Difference between Police and Army

losthorizon

AS we all know there is revolution sweeping through the Arab world which started off in Tunisia. People were killed in Tunisia and Egypt but it was by the Police. When the Army was brought in they refused to fire on protestors. In Egypt especially the ordinary man on the street seemed to identify with the army and not the police (who killed hundreds) and again the army refused to take action. Why was this? Is there a reason for the different outlook between police and army?

http://www.euronews.net/2011/02/18/revolution-fever-throughout-the-middle-east/

OS119

there's an element of 'how long is a peice of string?' about your question, but here goes...

in most dodgy countries the police play a much larger part in the day-to-day implimentation of dictatorship/kleptomania than the Army - purely because they spend time amongst the populace, whereas the Army is on training areas, ranges and track-bashing.

this has two consequences: firstly the police get hated while the Army doesn't, and secondly it allows the Army to distance itself from the day to day thuggery and theft that makes up a dictatorship. then you mix in the heady brew of self-image that soldiers often have - we like to think of ourselves as 'guardians of the people and nation' and not the mere lickspittles of whichever regime happens to be in power - and the image that most soldiers have of most policemen: that compared to soldiers policemen are overpaid, underworked, fat, lazy and incompetant, and in such dodgy countries, uniformly on the take.

then you add the self-fullfilling prophesy- which links into the soldiers self image - of the crowd often viewing the Army as the 'pinnacle' of national acheivement (ably assisted by decades of government propoganda featuring massive military parades) rather than civil society - police, judicial system etc...

lastly, you then have fear - while the senior army officers are likely to be as corrupt and as attached to the regime as their police colleagues, senior army officers are surrounded by 'the people' with Heavy Machine Guns, Tanks and Armed Helicopters - they need to be far more cautious about upsetting their organization than senior police officers do. a couple of bodyguards and a fast car will keep a senior policeman alive in the face of enraged underlings, but no armoured BMW is going to keep your limbs attached if just one of your 21year old tank gunners from the slums gets the hump.

RMD

As OS pointed out it's a differing ideology of both groups, the Police are the enforcers of law and thus the enforcers of a totalitarian regime, the army are the protectors of people and in this case if the people want to overthrow the government, this opinion might be widely reflected throughout the army.

BrianD

You also have to factor in that in Egypt a large part of the army is formed by conscripts they were probably less inclined to fire on ordinary people.

I was surprised that army did not seem to support Mubarak given that the state and the army seem to be very much entwined.

Steyr

BrianD wrote: »

You also have to factor in that in Egypt a large part of the army is formed by conscripts they were probably less inclined to fire on ordinary people.

I was surprised that army did not seem to support Mubarak given that the state and the army seem to be very much entwined.

Was the EAF more different though having F-16A/C's buzz the crowd?

BrianD

Steyr wrote: »

Was the EAF more different though having F-16A/C's buzz the crowd?

No different then parking M-60 and M-1 tanks on the streets. An impractical show of force. Helicopter gunships would have been more sinister.

Mind you, Mubarak came from the Air Force. Perhaps he has more allegience there.

Manic Moran

BrianD wrote: »

No different then parking M-60 and M-1 tanks on the streets. An impractical show of force. Helicopter gunships would have been more sinister.

Tanks are very practical. Ask the Chinese who were in Tiannanmen Square how they fared against them.

Plus Abrams make great crowd control vehicles. That exhaust will clear people out of the way right pronto.

NTM

BrianD

Manic Moran wrote: »

Tanks are very practical. Ask the Chinese who were in Tiannanmen Square how they fared against them.

Plus Abrams make great crowd control vehicles. That exhaust will clear people out of the way right pronto.

NTM

I think they were more afraid of the guys with sticks and guns following. In Egypt, tanks just became a part of the decor.

I susppose it comes down to what level of violence the authorities are willing to dish out.