Thrown to the wolves with targets on their backs.
Those brutal, genocidal police who will save your life regardless. 
This is quite simply, not a great time to be a police officer. Probably, not since World War 2 when officers along with other emergency workers, were being killed in bombing raids by virtue of being on duty above ground, has the police service suffered as they are suffering now.
The latest media onslaught began with a vengeance with the commencement of Lockdown, which saw a shameful media tactic of trawling for ‘over-zealous’ police stories. Despite fewer people being on the streets, assaults on police officers actually increased with numerous instances of the Coronavirus being weaponised, resulting in officers being spat at, coughed upon and bitten.
Even the BBC joined in the orgy of police bashing when at the end of their flagship VE Day programme, tributes were paid Covid Key workers; except that is the police. The excuse was that they couldn’t find anyone from the 50 plus relevant UK police forces.
Then, in what was turning into a perfect storm, came the shocking death of George Floyd which was immediately condemned by an appalled police social media community in the UK.
There was concern that the anger and violence might transpose itself over here and so it proved with most of the bile being directed against the ‘murderous, racist’ police by the Black Lives Matter organisation-Black Lives Matter (org).
Few police either in the UK or the USA would disagree with the issues of inequality. Police officers have to deal with the results of socio- economic deprivation, sub-standard housing, inferior education, poor health care, cuts to youth provision and lack of job opportunities which result in high crime areas and increased contact and conflict with police who have to provide the sticking plaster over wounds caused by successive inept generations of politicians be they Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Labour.
Yet pulling the strings of protest is Black Lives Matter; the political organisation which wants to defund and ultimately abolish the police which it considers oppressive and murderously racist, BLM (org) also wishes to abolish capitalism which is the focal point of an agenda which appears to be Marxist.
BLM, the movement and the organisation, has attracted widespread support but the extreme levels of violence seen at both protests and in many US cities plus the general breakdown of law and order, has also been divisive.
In the UK, initial protests in London resulted in violence against the police by a significant minority of BLM supporters. At one protest, police battled ferociously with far-right protestors in order to prevent them attacking BLM supporters who themselves were confronting a mob of football ‘fans’ in Trafalgar Square. Later the same day, BLM supporters were attacking white males at Waterloo Station who they deemed to have been part of the far-right protest.
Attempts to apply a ‘light touch’ to BLM protests proved less than successful with police commanders being roundly criticised as officers in their standard uniforms were attacked with missiles. Attempts to apply ‘light touch’ policing to illegal, so called block parties also saw police attacked and forced to retreat pending the arrival of properly equipped reinforcements.
Tweet in the aftermath of the White City block party
Those listening to or viewing the placards of BLM activists in the UK could be forgiven for thinking that the death of black and other minority ethnic individuals was a regular occurrence. The manipulation of statistics to suit the agenda of those who loathe police has been a common theme ever since the death of Floyd.
In America, an alternative view in respect of black deaths at the hands of police doesn’t absolve the actions of some officers but appears to ameliorate the stark statistical picture painted by BLM.
In the UK, BLM (org) and its supporters, also make great play of both statistics and lists of those who have died ‘at the hands of police.’ Various figures are quoted and of course police have to learn lessons where unforeseen tragedy occurs. Yet, as is acknowledged by the IOPC, many are beyond the control of officers and are due to issues such as drugs, alcohol and/mental health but they are included in order to inflate statistics.
The recent incident at a Glasgow hotel, where a police
sergeant was one of six persons stabbed by a deranged asylum seeker saw the
assailant shot dead by police. Will that individual be included on BLM lists of
those ‘murdered’ by police? Will those who have been shot dead by police after
murdering innocent members of the public in terror attacks also be included?
BLM ‘lists’ refer to individuals whose deaths occurred before many serving officers were even born, yet, although perhaps of little consolation to relatives, lessons were learned.
