Monday, April 27, 2009

Peel must be spinning in his grave

Sir Robert Peel's Nine Points of Policing

  • The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder.
  • The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.
  • Police must secure the willing co-operation of the public in voluntary observance of the law to be able to secure and maintain the respect of the public.
  • The degree of co-operation of the public that can be secured diminishes proportionately to the necessity of the use of physical force.
  • Police seek and preserve public favour not by catering to public opinion but by constantly demonstrating absolute impartial service to the law.
  • Police use physical force to the extent necessary to secure observance of the law or to restore order only when the exercise of persuasion, advice and warning is found to be insufficient.
  • Police, at all times, should maintain a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
  • Police should always direct their action strictly towards their functions and never appear to usurp the powers of the judiciary.
  • The test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it.
Looking at the above points, which are the very foundation of policing in the UK, how many are relevant to the police 'service' we have today?

The bottom line is, we do not have a police force in this country, it is rapidly morphing into a paramilitary force of which a Central American banana republic would be proud.

Uniforms were designed in order that they could not be confused with the military. Look at the aggressive and intimidating uniforms of today. Add this to the politicalisation of the police, they are the governments play thing as demonstrated at G20. Then we have ACPO.

I'm sure there are many officers who do their best under a mountain of paperwork and silly targets, led by fools who have been fast tracked to promotion due to having a degree in some irrelevant subject. But the public support for the boys and girls in blue is fast eroding and who can blame the public? The images we have seen and the reports we read on the news do nothing for their reputation as 'the best police in the world'.

Being the cynical bastard that I am, I think all the 'negative' publicity the police have suffered in recent times is a carefully orchestrated plan for an end game which has still to become apparent.
I think we are being conditioned into seeing the police as the enemy and the public are being whipped into a frenzy by some unseen group. The police are being manipulated too, with senior officers declaring that a summer of riots will soon be upon us and civil unrest training courses being thrust upon the rank and file. The regular frontline police all have itchy 'baton fingers' these days. Robust and firm policing tactics spouted by the police chiefs filter down the chain of command until it reaches the front line, where it seen as a license for thuggery.

I occasionally read a few police officer blogs. A good read most of the time, but in the aftermath of the G20 demonstrations an ugly side has emerged. Most of the commenters, naturally, are serving police officers or retired. In the comments a lot of the officers lament that all they have are 'hollow metal batons, cs spray and an open handed slap' to control the great unwashed. They look jealously at their continental cousins with their water cannon and tear gas.

I hope I am wrong. I hope that I am too cynical for my own good, but I fear the worst.

10 comments:

Great Big Billygoat Gruff said...

Robust and firm policing tactics spouted by the police chiefs filter down the chain of command until it reaches the front line, where it seen as a license for thuggery.

Spot on, oh Great Unwashed One

Great Big Billygoat Gruff said...

Theoretically it is not a Police Force Rab, but a Police Service.

Force, as in Occupying Force seems more appropriate

RantinRab said...

As I understand it, it was always a force. The 'service' idea is a fairly new idea when we became 'customers' of plod.

Great Big Billygoat Gruff said...

Maybe aye but I prefer the idea of a Service, more in keeping with Peelian philosphy.

Rab, the unasked question of your wee rant is how did we get to where we are now?

I used to be friendly with a few polis, who would are retired from service. They were and are all pretty decent guys and I enjoyed having a drink and a blether with them.

I was invited to divisional Burn's Suppers on several occasions.

Any polis / non polis chat was not about hollow metal batons, CS gas, armour piercing rounds, water cannon etc but whether they wanted personally to be armed and under what circumstances they would be obliged to do that.

One was Traffic Polis who told me he used to drop the Vascar hand held radar gun and occasionally disassemble it so that he never had to go out and trap motorists. He did warn me that the Motor Cycle Polis are nuts, a view shared by most Polis.

To a man they said only if there was an identifiable risk of being shot on that day, at that time would they allow themselves to be armed.

The implied question in your article really is, how did we get to here?

As I said I know some retired polis and my interpretation of our more recent chats it comes down to 2 general things.

1) The application of politically motivated top down targets, which change with the Daily Mail (or other) headline having been passed down from Whitehall or 10 Downing Street in particular

2) The Health and Safety / Politically Correct culture within the Service /Force nowadays.

The targets are all about box ticking and the manipulation of that data back up the food chain to triumph as a measure of success.

In turn we are all viewed as criminals, not a citizens any more, because we must have done something wrong or they would not be sent out each day to find out what it was. The Labour party has created, I think, about 6,000 new offences. I am sure that breaking wind in a public place must be one of them.

On the H & S side I was baffled until one of them let it out; they just need to make a formal complaint about any superior officer, from Sergeant and up, to put a stop on that officer's upwards career path.

The complaint alone, on the record, is enough to have a stopper or an imposed interregnum on career advancement. They did say it was less so in Scotland but the Met really is a cesspit of political correctness.


So basically we have weakened and politically correct middle and upper management living in fear of being grassed up by the lower ranks.

Thugs have been let in and now set the agenda from the bottom. Yesteryear they would have been singled out and posted to South Uist or parking duties.

For the Heid Bummers to slide up the greasy pole they must be both PC and have good reports on conforming to the statistics of ticked boxes targets.

So there we have it, allegedly, a politically correct and politicised echelon of senior managers, sorry officers, and a demoralised and chaotic (my word) middle management.

Why would anyone want to climb the greasy pole?

Just follow the money

ACPOs are now a limited company, FFSake.

I was thinking of retiring in Australia and part of the requirement was a certificate from my local Police to say I was not a known paedophile, bank robber, fraudster etc (WHY DIDN'T THEY JUST ASK ME IF I WAS A POLITICAN)

Guess who has the franchise on that, yes the ACPO.

So how does a private Limited Company have access to the UK's criminal records?

That it very rotten and stinky.

The Police have been politicised at the top and financially incetivised.

In the middle they in disorder and at the bottom they are bottom feeders.

Rant over

RantinRab said...

Well said my good man!

Constable Confused.com said...

The stuff about managers and the way being lost I fully agree with.

I will never be a bottom feeder!

Regards.

Great Big Billygoat Gruff said...

Constable Confused.

Would you care to open up, under a different moniker and with suitable changes to time and place, to protect the guilty of course.

I am sure Rab would give your thoughts a wee outing?

May return soon..fuckety fuck. said...

indeed, rab. mr.Peel is probley doing fucking somersaults in his grave. he sure whould be if he can see the utter gung-ho cock-sure cuntstables in the pig force now.

microdave said...

"I occasionally read a few police officer blogs."

I used to, until I was foolish enough to post a couple of somewhat critical remarks on one a few weeks ago. The instant "You know nothing" type responses, and the way that my reply got moderated (i.e. not published) has finally removed what little sympathy I had for the "ordinary copper".

Anonymous said...

Costa Rica is in Central America but has eschewed an army. They spend the extra $ on policing by consent & educ & healthcare. "Officers" here I shall be blunt. This is the heart of the matter. They arent officers, they call us "civilians" they ARE too. No guts. 6 generations of my family fought for this shithole.None had the choice plod has of not deploying due to being outnumberd.Only time I see plod brave is when its at least 10 to 1 against an unarmed pilgrim. Plod blogs. Used to read 'em. Made comments about fitting up. Deleted. Cunts cant take LA VERITE!