Have they got too big for their Plod-like boots?

An excellent article in today's Telegraph by the assiduous Andrew Gilligan on the subject of 'our boys and girls in blue'.  He makes a strong case for believing that a large percentage of them constitute the biggest collection of villains outside of Pentonville!

England has 39 police forces, headed by 39 chief constables or commissioners.
In the past 18 months, seven have been sacked for misconduct, suspended, placed
under criminal or disciplinary investigation or forced to resign. That is not
far off a fifth of the total.

In the same period, at least eight deputy or assistant chief constables have
also been placed under ongoing investigation, suspended or forced out for
reasons of alleged misconduct. No fewer than 11 English police forces – just
under 30 per cent – have had one or more of their top leaders under a cloud.

If the head of our constabulary has rotted to that extent then how much decomposition has gnawed away at the main body?  Quite a lot, apparently:

At lower ranks, in the three years to April 2011 – that is, even before
“Hackgate” broke – there was a 55 per cent rise in referrals to the IPCC for
corruption, from 215 cases to 333. And in a decade, the overall number of
complaints made each year against the police has roughly doubled – from 15,248
to 30,143 – though there has been a decline in the last two years.

Even before the shocking possibility opened up by “Plebgate”, the police have
been plagued by scandal and incompetence. We now learn that one of the reasons
why the Metropolitan Police did nothing about the systematic criminality of the
News of the World was because some officers were in the paper’s pocket, or even
on its payroll.

Of course, much of this simply passes either over our heads or beneath our noses but sometimes police behaviour is rammed into our faces and becomes impossible to ignore.  Such an example occurred at the London riots when the Metropolitan Police Force simply stood by and watched as they lost control of the streets they are paid - very well paid - to protect.  According to one of Gilligan's sources I am not alone in suspecting that part of the motive behind the dilatory inaction of the Met was to let their political masters know how much they were suffering with so-called 'savage' cuts in man-power.

Well, bad behaviour by policemen is not new but as Gilligan points out, and as Charles Moore confirms in his commentary on the 'Pleb-gate' row over Andrew Mitchell, the former Chief Whip, the idea is growing that our police forces have become politicised and are determined to do anything to assist in the denigration of our democratically-elected government including outright lying.  Time, perhaps, for 'Dave' to strengthen the hands of our newly-elected Police Commissioners and give some of these Police Chiefs a bit of a kicking - to say nothing of the increasingly militant Police union.  But that, of course, would take guts - 'say no more, move along, nothing to see 'ere!'

 

Comments

[dearieme]

I thought Gilligan's piece very good indeed. Max Hastings delivered similar sentiments in the FT.

(P.S. Do you know how to get a free look at FT articles? You google the piece's title - e.g. The case against an overpaid and incompetent police force - and then click on the link.)

[Whyaxye]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

I often have a look at the Inspector Gadget blog, and despite there being some fine humour and flashes of insight, a lot of it is not edifying reading. It is worrying to realise how beleaguered and alienated lots of coppers feel, and how much contempt they have for the public as a whole. Having said that, I don't think the inactivity during the riots was politically inspired in the sense of showing the Tories how nasty big cities would get unless the plod were better resourced. It was more about the fear of individuals losing everything if they were seen kicking fuck out of rioters in the wake of Tomlinson.

I think Thatcher got it right when she remarked how the police had no "officer class" like the armed forces. These are people who by definition want to serve leaders, and so are very prone to malign influences in the Police Federation and at the top of individual forces.

[Pen]

One of the usual tactics of those who have been arrested, or reported, in relation to offences they have been suspected of committing, is to make counter-claims against the Police, thereby hoping that this will either lessen any penalty they incur or make the subsequent stink cause the dropping of their case. Unlike normal rules of law, where people are innocent until proven guilty, Police officers are guilty unless they can prove their innocence. To a certain extent, ignore the number of complaints made against Police and count the number of times they have been found guilty, either of internal disciplinary offences or in a court of law, and only then make your decisions on their ethics or standards. And, don't forget, Police officers are not allowed to stand in front of their peers, apologise for any shame they have brought upon their august house and then carry on their shifty, fraudulent, money-making schemes using tax payers money. Also, it is common knowledge that journalists are experts at looking at events after the fact, making their judgemental observations and when they have been found to be a load of bollocks, have claimed they supported the poor, misunderstood, victim from the very beginning. Like all organisations, there are good apples and bad apples. Only a cretin, however, will claim that all of the apples are bad because of a small percentage. Look inwards and decided if the organisation close to you is any better? Meanwhile, who would you call when some thieving shitbag is trying to get into your house? Oh yes, it'll be that organisation you think are a bunch of lying crooks.

[David Duff]

Thanks, DM, an excellent tip!

'W', it's not just the lack of leadership in the Police services but the extraordinary amount of corruption and criminality their so-called leaders indulge in.

Pen, welcome to D&N, and you make some good points. Any preaching from the pulpit by Right dis-Honourable ladies and gentlemen is simple fuel for the sick-bag! I think everyone acknowledges that not every apple in the barrel is rotten but unfortunately the Police services are being 'got at' from two directions - their own individual (and sometimes group) peccadilloes and the politically motivated militant attitude of their various trade unions. And that includes the ACPO!