The only armed police are now highly trained and across the UK, police rarely discharge firearms in spite of undertaking around 20,000 armed operations during the course of a year. Custody procedures have evolved and are now lengthy with prisoners being taken to hospital at the first sign of health issues. Restraining violent suspects is always a challenge but again positional asphyxiation is now uppermost in the minds of all overs when restraint is applied.
Disproportionality in relation to deaths in police custody and after police contact do need careful scrutiny not a blanket collective smearing of all police officers. As stated, the reality of socio- economic conditions resulting in high crime areas and additional contact with police needs to be considered while other areas of research in relation to any susceptibility to mental health issues have either been completed or are ongoing. Details can be found with a simple google search. Again, there appears to be questions around both disproportionality and the reasons why this should exist.
Some within the black community also point to a need for additional black male role models/mentors which interestingly recently provoked an interesting debate on police twitter; indeed a well- known black activist, known for his loathing of police, made a powerful ‘wake up’ speech to this effect back in 2015.
To whom do Black Lives matter?
It is a matter of some frustration to officers that, despite the mantra of ‘racist police murderers,’ black lives lost on the streets of London or Birmingham are not, except in the rarest circumstance, the result of conflict with police or racist attacks. They are frequently the result of conflict with other black males.
This graph from Sky News illustrates the challenge faced by both the Met and the black community.
Alan has also carried out research into homicides in London courtesy of the Met.
Whenever a stabbing or shooting occurs, police turn on the blue lights and sirens not knowing what they will find when they arrive at what is often a dreadful, bloodied scene; it could be a violent criminal armed with a knife or a gun or a victim or victims in urgent need of that which police term ELS, (Emergency Life Support).
Police officers are often on the scene before paramedics and will therefore begin to save that life or lives regardless of the race, religion or sexual orientation of the unfortunate victim. The one question which BLM police hating supporters never ask is how many black lives are actually saved by police contact be it via Emergency Life Support or by taking knives, guns and other lethal weapons off the street.
To admit that as fact however is an anathema to Black Lives Matter (org) although a contrary view is taken by that section of UK society who nevertheless support the view that Black Live do Matter and frequently demonstrate that by example……they are the police.
Stop and search.
Many policing academics appear to devote their lives to proving that police stop and search makes little difference to the violence that occurs on the streets. My friend Alan, however, simply furnishes graphs which, under Theresa May, shows one curve going visibly downwards and the other visibly upwards. The first is the reducing number of stop and searches, the second the increasing number of violent crimes being committed.
Another argument is that stop and search is disproportionately targeted against the black community in London and that this is because of the racist attitudes of police officers. Home Office historical but relevant research, allegedly buried by….the Home Office would appear to dispute this.
This shows a montage of gun and knife crime victims from 2018. The question ignored by those who loathe police is a simple one: How many would still be alive if police had stop and searched their assailant before that person encountered their victim?
RIP
The Met’s Deputy Commissioner, Stephen House, made the following point to the London Assembly’s Police and Crime Committee.
And Commissioner Cressida Dick gave the same figures when addressing the Home Affairs Select Committee and when being interviewed by Nick Ferrari.
The Mayor’s Officer for Policing and Crime has also examined issues surrounding violent crime in London.
Little wonder that the Mayor did an about turn in respect of his views on stop and search after taking office and realising the reality behind the rhetoric.
One statistic that has never been produced would show whether police are stopping and searching the right individuals; in other words what percentage of individuals stopped and searched have significant criminal histories.
When speaking to the London Assembly’s police and crime
committee in respect of stop and search, House further endeared himself to
officers by criticising those who heaped dreadful abuse on black officers performing
duty at BLM protests and pointed out how misleading short edited smart phone
clips featuring police incidents.
#Eliteathletegate
The stop of a car containing two athletes ensured that the BLM (org) agenda would continue. The alarm was raised by Linford Christie, who, as can be seen from a modicum of research has had his own issues with police over the years.
