Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Police in a Global Culture

English is the lingua franca of Earth. Just about anywhere you go, important information will be in English, certainly in cities where visitors are common.  It is a fact of history and sociology that cities attract people. Urbanism is a distinct culture. If you have taken a subway in Boston, you can navigate the Metro in Budapest. So, it is not surprising that the police in Athens are labeled in English. Even if you could read out "Astunomia" you would not want to mistake that for "Astronomia." Of course, few astronomers assemble in ranks with shields and batons. But why do the police in Teheran use English? 

Four policemen in riot gear with helmets, shields, batons and protective clothing.
From the Telegraph (UK)
ASTUNOMIA literally means "city management"
but is the modern Greek word for POLICE.
Police officer in military combat uniform with automatic rifle standing guard at subway entrance.
Bulgarian police at subway entrance in Sofia

Man cowers when confronted by six police officers. The word POLICE is in English on their baseball style caps.
Korean Police
 The policeman's baton is raised to strike a man with long hair. Two women run away. A man on a motorbike is live.
Teheran
(but it could be anywhere)
PREVIOUSLY ON NECESSARY FACTS
Laissez Faire Criminology
Junk Criminology as Pseudo-Science
Shifting the Paradigm of Private Security
Employee Theft

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