美國人民或警方還武裝太過輕便,或太過抗拒而不相信他們有合法權利對他人開槍上起了分歧。它會發生是因為美國人民和警察太過全副武裝,而且太快無法相信他們不同意有合法權利對人開槍。它會發生是因為美國人正失去透過建立反應機制以解決社會衝突的能力,而不是擁抱透過暴力解決社會衝突的電動遊戲幻想。