Initially, the response from the Met was immediate and totally out of character. They defended their officers and stated that the footage had been reviewed by their own DPS (Department of Professional Standards-themselves unpopular with the ‘front line’) and nothing untoward was observed from both the footage seen on social media and the officers own Body Worn Camera (BWC) footage.
The next day saw a little wobble; in a further statement the Met stated that they were trying to contact the athletes involved.
The wobble transformed itself into an earthquake when the Commissioner stated to the Home Affairs Select Committee, that there was an apology for the distress involved. It appeared that the officers had been thrown under a bus.
The media immediately and predictably wrote the headlines suggesting that the Commissioner had apologised for the whole incident thus suggesting the officers were in the wrong.
Cressida Dick’s supporters and later her good self on the Nick Ferrari show, pointed out that she was only apologising for the distress, not the actual stop and search. The question is simply why she didn’t stress that at the time. It was painfully obvious that the media would exploit the word ‘apologise’ and they certainly did.
To add insult to injury, because of ‘public interest,’ the mistrusted and loathed Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after earlier indicating their own ‘interest,’ stated that they would be mounting a full investigation after a referral from the Met.
Police confidence in the IOPC could hardly have been raised by their tweet in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.
Later the IOPC made another reference to George Floyd when it issued a statement explaining why they were attempting, via the courts, to force the Met to hold a misconduct hearing in the case of Jermaine Baker; Baker was shot dead by a police officer whilst with three others in a vehicle waiting to ‘spring’ a known criminal as he was being transferred from a security vehicle to Crown Court.
The footage released by Linford Christie began with the car door being opened by police and the confrontation beginning. Later, footage seen on social media, of the same incident began in the car as it was being driven shortly before the door was opened, which begs the question why Bianca began filming before the car was stopped by police.
The other unanswered question is whether the windows were tinted or ‘blacked-out’ and if so to what degree, given the fact that officers are effectively accused of racial profiling which would be rather difficult if they were unable to see into the vehicle.
There was criticism of the officer who was clearly visible outside the vehicle with his baton ‘racked’ and ready for use. Those who were and are critical, need to google, ‘run over police officer’ and restrict the search to the UK. Such a search will reveal a large number of incidents where officers have been deliberately attacked by individuals driving vehicles.
There was also criticism of police carrying out a stop of search with a baby in the car. Having worked at airports I’ve personally witnessed young children effectively being used as shields based on the not entirely inaccurate premise that those accompanied by babies or young children are less likely to be searched.
Similarly, a google search using ‘drugs found in nappies’ produces numerous examples of adults shamefully using babies to ‘move’ drugs. Similar searches involving the search terms prams, pushchairs, stolen goods, cocaine, heroin, cannabis also shows how unscrupulous criminals are in the use of babies and young children. Clearly merely being accompanied by a young child should not ensure a totally untroubled passage for any individual being dealt with law enforcement although the welfare of the child must always be a priority.
It is also perhaps worthy of note, that Cressida Dick, having viewed the footage, stated that officers were correct in their decision to stop the vehicle given the apparently abysmal driving.
Nevertheless, the word is that the officers involved are bitterly resentful in terms of the way they have both been ‘trashed’ by the media and effectively, despite Cressida Dick’s protestations, thrown under a bus.
Even if the IOPC find there is no case to answer, there will
probably be some form of derogatory comment or ‘advice’ which will mean the
incident will follow those officers around for the rest of their careers.
#BicycleRepairGate
Within a short space of time, those who hate police had even more ammunition when two officers were filmed restraining a male. Social media claimed that one officer was kneeling on the suspect’s neck. The footage divided twitter. I, with many others, viewed the footage over and over again. I could have been accused of seeing what I wanted to see, but to me the officer’s knee was behind his neck or over his face. If there was any contact with the neck, it was inadvertent and fleeting.
