I'm afraid getting 'stuck in' has always been part of public order policing. Men and women officers need to be decent rugby players not shrinking petals - and thankfully, many are. But with ineffective, confused commanders such as Cressida Dick, the Met is carrying too much dead beat dead weight, officers avoiding conflict and carving out cushy jobs for themselves. Dick's judgement has been questioned on everything from overseeing the shooting of a Brazilian electrician, proudly claiming 900 officers are patrolling the internet for 'hurty words' to scanning the opinion columns of the Daily Telegraph for unprofessional use of words and publicly pronouncing on those pieces that have passed her scrutiny. Her intellect is neither universally admired nor trusted.
Below are two similar photos of officers being kicked whilst carrying out their duties; one at a student riot in Red Lion Square back in the 60s, the other from yesterday as officers attempted to arrest a man in a branch of McDonalds.
The first was published on the front page of virtually every daily newspaper and attracted a tsunami of public disgust and questions in Parliament. The second features deep inside the Daily Mail behind the Kardashians and has gone virtually unnoticed. What's happened to our righteous anger at assaults against the police - our police - who are supposed to be us in uniform? Or have their bosses been responsible for alienating them from public support? The struggle between a centralising Home Office and Localities for control and ownership of the police has been going since the 60s, and the Home Office is winning. They want a national police service wholly answerable to the Home Secretary, which would be a disaster for both democracy and public trust in the police.
We can't solve the local-central issue, but there is something that the government can do, quickly and I believe with cross-party support. One of the fears that police officers have is that if they react against public provocation, they will be at the mercy of some smart-arse lawyer such as the loathsome and now disbarred Phil Shiner scabbling damages from the taxpayer's purse and fat fees for themselves. And not only the police; soldiers, NHS staff, council bin men and just about anyone in the public sector is an entry-point for these reptiles into raiding our taxes to stuff their corrupt legal mouths with our gold. They advertise everywhere for 'victims' of the public sector. It's a scam and it's costing us billions - and only the skunk lawyers are getting rich.
Surely there's a simple solution. We must legislate rapidly to proscribe civil actions against public sector bodies from Conditional Fee Agreements ('no win no fee'). It was of course Blair who introduced this pernicious error in the Access to Justice Act 1999. Like much of what he did, it was wrong, and has created a disastrous legacy for our country. If you slip on a grape in Tesco and hurt your back, fine - CFA is a good way to go. If a copper sprained your finger whilst wrestling a Zombie knife from your hand, fund a civil action yourself. No legal aid. No CFA.
27 comments:
Sorry Radders, but I've had it with the Police, and have had for some considerable time. They are not "us" in uniform anymore, they are state hired politicised thugs, who are there to protect the state, not the public. I will not come to their aid, nor help them in any way.
Largely agree with Rapscallion here Raedwald.
It is a case of police-man versus policy-man. The first works for the public (a bit) and the latter is a government shill.
Sadly we now have only the latter, all the good ones have retired. They probably never rose higher than constable, but were more valued than those chaps in body armour and no tit.
Those days are over now.
It is a case of wishing they could both lose. The imported dross and our own home-grown scum vs the costumed thugs of cultural Marxism = they can both go to Hell.
Too late for plod now. The barrel has too many rotten apples.
The difference is clear in the 1960's the coppers were rightly seen as a force for good protecting the innocent and putting the guilty in jail.
Nowadays for all the reasons you state, the police are, equally rightly, seen as a branch of an unwelcome agenda 21 state sponsored cultural marxist attack on the decent.
Travellers invade your village shit on your cricket field and leave a disgusting mess behind them? Feel sorry for the poor little angels.
Bunch of pakistanis organise systematic rape and abuse of a generatino of girls in multiple towns throughout England? can't be arsed to prosecute, night hurt community relations.
Train your dog to make an amusing video as a joke? get banged up for 9 months.
Their priorities are clear, and it is not to make life better for the law abiding majority.
They have sown the wind and shall reap the whirlwind, and I'll shed no tears except for my beloved country which is being trashed by these scumsters.
