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The Oakland Police Officers Association in California said something clever recently: ‘As your police officers, we are confused’ It feels like a long time since any political group or institution confessed to such a common human condition But far from being a mission statement, this was an honest and heartfelt plea from an organisation of working men and women with families to support for an intelligent debate surrounding the Occupy protests that have spread like a viral video of police ‘overreaction’ across the globe   That might be the first point of confusion to clear up They weren’t overreacting Heavy-handed, authoritarian, ‘tough-on-crime’ policing is how these servicemen were taught to act, and they have been ‘reacting’ just fine on the streets of Oakland and US cities like it ever since Until recently they probably thought they knew why Oakland has long had an unemployment rate well above the national average, endemic multi-generational poverty, and an illustrious history of black labour organisation Like many poor places in the US it also has a wealthy neighbour, San Francisco — which like most affluent areas prefers that struggling populations remain out of sight, and out of mind There are many ways to achieve these political erasures, but an effective method has always been aggressive policing, increasingly privatised warehouse prisons, and a ‘tough on crime’ culture And as long as you’re on the right side of all this, and the ever-tightening ‘legal’ definitions this degree of control requires, it really works Over time US police departments have developed the skills, toys and temperament their political paymasters required of them In a nation state, which comprises just five per cent of the world’s population yet a fearsome 25 per cent of the world’s incarcerated, these are valuable skills The highly politicised nature of American incarceration, spurred on by the morally bankrupt ‘legal’ machinations of the domestic war-on-some-drugs, means the US now has a large portion of its potential workforce locked up inside Those allowed out are branded ‘felons’ and denied employment opportunities and voting rights A disproportionate number of which are black or brown skinned — caught in the revolving