Given the officer was also having to focus on the hostility around both him and his colleague, that could perhaps be forgiven and of course, these days, every arrest that ends up on the floor is likely to be accompanied by shouts of ‘I can’t breathe’ plus of course the now familiar Steven Spielberg wannabes filming events.
Attempting to restrain individuals on the floor can frequently be seen on the plethora of police ‘fly on the wall’ programmes such as ‘Police Interceptors,’’ Road Wars,’ ‘Inside the Force,’ ‘Traffic Cops,’ and ‘The Met-Policing London’ to name but a few!! These days, as appeared probable in the video, officers also attempt to avoid being coughed on, spat at or bitten.
I can vividly remember rolling around and restraining individuals on the floor on numerous occasions decades ago yet when I tweeted to this effect, one or two seriously thought that back then we routinely restrained by placing our knees on people’s windpipes.
The day after the Met’s deputy commissioner earned the applause of his officers by referring to crime statistics, the abuse of black officers and the use of edited video footage of police, his actions in respect of the two above mentioned officers provoked anger amongst the police community.
In a statement the Met quoted House referring the incident to the IOPC. However, having clearly stated that the officers had been referred, he bewilderingly appeared to give his own verdict in relation to the incident by passing judgement on the officers. This, in spite of the fact, that the IOPC prefers there to be no comment on cases under investigation by its officers. That view is questionable, however for House, as a senior officer to pass comment after the Met has referred the incident for an independent enquiry is baffling.
His comments about approved techniques seemed to ignore the fact that ‘approved techniques’ do not cover every eventuality encountered by officers and this was alluded to by the Commissioner during her interview with Nick Ferrari.
The reaction of the local police was immediate and was widely interpreted as a critical comment upon House’s actions.
The individual arrested was in possession of knife and the subject of a recall to prison for an especially violent offence of Grievous Bodily Harm, the exact details of which were soon to be found on social media.
His solicitor claimed at the first court hearing that the suspect was in possession of the knife in order to repair his bike!!
‘Cuffing.
‘Cuffing’ persons being stopped and searched is another controversial issue and now forms part of the ‘racist police’ narrative due to stop and search which is carried out on young black men primarily in London.
The reasons for this ‘imbalance’ are discussed elsewhere but the cuffing issue needs further discussion. When I joined the Met many years ago, stabbings were a rare event; indeed, I think I just went to two or three. Now they are frequent, bloody and often tragic. Most officers carrying out stop and search on the streets will have attended stabbings and shootings and seen the horrific consequences. They will be only too well aware of the deadly potential of an individual armed with a knife.
The death of PC Keith Palmer will haunt this generation of officers for many years. The London Bridge terror attacks show the potential of knife attacks while recently in a Reading Park one male armed with a knife allegedly murdered three able murdered men.
A knife can be produced and used to lethal effect within the blink of an eye; little wonder that many officers prefer their subjects to be cuffed regardless of the reason for the stop. Drugs and knives go together and drug stop and searches can also reveal knives.
The handcuffing of a 19- year- old during a stop and search drew more press attention. The youth, a nephew, of a Met detective sergeant, showed marks on his wrists during a video. In fact, any use of rigid ‘quick cuffs’ leaves marks as officers training with them can testify.
The Met sergeant, also Chairman of the Met’s Black Police Association accused her force of ‘racial profiling.’ Those surprised that serving officers can freely criticise his or her own force in apparent contravention of force regulations should realise that this is a convention that has developed over the years in relation to the BPA.
The young man’s ex-police officer father was also quoted which was unfortunate in that the reasons behind his departure from the Met were soon highlighted and perhaps lessened the impact of the story.
Further news has emerged of a Met officer being stabbed as he was about to conduct a stop and search. This was in the area close to the #Eliteathletegate incident. The officer despite bleeding profusely, managed with colleagues, to chase down and arrest his attacker.