As above. The police have made it very clear they're not on the side of the silent law abiding property owning majority, and in a confrontation between one of the former and a member of the chavscum criminal classes will inevitably side against the former, partly through political ideology they've been indoctrinated with but mainly through fear and laziness. Its easy to prosecute the law abiding, they don't attack you, they don't disappear, they don't accuse you of racism or some other 'ism' that all police are terrified of, they just do as they're told. So lets nail them to the wall, and get our prosecution numbers up.
Trouble is while there's a lot of criminals, there's even more of the silent majority, and now the police have no one covering their backs, they're on their own. They still have to deal with the criminal classes, because they can't be ignored entirely, but now the majority walk on by when the police are in trouble.
The police cannot be 'against' every section of society, there's only a few hundred thousand of them, and tens of millions of us. They need realise they need the backing of the silent majority, and in order to get that they need to provide the silent majority with a service, not act like an occupying force.
@Cuffleyburgers
Bunch of pakistanis organise systematic rape and abuse of a generation of girls in multiple towns throughout England? can't be arsed to prosecute, might hurt community relations.
Add to this "feminism". No, I am not wandering off-piste here, it is all part of the same problem called Islam. In Britain today, whenever Islam meets western cultural values, Islam wins. Where were those feminists when young girls were being raped? Nowhere! Where were they when the disgusting degrading practice of FGM came to light? Nowhere! Not only the police and women who proclaim to protect women's rights did nothing, worse still they tried to cover it up. Worse than that, they tried to prosecute those who would shine a light in very dark places.
It is indeed cultural Marxism.
I agree with all of the comments above. I thought we were supposed to have policing by consent; ie. with the consent of the indigenous population who pay the bills ( and the Old Bills). What we now have is policing by coercion and persecution. Nah it's not what I want and not what I want to pay for.
If all the Common Purpose placemen and women (I'm looking at you, Miss Dyke) aren't drained from the swamp, if being a police officer doesn't return to being the individual's qualities and not their paper qualifications then it might be best if we didn't have them at all and we'll employ our own private security companies to protect us.
I'm with the others. The Police at present are very fer removed from the citizen officers that used to be on the beat in the 70s. The 80s started the slippery slope of Police Politicisation.
My brother had an old school friend that joined in the 70s and left in disgust in the 80s at the way the Police was going back then.
The corruption and utter contempt for the "proles" just put him off continuing. That mentality has gone though an amplification feedback loop ever since then. Police are now not "us", they are a breed apart, they are there to subjugate and control especially in the minds of the upper echelons who weave their way through the politics of upper management to effectively become politicians themselves.
A system that is unaffected by politics would enforce the law without fear or favour, but as politics and politcal correctness have taken over, then Policing becomes disjointed, stepping back from those that cause most harm and stepping in with overuse of force against those that have no recourse.
I want an apolitical Police Force that enforces the law, UK law without fear or favour. Buit increasingly that's a pipedream as Politicians and Police Management become ever more intertwined.
How times and society have changed, and with it policing. I served thirty years in the job from '71. The first 5 were in central London before transferring to a large County force. Far from fearing physical confrontation I and most of my colleagues accepted it as part and parcel of the job and sometimes even enjoyed it (when we were winning!) In this we had the support of our senior officers, the majority of the public and, most importantly, the courts. A first offender on being found guilty of 'Assault on Police' in front of one of the legendary Stipendary Magistrates at Great Marlborough Street could look forward to a 3 month spell as a guest of Her Majesty. A warning of 'Don't touch the cloth, it'll be 3 months' was often enough to deter a potential asailant who fancied his luck.
At the end of my service when I was in the middle ranks most young officers were very reluctant to 'Exert the authority of the uniform' as our Hendon trainers used to stress.
Dunploddin.
It was the fear that a Police force would turn out the way in which it has (see all the above) that made the British population of the time so firmly opposed to Peel's proposals for a police force. Thus Peel's Principles of Policing, which have been declared obsolete by the Chief of the force where I live.
I fear it has all boiled down to the police being just another gang. They happen to be the biggest gang around, they have the best uniforms, probably the best vehicles, and maybe the best guns. I see little else in their favour!
CFA has been cut back anyway....
Having been criminally cheated by officialdom who then proceeded to thumb their noses at us and actually said "we can outspend you legally and drag this out until you die" I feel CFA has a place in the machinery of law.
