Author’s Note: Early policing in the UK was very ad hoc and orchestrated through the local Churches – particularly via the Beadles and Sextons, etc (I have linked a “private” Police Force that still operates in London). If things got really serious – beyond the Stocks on the village green – then the County “Constable” would be involved. There was usually only one of these covering a wide geographical area – and it was very difficult to catch culprits or carryout investigations. When the government invented the “Polis” (State) – each foot-soldier was termed a “Constable”. Suddenly, there were thousands of “Contables” all other the place – watching each citizen in everything they do! Police can stop you for any reason – even spurious – and initiate an “arrest” and search of your person, etc. It is not in your best interests to “Resist Arrest” – as the Police are empowered by the State to punish such individuals with custodial sentences, fines, and criminal records. Therefore, it is in your best interests NOT to resist arrest and co-operate in good measure. A wrongful arrest and false imprisonment charge must be pursued through the courts (after the arrest has been duly processed without resisting) – that is how the law in a bourgeois society operates – and there is nothing you can do about it until society changes. Changing society cannot happen whilst you are being arrested – as it is not the time or the place. This requires a mature mentality and an educated perspective. Read, learn, contemplate, and discuss. Work-out how life operates and what are your best options within it. Do not allow yourself to be goaded by sexism, racism, or any comments uttered by arresting Officers. Ignore them all and behave yourself. Try not to hurt an Officer – even if they are hurting you. You may not like this – but you must learn to be indifferent to this type of abuse (learn to like it) – as the System will punish YOU and not the Officers concerned. The Police are usually workers who are privileged to support and defend their bourgeois employers – they will not jeopardise the perks they earn by betraying their own working-class. Again, such is life – deal with it. Some Police do good work, risk their lives, and protect the vulnerable – this is a fact and it would be wrong of me to deny this. The agency of the Police is non-democratic, and a top-down totalitarian system that reminds those living in a bourgeois society just how fragile their freedoms really are. ACW (8.6.2026)
When the police “arrest” a suspect – that is, a person of interest – the term originates from the UK during the 1800s. Scotland developed the first modern Police Force (a uniformed, quasi-military force) with various private Police Forces in England (primarily in London, England) being “Nationalised” and taken-over by the government. This was probably in the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s. Recently, when I was looking around a museum in Lincolnshire, a police exhibit stated that in 1839 the first Police Force possesses a trudgen (a heavy rounded club held in one-hand), whistle, sabre (a short, curved, slashing and stabbing weapon) AND a pistol! I was surprised about the fire-arm – as the UK Police evolved into being “unarmed” and prided itself on British people being civilised to co-operate with unarmed Police Constables. Indeed, most British people are proud of the fact that their Police Constables are “unarmed” – as I am. The problem is that the criminal element are quite often desperate and will resort to weaponry. Now, I am not talking about the vast majority of ordinary people who, for one reason or another, have interactions with the Police, That’s life, right? But there is a minority, a hardened underclass, who use violence in every part of their lives, and that includes during interactions with the police.
People are often cognitively “shocked” when they are “arrested” – but what does this Victorian-era term means?
Arrest (Noun) – Etymology
Vulgar Latin = *Arrestare” to “stop”, to “forcibly bring to a physical halt”
Old French “Areste” (n.)
Anglo-French (14th Century) – “stoppage, delay”
Modern English – to “Arrest” – the “State of Being Stopped”, “Stoppage – Delay” – especially in law – “taking a private person into the state custody by a “Warranted Authority” – to answer questions about an alleged or suspected crime”.
Basically, to be “arrested”, is to be forcibly brought to a physical, psychological, and verbal “halt” by an authorised agent of the State. To resist arrest is to invite further punishable charges. As many people do resist – the Police can then charge the suspect with a real crime – even if there was no viable evidence to charge the suspect in the first place. This is why resisting arrest is self-incriminating – with some Police Officers deliberately antagonising a suspect into violently resisting – just so the individual can be charged with something tangible. Many people are psychologically unprepared to be arrested whilst living in a liberal, democratic society, which propagandises since an early age – that an individual is “free” in every dimension of society. The Police represent a fascist (totalitarian) response to alleged crime – as the Police are empowered to take the rights of the individual away. In a fascist society, this state of no personal freedom is the same in every situation of llfe. So, if you want to understand what fascist oppression feels like – get arrested. Custodial sentencing reflects how a private citizen has to live in a Fascist State. This compromission of freedom is exactly “why” there was a substantial resistance in the UK to the founding of a governmental Police Force – which was developed to defend the minority rich against the majority poor. The Police treat the rich very differently to how they treat the poor – all this is carried-out under the guise of “Justice”.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 