After the controversy of handcuffing those about to be subjected to stop and search, an example of which was referred to above, this violent individual struck before he could be handcuffed and it could have cost this brave officer his life.
#toygungate
In fact the phrase ‘toy gun” tends to be used by those who have, in some way been challenged by police. Bb guns tend to fire missiles that can blind or injure and many closely resemble ‘real’ deadly firearms.
Everyone reading this will be aware that the controversy centres around a12- year- old boy’s bb gun which was seen in the family house by a passer-by who reported it to the police. Given the level of gun/gang/knife violence in London and indeed elsewhere, the Met firearms unit were taking no chances. Their handcuffing of the boy and placing him a police vehicle while his address was searched, led once again to allegations of racial profiling. The boy was de-arrested after the search proved negative.
A google search using the parameters of ‘boy gun toy gun’ will reveal numerous incidents in both the UK and the USA. In the USA, a number of these incidents have resulted in the deaths of young boys shot dead by police while a disturbing number of children have died as the result of firearms incidents, some where the child had been using the firearm as a toy.
Police ‘armchair critics’ claim that the police should have realised the gun was a ‘toy’ and that arrest was unnecessary as he was only 12. I speak as someone who has been involved in firearms incidents the first of which was where the firearm has turned out to be a realistic looking air pistol. In the other, when I was off duty, the suspect was in possession of both a bb gun and a realistic looking toy. I therefore take a contrary view to the armchair critics.
In both cases, armed police were on route but the individuals were arrested as the result of unarmed officers ‘bomb-bursting’ out of vehicles and bringing them crashing to the floor. Doubtless if this occurred today, smart-phones would be produced and circulated on social media as examples of police brutality.
In this current case, the Met proceeded to tie itself in knots.
There was a prompt rebuttal by the local Chief Superintendent.
The next step was a statement from a Met Commander exonerating the officers involved. It did gain some traction but not enough to undo the damage already done. Further items in respect of this incident have since appeared.
So just how racist were the police.
Some two years ago shortly after a series of three programmes featuring Stephen Lawrence and the ‘racist’ Met I wrote an article attempting to rectify the balance which I reproduced a short time ago. I pointed out that in Southall in 1979, young officers instigated special patrols to protect Asians and blacks from being attacked by white British right-wing skinheads. I was recently contacted by a retired officer who pointed out that similar action was taken by officers in the East End when Bengalis were also being attacked by gangs of racist skinheads.
In the 1980’s police worked assiduously with the Asian community when Sikh separatists began assassinating those they deemed sympathetic to the Indian government. Despite the riots of the 80’s police stations at Brixton and indeed other troubled areas remained busy dealing with 999 calls and calls direct to the station as well as callers to the front counter.
In the 1980’s problems began to arise with the arrival of so-called Yardie criminals into the UK. The problem worsened in the 90’s with the victims being almost exclusively from the black community. Operations were mounted with some success but violence was still prevalent. The black community demanded action and Operation Trident became fully operational in 2000.
Also. during the 90’s some remarkable policing ensured that massive tensions between the Sikh and Muslim communities ensured that those tensions, which involved Islamist groups, didn’t result in loss of life. It took four years before community harmony was restored.
It's also worth mentioning, that despite the appalling initial investigation in respect of the death of Stephen Lawrence and rumours of corruption, the Met quickly moved to rectify the situation. Detective Inspectors Bill Mellish and later Clive Driscoll worked tirelessly to secure justice for the Lawrence family with some success many years later. However, facts such as this don’t suit the narrative of activists and are best airbrushed.
Operation Trident.
Black activists and others who criticise police, including some retired Met officers, always studiously avoid mentioning Operation Trident. It possessed a succession of outstanding senior officers who I remember well and over ten years won the almost complete trust of the black community with even Lee Jasper singing its praises. It arrested violent individuals hand over fist and where murders were committed, obtained justice for the victims and their families.