As for Shiner and Co. - the problem is made massively worse by political and executive skulduggery (and spinelessness) - just look at the way that the "connected" Leigh Day escaped from under to continue their antics. Just Look who Laydee Nugee is connected to.
In large part the immunity of the legal profession from the consequences of bad behaviour drives wanton miscarriages of justice - don't expect m'learned friends to address that anytime soon.
Its the 'policing by community consent' or 'sensitivity towards community issues' that pisses me off. 'Communities' have no say in the matter, to say otherwise is to contradict the basic principle that before the law all are supposedly equal, that a copper coppers without regard to the person and with favour towards none. But the genitals of little black girls matter less than those of white ones because the 'issue is complex and all the 'stakeholders agree' -according to some Uberpoliceman or woman recently.
Black lives don't matter, ALL life matters until it points a knife or gun at anyone else, the colour of their skin or which Sky Pixie they worship is irrelevant.
"But the genitals of little black girls matter less than those of white ones"
Which country are you talking about cos it ain't this one.
In both cases--Rotherham+ and FGM-- it is about kissing RoP arse--not the girl's skin colour.
Seems like I'm just covering the same ground as others, but Plod is really crap these days. I remember as a young lad when we wouldn't mess with a copper as he'd give you a crack, then tell your parents (who'd also give you a crack). Now it's some 5'0" policewoman who's as wide as she is tall and has no respect from the community. Plus the parents care less these days what their little brats are up to anyway.
it is about kissing RoP arse--not the girl's skin colour. -MrX
For some "communities", especially the ones that seem to enjoy declitorising their girl children with rusty tins, it is both.They get to play both privilege cards. But i had in mind the 'off the reservation' post by Joolz the other day.
How sad that we are now reduced to either one of two positions:
1. victims of Police action/inaction
2. disrepect for the Police due to their politicisation
We've had the Police turn up at our door (a 50 mile round trip for the TWO of them) to answer an eBay customers claim that 'we are not a real business' - FFS.....
Conversely when we were victims of a Scam to the tune of £1k they weren't interested even though we had the details of those that perpetrated it.
Like ALL the above - fcuk 'em.
Sadly, I too have to agree with the other comments. I feel sorry for some of the policemen and women who have a difficult job with their hands often tied behind their backs but I do think they tend to go for the soft targets and the law abiding rather than actually tackle the real criminals. So, my husband will get fined for doing a few miles over the limit yet the neighbour gets burgled, a number plate spotted by another neighbour ties up with the gypsies at a nearby site and yet the burgled ones are told to claim on their insurance and that ‘there’s no need for the police to bother going to the camp site as they’ll have passed the stuff on by now’. Actual example.
Have a look at the Inspector Gadget website/twitter account for an interesting insight.
Like ALL the above
Its quietly terrifying isn't it , when everyone here agrees on anything? I mean, the good book does say 'How good and how pleasant for the brethren to live together in unity (Psalm 133,1)' but when it actually happens it kinda worries one...
Beat me to it JK.
I would guess that most of the commenters here grew up with respect/admiration for plod.
I'm a beat PC and it's sad to read these comments on a website that should (in theory) be supportive of us. The relationship between the public and the police is too complicated for me to debate on here but don't be fooled by reading the Daily Mail. This govt uses all it's powers to undermine the police to soften us up for privatising. Look at the prison service as an example.May and Cameron hate us with a passion. How's the war and against stop-and-search going Theresa? Might have got you a few more ethnic votes but we are up to 100 murders in London alone this year and it's only August.Never mind eh?
We do get a lot wrong but we PC's on the ground floor are generally decent and hard-working. Look upstairs for the politically-correct idiots that would sell their own grandmothers for promotion.
Jaded
Jaded - As has been mentioned, rarely are commenters here united on anything - I don't think in ten years and tens of thousands of comments that opinion has been so unanimous. I must admit I am surprised and perhaps a little shocked. Houston, we have a problem.
My own view is close to yours - that ground floor officers are largely decent, dedicated and diligent, but let down by poor leadership, whole tiers of senior officers having been promoted and appointed for the wrong reasons, and a politicised Home Office seeking to centralise control.
So I will do my best to continue what I've been trying to do - supporting, valuing and encouraging front line officers and reserving my most acid criticism for the stupidity, malice and blundering of more senior officers, civil servants and politicians who have brought us to this pass.
