Police want to be uniformed thugs

There was an incident locally last year, where a police officer knocked down and killed a young woman of sixteen. The officer in question was convicted of “Causing Death by Dangerous Driving”, that would not have been the expected if based upon the scant statements issued by the police at the time. In fact the police statements at the time made it sound as though the officer had run into a near riot. While the evidence in court was that the police officer was driving at ninety-three miles per hour in a dark street where the legal speed limit was thirty MPH. Just to really ask for trouble, he was driving at that speed with no, I repeat NO, blue lights flashing or two tone siren, known as “Blues and Twos.

I relate this story as just another example of where the police will distort the truth to protect their own. This happened in the case of Jean Charles de Menezes, where an innocent man was killed by the police on a London Tube. Statements were made that made it seem that the police had good justifiable reasons to shoot to kill. Yet, as the facts were checked and examined, alongside eye witness statements, the actions of the police there look dubious to say the least.

When a man died, initially reported as, of a heart attack at the protests surrounding the G20 meeting in London, the police first called him a protester. The police also claimed they had suffered a “Rain of Bottles and Bricks” when they tried to offer first aid. Then it emerged that the man was an innocent bystander returning home from work. The rain of missiles was a single bottle and it emerged that the man, Ian Tomlinson, had been assaulted by the police before hand.

Here is the footage

If anyone else had done what the police officer can be seen doing here, they would be charged with assault. Had the incident not been captured on video then I have no doubt the police would be cooking up some statement that would be worthy of nomination for the booker prize.

When I was a child I had full respect for the police, I actually thought they were a special breed of people. Then as I grew up I discovered that not all of them were as honest or reliable as mythology would have us believe. Throughout my life I have seen so many incidents where the police have been central to major miscarriages of justice. Further whenever there is an incident where a police officer may have done something wrong, especially in the line of duty, the police close ranks. Both metaphorically and actually.

I have never believed that the police were or are infallible, well not since I was five years old, but my trust and faith in the police has been shattered by personal experience. I realise that the majority of police officers are good people trying to do a difficult job, and a major part of the problems the police have now are created as a result of the excesses of the past. For example where police have adjusted witness statements to fit the facts has resulted in paperwork procedures that now bind the police to a desk at times. While it may mean that an officer is out on patrol, it does mean that there is a good chain of evidence and that it is less likely that an innocent person is convicted just because an officer believes him or her guilty. As occurred in the past.

Equally, the actions of a few racist, sexist and homophobic officers in the past, have resulted in legal procedural processes that make it more difficult for these people to get away with this type of bad behaviour. This has resulted in the police thinking themselves without the support of the community. When the reality is that it is because of the excesses the police can and do practice that has meant that society, the community demands the police justify their actions. Further the police believe themselves separate from the community, when in reality they must be part of the society and community to have any genuine authority.

The police must be willing to accept their mistakes and not try to cover up when something does go wrong. Further when an officer does cross the line, the police should treat the wrong doing officer the same way any miscreant is dealt with. Additionally, any officer hiding the truth to protect a fellow officer should be disciplined too.

That way the police will start to rebuild the trust and respect the police say they want and need.

All this I drafted out nearly two weeks ago, not least in my disgust at the actions of the police. I have spoken before about the danger we have of the police being given to much power, as clearly events have shown they (the police) can abuse their powers. There have now been three incidents where the police have clearly abused their powers at the G20 protests and these were only the ones caught on camera. Recently a new law came onto the statute books that makes it illegal to film or take pictures of the police. While this power has limitations and should not hamper tourists or journalists, I can already envisage the police abusing this power to protect their own.

Also I have spoken about the danger of us as a nation slipping towards a police state. While we do not yet have the police acting totally at the behest of the politicians, we are getting dangerously close to that happening. We had a very clear example of that with the announcement last week that the Member of Parliament, Damien Green, will not face charges for receiving leaked documents from the home office. It is worth remembering that these were politically embarrassing to the government, but the police (The State) used Anti Terrorist officers and powers to arrest and search the MPs offices in parliament. Saying that this was a matter of national security.

There are other examples, but the point is that the police will repeatedly abuse the powers they have if allowed. Further, the police will always want stronger and greater powers. Be this identity cards, or powers to stop and search or to detain. While the argument is always used that the innocent should have no fear of these powers, history is littered with examples where the innocent have suffered because of these powers in the past. There are many black males that were repeatedly stopped and searched quite simply because they were black and happened to live in a particular area.

Before the G20 the police were over egging the pudding by saying there would be serious violence on the streets, and were doing there level best to stop any lawful demonstration at all. While I agree that there are and sadly always will be, a minority that attend protests and rallies with the intention of causing trouble, it would be far better if the police targeted these people rather than treating every member of the public as a potential criminal. There is no faster way of creating a divide between the public and the police, than having the police thinking of the public as the enemy. Hey its the public the police are there to protect and serve.

As I have already said I have delayed making this posting as events were unfolding so rapidly, it looked as though I may not have had all the facts to have ensured I made an accurate posting, but this delay enabled me to look carefully at the facts. Then quite by chance there was an interview with an actor that stars in a retro police series. While I have not seen it myself, in this series the police regularly “ruff up” the villains. The actor in this interview said that regularly the real police tell him they would love to be able to do what he does on screen. Well that is telling, the police want to be uniformed thugs.

I realise that the police have a difficult job to do, but the police have to act with restraint and professionalism. If they genuinely need extra powers, well they need to earn the right to have them by using their existing powers responsibly.

While the justice system can and will prosecute and convict a police officer that has done wrong, often it is only when it is so serious that anything less would be seen as outrageous by the public. The good decent police officers should not tolerate or allow the bad apples to undermine the service. It was those sorts of practices in the past that resulted in police corruption and wrongful convictions. An effective police force is one that works with society and not against it.