Trident senior officers adopted the ‘Al Capone’ approach in that if the leading figures in the crime networks couldn’t be arrested for firearms offences they would be dealt with for any provable transgression of the law. Those in the UK illegally were deported after serving their sentences.
Alas, those at the top of Scotland Yard simply couldn’t abide by the maxim, ‘if it’s not broken, don’t mend it.’ There were rumours that some resented virtually a whole command unit being dedicated to one community. Senior officers within Trident changed as did its operational parameters. Gradually the empathy, sympathy and rapport with the black community slowly but inexorably eroded. By the time I retired (and handed back my long service medal in disgust) I was being told by line managers that ‘Trident isn’t about the black community; it’s about taking guns off the streets.’
A worthy aim but guns and gunmen had always been an objective together with disruption, including the disruption of the flow of drugs from overseas which frequently sparked murderous episodes of gang warfare.
Trident is still there as a gang unit and does an outstanding job, but the opportunity to extend the trust Trident enjoyed across the community, which included the hardened activists and criminals, to the entire Met has been lost. Trident misplaced its lustre before the death of Mark Duggan and, speaking personally, I was hoping that Cressida Dick, on her appointment would ‘reset’ Trident back to the way it was, perhaps bringing back former Trident boss John Coles, now with the National Crime Agency, to head the project. Alas there is no sign of that occurring in the near or foreseeable future.
The media and the tsunami of negativity
Headline of the year??
Operations Elveden, Wheeting and Tuleta appear to have damaged relations between police and the media beyond repair. Whilst accepting that police must be accountable, sections of the media appear to be conducting some sort of witch-hunt against police which has been exacerbated by the Covid pandemic and the death of George Floyd.
Damaging headlines can be seen frequently in the press but since the death of Floyd, much of television appears to have adopted the concept that Black Lives Matter is good therefore police and policing must be bad. There is also the usual blurring between Black Matter as a revolutionary organisation, Black lives Matter as a movement and Black Lives Matter as a concept.
On June the 3rd BBC London news devoted almost its entire half hour programme into a concerted attack on police. There was one rather lame, wooden statement from a Met senior officer who, in fairness, probably didn’t realise the context of the programme which consisted of total constant criticism of police.
Literally, I have just finished writing the above paragraph, when, lo and behold I’m watching BBC London News who have now devoted an entire programme to the ‘disproportionate use of force by police’ on black Londoners. It referred to ‘hundreds’ of individuals who died as a result of ‘police contact.’ It interviewed victims of police ‘brutality’ and relatives who deemed police responsible for the death of their relatives. There was just one four- minute, hostile interview with a senior police officer as ‘balance.’
There were no redeeming comments in respect of the Met or its officers whatsoever other than by the former black police officer uncle of a drug dealer who died in a struggle with police. Whilst critical of the incident and subsequent related events he did state that many officers were doing a good job which was in marked contrast to the rest of the programme. Anyone visiting from another planet, viewing the programme would come to the inevitable conclusion that the Met was almost genocidal in its dealings with the black community.
The programme referred to disproportionality but made no mention of the disproportionate carnage on the streets of London involving the disproportionate slaughter of black youths and young men by other black youths and young men. No mention that 20 years ago the black community urged the Met to end the mayhem and death within their community caused by ‘Yardie’ gangs. The initiative, as referred to above, was hugely successful How many black lives were saved by Operation Trident alone?
Sky Sports has also become a disciple of Black Lives Matter which has provoked some controversy even amongst its presenters. Whilst the concept is not an issue, the waters are muddied in terms of whether this support extends to Black Lives Matter (org) with their political stance.
Sky Sports allowed a black sky presenter to publish an article in respect of BLM issues which included an attack on police. Alas it contained a reference to a forthcoming trial which was removed after a complaint from the Police Federation.
The article also referred to the death of Smiley Culture who fatally stabbed himself when police were searching his home for drugs. He was already on bail and due to appear in court on another charge of cocaine supply.
