The Bomb Squad.

[ggdwill]

I work with a part-time co-worker who is also a fireman. Although I was thoroughly disgusted yesterday as he he was hoping for the latest hurricane to hit Orlando so that he could get overtime pay, when he was going on today about how cushy working for the government is, he started a bragging about his intentions to join the bomb squad - apparently part of the Orlando Fire Department. Although I felt my usual resentment as he listed all of the days off, the benefits, and the altruism that motivates him to serve, he did spark this question in me; and it has been nagging at me all day.

Should the government be in the business of defusing bombs?

On the surface, this function seems like just another protection of individual rights an so the answer should be a confident "yes", but when I thought about it more, I wasn't so sure. Since protecting someone from a criminal with a bomb is essentially the same as protecting someone from a criminal with a gun, I believe that forming a clearer definition of what exactly the role of the police should be is necessary.

It seems to me that the reason why the government maintains a police force is not merely to protect people from immediate threats, but rather to apprehend individuals known to have committed a crime (or reasonably suspected of). Simply because many times the protection that the use of police force provides happens to occur at the same time as the apprehension of a criminal (eg: a police officer shoots and then arrests someone he just saw fire a gun at someone) doesn't mean that they're the same thing.

I believe that cops carry guns for the same reason any one who regularly encounters dangerous situations would carry one. However, it is not the - or at least it shouldn't be - the responsibility of the government to protect people from immediate threats - especially at a risk to their own lives. So what makes a criminal with a bomb so special as to warrant a round-the-clock government department specifically devoted to defusing bombs? Defusing bombs is a very risky endeavor and I can't think of any situation in which the diffusion of a bomb leads to the apprehension of a criminal.

Now, of course, the placement of a bomb on someone's property is very serious and should be thought of legally as akin to pointing a gun at someone, but I just cannot see how disarming them is part of the process of injustice.

In certain circumstances, I can understand why it would be valuable for the police (and obviously the military) to employ people with that type of specialized knowledge - such as in the preparations to serve a warrant at a house that may be booby-trapped. But outside of tactical considerations for specific missions, it just seems like another government-funded service operating under a nebulous definition of the word "justice".

Thoughts?

- Grant

[IAmMetaphysical]

Are you saying that although the government should be in the business fo apprehending arsonists and bombers, they shouldn't necessarily be in the business of fighting fires or defusing bombs and that those responsibilities should be privately dealt with?

[ggdwill]

Yes

[Vladimir Berkov]

I think it is rather strange to try to make the only purpose of a police force that of apprehending criminals. The essence of having a police force in the first place is to protect the public from criminal injury and activity. The apprehension of criminals, while important, is only important because you need to apprehend criminals to protect the public.

This is clear in situations in which apprehending a suspect becomes a grave risk to the public. There are situations in which a chase must be abandoned because continuing it, while perhaps resulting in the suspect being caught, causes too much of a risk to other cars or pedestrians.

Certainly is isn't a duty of the police to protect people from all injury. This is why you can't sue the police when you get mugged and they weren't there to save you. But it should be a duty of the police to attempt to prevent the criminal injuries they are aware of. And bombs clearly belong in this category.

There is also the practical advantages of having a police bomb squad, namely the consolidation of training and equipment, and the ability to best aquire any evidence regarding the bomb to be used to catch a suspect or in a criminal trial.

[RationalBiker]

As it pertains to the question at hand, preventing the detonation of bomb would be preventing a rights violation, whether it be to property or life. I think it is as simple as that, and that it is well within the proper domain of the police.