Lack of Respect for British Police Officers

Not since the Broadwater Farm race riots of 1984, not since the poll Tax riots of 1990, have respect for British Boddy been so low.

I write this after witnessing the Student protests of November 2010, where Tory Party HQ Millbank building was besieged by rioting youths and anarchists. I was saddened to witness a police officers helmet being knocked off his head and thrown into the swelled crowd. But my feeling grew to sheer disgust when TV News displayed immature teenagers parading with the police equipment among the mob, as well as seeing both helmets and Sergeant peak caps being lowered into the bonfire in the square. Such hatred hasnot been seen for years, and pales in comparison to other contries.

My mother is Brazilian. Like America, guns are freely available, so the police are armed! And so, she says, no one would dare steal a police officers hat and desecrate it, because of trust and respect of the people. And even if someone has the guts to try to dio such a thing, they would have been shot on the spot.

The United States have yet to say what they would do if such an act were to be made against their officers; but arrest and prosecution would be definite! Even in Iraq, for all it violence, the terrorist and rioters have not appeared to steal or destroy their country’s law keepers clothing!

So what went wrong? It seems descent of public opinion has been rife since the case of Steven Laurence -  a black teenager stabbed to deaths by racists in 1992. The police investigation was bungled, and it revealed corruption, and that the MET was institutionally racist! Another massive blow came in 2000, when the annual Mayday protests went chaotic, resulting in dozen of police vehicles being vandalised. This brought in the idea of “Kettling;” surrounding protestors and releasing them gradually from the space to reduce damage and rampaging. But this was condemned by human rights groups and a violation of peoples rights.

On 22 September 1999, Harry Stanley, a 46-year-old painter and decorator living in Hackney was carrying a table leg in a plastic bag. Inspector Neil Sharman and PC Kevin Fagan, the crew of a Metropolitan police Armed Response Vehicle mistook the leg for a shotgun, and killed Mr Stanley on the spot. There was an outcry of police brutality, but SO19 officers went on strike after their officers faced prosecution – further increasing the image of a “we take care of our own” in the cop shop. No one has been made accountable to Mr Stanley’s death!

2005 brought the London bombings,  on two occasions, questioning the publics faith that the police could adequtly protect them from terrorist harm. The bombing led to a messy incident on the London Underground, where Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles  de Menezes was mistaken for a bomber and shot to death at Stockwell tube station. It was a PR disaster, when the then commisioner Ian Blair, said that the suspect WAS a bomber! It is still a stain of the MET’s reputation!

In 2008, a barrister went on a rampage at his home in Chelsea with a shotgun. He was assassinated by police marksmen after a standoff, but it emerged that the Police had refused to let family members talk to him. At trail, police officers quoted song lyrics when giving evidence!

And only last year, newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson died after being knocked down by a riot squad officer – the case is still on going!

So clearly, this feeling of disrespect did not happen overnight! It has to change. We cannot live in fear of our local bobby, or live in hatred of them either! They are there to serve the community, keep law and order for our benefit, and to keep us safe and not be a danger to ourselves or others! They are trying, but there is still a lot that needs to be done! And our politicians need to do something about it too. It seems there is an awful lot of red tape hindering our police! Lets start cutting it!

Enough fighting our police! Lets support them for once!!