And I really hope that public trust and confidence in the police has not been irrevocably lost - for we will all be the losers from that.
@ Jaded & Raedwald
Yes, I was brought up to support the police. I was told they had a very difficult job to do on our behalf. But.
Then I saw how the senior officers betrayed that support in so many politically correct ways. Then I saw how many of the "ground floor" officers do what the senior officers tell them to do. [Yes, I understand they have families to feed and bank managers to pay off, just like the rest of us. That is how they are controlled.] Whether the junior ranks support and agree with the senior officers or the junior ranks disagree makes little difference. From an outsider's point of view, "the police" is a monolithic organisation controlled from the top with the grunts at the bottom doing as they are told and held in line by fear [probably of Professional Standards or some other internal body.]
I suspect that there is very little time left for "the Police" to do something about this state of affairs, and it is now going to need dramatic actions to retrieve the situation. For example, let us see the CPS sticking to their charges against Bettison for Hillsborough, instead of dropping them. Let us see Dick stripped of her several promotions and medals for the killing of de Menenzes and in the dock for it instead. Both of these two have escaped by blaming the lower ranks. They thereby showed that their leadership wasn't up to the task.
And for the lower ranks who don't like being tarred with the same brush, you have the same options that the rest of us have if you don't like the decisions of "the management"; get out. Those in Enron who saw what was going on and didn't want to be tarnished by it got out. Engineers in Union Carbide at Bhopal who saw that some disaster was likely to happen got out. The only way that "the lower ranks" can apply pressure to the senior ranks is to ensure that there are insufficient lower ranks to put the commands of the senior ranks into effect; ie to collapse the organisation from within.
Then we can go back to local watch committees hiring local constables to attend to local policing needs.
In my limited dealings with the police, they have always been polite and efficient.
But the taxpayers paying for hundreds of them to sit in front of computers searching for hate crimes seems absurd.
I think the hostility comes mainly from the advent of the motor car, which is mainly since the 1950s. Speeding seems to be an irresistible temptation, many motorists think the law doesn't apply to them because they are good drivers, and so millions of otherwise respectable citizens have become criminals. They resent being told so by the police.
Don Cox
"I think the hostility comes mainly from the advent of the motor car, which is mainly since the 1950s. Speeding seems to be an irresistible temptation, many motorists think the law doesn't apply to them because they are good drivers, and so millions of otherwise respectable citizens have become criminals. They resent being told so by the police."
No thats not it. Yes there's always been the 'Why aren't you out there catching muggers and rapists' cry when someone got done for speeding, but deep down most speeders didn't have a foot to stand on and they knew it. As you say, cars have been around for half a century or more, this change of sentiment is far more recent, within a decade basically.
Its down to the police becoming thought police IMO. There's a very chilling example on Tim Newmans blog (here: http://www.desertsun.co.uk/blog/8104/) where he was in a Twitter argument with some feminists about female genital mutilation and the lack of feminist interest as to who exactly was going it, and look who pops up on the thread - plod, in the form of Essex Police Twitter. With what I take as a thinly veiled threat of move along here sonny, or we'll do you. Thats why so many people dislike the police so intensely now, they realise they've swallowed the leftist pill and have gone full on SJW on us, so anyone who is not a full-on SJW is now at risk of being arrested by the police for their views, if openly expressed. Which given the SJW tendency are a minority (though incredibly vocal and in positions of power) means the police are now at odds with the views of the majority of the population, regardless of the old Left/Right split.
We all know we have to watch what we say around the police nowadays, because despite what Jaded says, the grunts on the ground are the ones who enforce the edicts from on high, and they'll do you for 'hate speech' as fast as they can, its far easier than arresting the pikeys who've just nicked your caravan.
'I voz only obeying orders' doesn't cut I'm afraid, if you're in the police force at any level you are complicit in what they have become. The only honourable thing to do if you disagree is quit. If you don't you're tarred with the same brush, and decent folk should shun you.
Without comment:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6122341/Norfolk-Police-leave-computer-decide-worthwhile-investigating-burglary-cases.html
@ Jaded & Raedwald Are you familiar with Mark Passio's work on "Order Followers"
http://asheepnomore.net/2015/03/11/order-followers-people-keep-system-slavery-place-video/
Mark
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