The illicit sentence deleted.
Police officers have always had a soft spot for Smiley Culture due to his 80’s smash hit ‘Police Officer’ during which he converses with himself as a black male driver being stopped by police and also plays the part of a grumpy police officer. He asks that the officer doesn’t give him a ‘producer,’ which was Form HORT/1. This form required a motorist to produce his driving documents at a police station; always regarded as a tiresome chore. With the use of amusing dialogue, the officer relents in exchange for an autograph when he realises who he is dealing with.
In fact, the songs theme amused and reduced tensions during interactions between black motorists and police. Motorists would wind the window down and utter the words, ‘please officer, no give me producer’ to the amusement of both parties.
That would perhaps explain the relaxed atmosphere during the search during which Smiley Culture was not cuffed and permitted to make himself cups of tea. Needless to say, there was some criticism of police for being too lax.
ITV also provides what amounts to a free advertisement for Black Lives Matter during its ‘black voices’ interludes when individuals speak of their experiences of racism. Some of the accounts are, in fairness, moving but again there is anti-police sentiment and the words ‘Black Lives Matter’ feature prominently.
Sky News and correspondent Mark White did put together a piece showing the difficulties police faced when conducting stop and search. In another piece Sky showed statistics (shown above) which, as stated, show starkly the challenges faced by both the black community and law enforcement.
Programmes that criticise police usually follow a set pattern in allotting a very short space of time to a ‘police representative.’ Sometimes it’s a wooden Met senior officer, occasionally it’s a retired police officer eager to champion the cause of his former colleagues in the tiny space of time allotted but more usually it’s a retired BAME officer who has somehow endured 25 to 30 years of racist behaviour by colleagues in an institutionally racist organisation before claiming their pension.
Justice for victims and their relatives.
Another aspect of policing, conveniently forgotten by activists, is the securing of justice for victims and their families. As we have seen and for reasons largely beyond the control of the police, a disproportionate number of murder victims are, in London, from the black community.
In fact, despite constant references to Stephen Lawrence, the Met and indeed other forces work exceptionally hard to obtain justice for murder victims and their families and in most cases succeed. This success rate may show signs of decline due to cuts in police numbers and homicide units are under pressure as never before. Clearly increased hostility from the black community won’t help but over the years the Met’s success rate has been remarkable albeit unheralded.
Jamaica.
Like many UK police officers who spent time in Jamaica, I viewed the initial deployment with apprehension and then fell in love with the country and its people.
We worked with Jamaican officers, most of whom were remarkable individuals although a minority of those whom we knew turned out to be corrupt.
Jamaican officers, who became good friends, told me they slept with their firearms underneath their pillows and with all JCF officers, guns are carried on and off duty. The two, who spent a day at the conclusion of my first deployment escorting me on a tour of the garrison (ghetto) areas had been involved in deadly gun battles. I would rather have them looking after me than Boris’s protection officers.
Having said all that, Jamaica is a country with a population the size of Manchester. In 2019 police shot dead 86 people. That was a cause for satisfaction given the efforts being made to curb police shootings, but imagine the concern if Greater Manchester Police shot dead 86 people in a year or indeed if UK police as a whole had shot dead that number.
In 2013, Jamaican police shot dead 258 individuals and between 2000 and 2019, 3,573 people were shot dead primarily by police although a handful were the responsibility of the Jamaican Defence Force.
These were individuals shot dead. There is no record, as far as I’m aware, of those who died ‘as a result of police contact.’ Most who die as a result of ‘police contact’ in the UK do not die as the result of either being shot or indeed because of any direct physical restraint. Even an individual who dies a couple of days after release from custody, from say a heart attack or a drug overdose, is recorded in the completed ‘death by police contact’ statistics.
