I want to share two recent stories of police abuse of the citizenry. These stories hit hard, and they should.

These kinds of incidents are shockingly commonplace. Not because cops are uniquely evil — plenty of them are decent people doing a tough gig — but because the system itself is incoherent. It turns difficult jobs into unaccountable nightmares.

Two fresh incidents from Europe have the public rightly horrified. First, in the Netherlands: video from a Zeist asylum center (May 19, 2026) shows a Dutch officer slamming a visibly pregnant woman to the ground.

She was trying to stay near her detained husband. Officers then dragged her by her hair. She later gave birth prematurely to a baby girl. Dutch police are “investigating.”

You can see the footage circulating widely — here’s one prominent clip showing the takedown and aftermath. It’s as brutal as it sounds.

Second, in the UK: 18-year-old student Henry Nowak lay dying from multiple stab wounds in Southampton (December 2025 incident, bodycam released recently). His attacker falsely claimed a racist assault.

Police — prioritizing that allegation — handcuffed the bleeding victim as he gasped, “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe.” Officers reportedly dismissed him mockingly (“I don’t think you have, mate”) while the killer stood by.

Nowak died shortly after. National outrage, protests, an officer resigned, investigations ongoing. Bodycam footage is publicly available via BBC and other outlets — distressing but revealing.

The killer was eventually prosecuted and convicted, but that’s not the point. The police behaved atrociously towards Nowak.

These aren’t isolated “bad apples.” Add in the steady drip of U.S. cases, custody deaths, and excessive force stats that keep rolling despite reforms. The pattern is clear.

Conservative statists often shrug: “Cops have a tough job. It’s very dangerous work. Occasional excesses are forgivable. Back the blue, or suffer crime and chaos.” Ironically, in this monopolist system, the citizens get both chaos and police abuse.

Fair point on the danger — facing violent criminals isn’t easy. Even in a stateless world, security services with armed responders would exist. Private firms, insurance-backed patrols, reputation-driven agencies handling crime prevention, investigation, and response. Their jobs would be difficult too.

But here’s the rub: monopoly changes everything. When the state owns the “security” market with no competition, cops sit above the law. Qualified immunity shields them from personal consequences for rights violations, and police unions fight tooth and nail against firing bad actors or meaningful discipline.

Internal affairs? Often a joke. No customer choice means no market pressure to improve, fire failures, or innovate better de-escalation and accountability tools.

In a competitive system, a firm that slams pregnant women or cuffs dying victims while letting killers direct the narrative would lose clients fast. Insurance companies wouldn’t underwrite their liabilities.

Reputation tanks, contracts dry up, better firms take the business. Competition rewards competence and restraint; monopoly breeds complacency, entitlement, and cover-ups.

We’ve seen the negative effects of monopoly play out here: slow response on real crimes, over-focus on optics or protected narratives (as in the Nowak case), and a culture where “us vs. them” thrives because there’s zero incentive to treat citizens as paying clients who can take their business elsewhere.

This is why horrors like these proliferate under statism. Government “services” extract taxes compulsorily, grant themselves legal privileges, and face no real exit option for the public.

The results are obvious. Predictable abuses, eroded trust, and more tragedy. Suffer. Rinse. Repeat.

We don’t have to accept this. Free people can — and should — contract voluntarily for security and legal services. Private arbitration, competitive protection agencies, reputation markets, and technology already point the way.

We don’t need monopoly government to “protect” us while it shields its enforcers from consequences.

It’s long past time to wake up. Cast off these oppressive monopoly structures. Build parallel systems that actually deliver safety without the horror show. The market has better answers. Let’s choose them.

Naturally,

Adam