Comments Elsewhere

jj:

Want to know another ‘war’ that cannot be won, Mr Potts? The war against crime. Murders will always happen. Robberies will always occur. But we fight against them as much as we are able.

… and it’s precisely for that reason that those sorts of martial metaphors are as inappropriate for ordinary violent crime as they are for efforts to stop terrorism.

What you’re talking about is the system of institutions and policies that we have tried to develop to provide a system of criminal justice. Not a military machine. Comparing police work to war is a sure recipe for overbearing, careless, invasive police work that’s dangerous to “civilians” (that is, you and me).