Police

Saturday

Alex Massie

The Future of Policing

PC Heckler and PC Koch prepare for life on the beat. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images. Let us concede that there may be problems in Brixton, Haringey and Tottenham that demand new approaches from the police. Let us further accept that perhaps there really are “no-go” areas in some of the estates in these boroughs. But even if one takes the police at their word, I think one may still be worried by the news that, for the first time on the British mainland, police officers on routine patrols in parts of London will be armed. Because will it stop there? How long before there are calls for all police to

Wednesday

David Blackburn

Who is to blame for the Pilkingtons’ deaths?

I empathise with the jurors who decided the Pilkington case: it is impossible to make sense of this senseless episode. Yet society must ensure that the tragedy is not repeated. The jury, the Home Secretary and even the Opposition, up to a point, all blamed the police. Simon Jenkins’ piece in the Guardian savages the political Establishment’s refusal to address a democratic deficit, which has eradicated local civic leadership, a status quo that leaves the police caught between being a law enforcement force and an organisation that promotes community cohesion, a dual task that it is ill-equipped to perform. ‘Monday’s Leicestershire jury verdict on the Pilkington deaths was typical of

Tuesday

David Blackburn

Can the Afghan police be trusted?

Lindsey Hilsum, Channel 4’s Helmand correspondent asked local Police Chief, Colonel Asadullah Shirzard, if the police were sufficiently free from corruption to manage the forthcoming election. The corpulent Colonel declaimed:  “We have eradicated corruption in our police force!” This is a seminal moment. Rudy Giuliani couldn’t do it, Sir Ian Blair failed, though that’s no surprise, and moving around Venezuela will confirm that even Hugo Chavez can’t stop his police taking a cut from the downtrodden population. But in war-torn Helmand, the perfect police force has been born. As Hilsum notes, this is even more extraordinary when one considers that Helmand is the centre of the opium trade and that

Friday

Alex Massie

Hamsterdam Britain

The good news about the Drug War is that the police know it can’t be won. The bad news is that the politicians, judging by their public pronouncements at least, still seem to think it can. There are times when I think it’s important to question some of the assumptions made about policing; but when the police have the good sense to agree with me it’s only proper to acknowledge the excellent work they’re doing. So huzzahs for the UK Drug Policy Commission whose latest report the Times summarises thus: Police should switch their focus away from arresting drug dealers and concentrate on managing the harm they cause, according to

Thursday

Wednesday

James Forsyth

The Tories must be prepared to launch a reverse march through the institutions

Sir Hugh Orde, the new president of ACPO, has predictably come out against elected police chiefs. Andrew Sparrow  has the key extract from his speech: “If people seriously think some form of elected individual is better placed to oversee policing than the current structure, then I am very interested in the detail of how that is going to work – and happy to have that debate. Every professional bone in my body tells me it is a bad idea that could drive a coach and horses through the current model of accountability and add nothing but confusion. I note that our partners here in the [Association of Police Authorities] are

Tuesday

Alex Massie

Police Brutality in Nottingham

Meanwhile, in dear old Britain the paramilitarisation of our police continues. The Home Office has announced an extra £8m to help provide police forces in England with Tasers. It’s only a matter of time before someone is killed by one of these weapons. Watch this footage of a police arrest in Nottingham and tell me if you think the police actions are appropriate and proportionate. Granted, some context is missing from this film. The BBC reports that the man being tasered had, it is said, assaulted a police officer. Nonetheless, when he is tasered he is a) lying on the ground and b) there are two and then four police

Wednesday

Alex Massie

When is Victory Really Defeat? In the Drug War, Silly.

There was a crazy puff piece for the Endless War on Drugs on the BBC News tonight in which the reporter, Mark Easton, was handed a story by the Serious Organised Crime Agency full of dramatic pictres and supposedly encouraging figures. Coincidentally, this appeared the day before Soca releases its annual report and at a time when the government is said to be keen on overhauling the agency. Fancy that. According to the BBC, however, the international cocaine industry is “in retreat” and prices are rising while the purity of cocaine bought on the street has “plumeted”. Well, perhaps. But the weakness of the pound is the most likely explanation

Wednesday

Alex Massie

Ian Tomlinson

The appalling thing – apart from his death, of course – about the death of Ian Tomlinson after he was assaulted by the Metropolitan Police during the G20 protests last week is that if it weren’t for the fact that Tomlinson collapsed from a fatal heart attack moments after he was attacked by the police, there’d be very little fuss about the incident. It would just be another example of heavy-handed police thuggery and, consequently, of no news value whatsoever. (incidentally, it also shows why it is important that the public be allowed to take photographs of the police.) The policeman who attacked Tomlinson who was, as the video footage