BLM activists show little interest in such statistics that emanate from abroad and if confronted, will doubtless say the situation is a direct result of ‘British imperialism.’ However, these figures from Jamaica should perhaps encourage a sense of perspective amongst those who are striving to smear the entire UK police service as not only racist but brutal.
Of course, policing in Jamaica is a challenging, dangerous proposition given that the country is awash with firearms but every Jamaican officer I spoke to respected British policing; however, they felt we were far too soft!!!!,
Oh, and don’t let the above put you off taking a vacation in Jamaica. Attacks on tourists are rare and I feel safer in the most violent garrison areas of Kingston than I would on the Hackney council estate where I used to live as a boy. The resorts are superb and moving around the country is a delight. The police will look after you and so will the Jamaican people.
Caribbean compassion.
Whilst hurling accusations of racism at British police, BLM, leftist activists and the media conveniently forget that in 2017, hundreds of British police volunteered to travel out to the Caribbean in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma. Unlike the relative luxury I enjoyed in Jamaica, these officers knew their living conditions would be primitive but the officers, now being collectively smeared as racist, simply wanted to help.
As well as assisting local police in patrolling, bearing in mind many local officers and their families also suffered as a result of the destruction, British police, in their off-duty hours, helped in the physical re-construction of homes and businesses.
No cries of ‘racist police off our island.’
Conclusion.
There seems little doubt that British policing in general and the Metropolitan Police in particular are now in crisis. The constant denigration has morphed, largely via the television companies, into open hostility in that they have created a situation where defiance of and indeed attacks on police officers appear justified due the fact that the officers themselves are brutal racists responsible for the deaths of black and other minority ethnic individuals.
Hardly a day passes without a negative policing story providing headlines for a TV news channel or programme or for a newspaper, regardless of whether that publication favours the political right or left. The constant, unbalanced media coverage only emboldens the thugs regardless of political persuasion or race. Comments, following footage which shows a recent shocking attack upon a lone police officer in Luton suggest that many within the police community support that view.
The recent BBC London News programme was unremitting in its criticism of police and this was apparently mirrored on ITV. The National Police Chiefs Council, the College of Policing and indeed most forces media departments have responded as do rabbits caught in the headlights. Some have made vague mutterings of reform but there has been no vigorous defence of officers such as has been laid out above.
The Daily Express recently produced an alarming story which echoed concerns of the Police Federation. 53,000 officers will need to be recruited in order to bring police numbers back to their still abysmal 2010 figure. In five- years- time almost half the officers performing duty will have less than three- years- experience while the current rate of resignations is 88% higher than it was ten years ago.
Many officers are weary of the level of abuse and assaults together with trial by social media added to the constant criticism by the MSM. Only when a tragedy strikes the police service are a few crocodile tears shed before the search begins for more police denigration stories.
The fact is that police officers now have a target of their backs and are, effectively, being thrown to the wolves; Some of the salivating pack will relish a breakdown of law of order for political reasons while others are criminal opportunists who will also exploit the situation to the misery of others.
Various polls will show that the black community has little confidence in police, but that is hardly surprising given the vitriol and propaganda that they, the police, are subjected too. If you are told something often enough you’ll believe it, is a maxim that holds good given this situation.
Having said that, the recent emancipation celebration and reparation demand protest, in Brixton passed off with an almost complete absence of tension other than one filmed arrest and the appearance of a black panther like group dressed as some sort of militia which attracted considerable attention. Quite why they felt the need to parade in protective vests is perhaps a question for the organisers.
Whilst relations may not be as soured as perhaps is painted, there is a clear need for a rapprochement between the police and the black community. It was achieved back in the early years of the new millennium via Trident and similar operations elsewhere in the country. Those blueprints need to be located, dusted down and looked at again.
Despite everything, overall public support remains high but the police service needs to realise that there is currently a battle for ‘hearts and minds.’ The efforts of officers across the country on a daily basis should generate enough positivity to more than obviate the propaganda of police detractors yet most forces are woefully inept at utilising it.
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