advertisement


Challenge plain-clothes officers, Met Police says

The thing is, Andrew, as time goes by we see and hear of more and more cases of unacceptable right through to downright abhorrent behaviour; we've all heard the "one bad apple", "don't tar them all with the same brush", "I know a couple of coppers" defences bandied about but it's becoming pretty obvious that there are significant and widespread issues that are increasing in frequency and unpleasantness.

At this stage, I simply don't believe that there are a majority of officers who are oblivious to what's going on amongst them - they're employed to uphold the law and if they cannot detect it and enforce it in their own organisation then they're very clearly and obviously doing their jobs wrong and are unfit for the role; either that, or they're turning a blind eye to their colleagues behaviour either because they don't care or because of a rotten culture within Policing which this is equally as concerning and unacceptable.
 
Do not be under the misconception that officers and staff are not prosecuted, and in some cases dismissed for gross misconduct issues. The fact that all cases are not made public can be for a variety of reasons.

Kurtis Howard, the sergeant in charge, was cleared of gross misconduct by a police a disciplinary panel in 2018.

It appears the charge was only brought because Dr Duff had pushed for a judicial review of the IPCC response to her complaint.

The Met haven't exactly fallen over themselves to put this right.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...cleared-misconduct-over-strip-search-academic
 
At this stage, I simply don't believe that there are a majority of officers who are oblivious to what's going on amongst them - they're employed to uphold the law and if they cannot detect it and enforce it in their own organisation then they're very clearly and obviously doing their jobs wrong and are unfit for the role; either that, or they're turning a blind eye to their colleagues behaviour either because they don't care or because of a rotten culture within Policing which this is equally as concerning and unacceptable.

My guess is that the majority of officers are just as revolted by this behaviour as the rest of us. But find themselves working in an organisation where speaking out is very unlikely to achieve anything and comes with the risk of ostracisation and serious career limitation.

I understand why a difficult job like policing has a culture where you always look out for your colleagues. But the instinct to always close ranks means accountability take a back seat and abuse like this is allowed to happen.
 
The thing is, Andrew, as time goes by we see and hear of more and more cases of unacceptable right through to downright abhorrent behaviour; we've all heard the "one bad apple", "don't tar them all with the same brush", "I know a couple of coppers" defences bandied about but it's becoming pretty obvious that there are significant and widespread issues that are increasing in frequency and unpleasantness.

At this stage, I simply don't believe that there are a majority of officers who are oblivious to what's going on amongst them - they're employed to uphold the law and if they cannot detect it and enforce it in their own organisation then they're very clearly and obviously doing their jobs wrong and are unfit for the role; either that, or they're turning a blind eye to their colleagues behaviour either because they don't care or because of a rotten culture within Policing which this is equally as concerning and unacceptable.
This is how I feel, too. I've worked with a few senior coppers over recent years, off and on, and found them to be, on the whole, decent, very diligent and straight, but there does seem to be a 'type'. Once you've worked with a few, it gets somewhat easier to spot others, or ex-coppers you meet socially, because of that 'type'. That's a generalisation, obvs, but holds true for quite a lot, IME. And one common theme of the type is that they focus on getting the job done. There's a bit of a culture of 'the end justifies the means' and that sometimes the legal constraints are getting in the way. We saw it in the enthusiastic rollout of facial recognition, we see it in the wholesale downloading of victims' phone data. So it's not difficult to see how this could morph into the sort of abuse of power we've heard about lately, and the system's tendency to close up around those incidents rather than expose them and cleanse them.

We need to retain, as Andrew says, a sense of balance. The UK still has one of the best police forces in the world, but I do worry that the trend is towards the decline of the standards we hold dear and respect, in the service of 'getting the job done'. It's not an easy job - I'd be a crap copper - and I have to accept that sometimes you're going to have to fight fire with fire, but that should very much be the exception, and I think we've seen examples that show that it isn't always so. We should also, of course, keep in mind that in the best traditions of the DM, the shocking stories are the ones that will get the most publicity, and let's not make the mistake of extrapolating from those to assume they're all like that. But the culture of cover up seems unlikely to be isolated pockets, as ffts says and there is something worrying at the core that society needs to sort out. The UK is policed by consent. Much more of this, and that consent will evaporate.
 
Very much agree with Steve in post 265. Sadly the "Met" have become poster boys/girls for exactly the wrong sort of policing but I've seen it up close and personal in small to medium sized towns.
 
I would suggest asking every plod you have dealings with how they feel about that **** from Stoke Newington police station remaining in post.
Do not be under the misconception that officers and staff are not prosecuted, and in some cases dismissed for gross misconduct issues. The fact that all cases are not made public can be for a variety of reasons.

The specific case above is clearly wrong on so many levels. I have agreed on numerous occasions in that past what where abuse of office is clear, then the law should be applied.

What never has sat well with me is anyone making a sweeping generalistic comment that tars all with the same brush - whether it be the police or any other occupation for that matter. Hence why I do pop on here sometimes and add a comment, but more often than not I’ll walk by.
Unfortunately, in many forces there is a prevailing culture in which decent people feel intimidated and unable to call out the bad apples and, not only that, but people patently unsuited to the job continue to be recruited and retained. This is facilitated and tolerated by a very significant number of staff at management level and their continued retention is a disgrace. As is the fact that this total scumbag at Stoke Newington station hasn't been drummed out of the force and had his pension taken away.
 
No more or less than I’d expect from a force headed by someone with the career history and reputation of Cressida Dick. As with the current Tory government fish rot from the head.
 
I would expect anyone sending message like that to be straight out the door in any firm I've worked.
I can only assume that the recipient of the message didn't report it, perhaps due to a culture of ostracism and reprisals that would follow a closing of ranks. If it was reported and the culprit still employed there by the end of the week, that's arguably worse.
 
No more or less than I’d expect from a force headed by someone with the career history and reputation of Cressida Dick. As with the current Tory government fish rot from the head.

I don't think that's got anything to do with corruption, racism, bigotry, misogyny within the Police, they've been like that (and worse) in this country (NI) for as long as they've existed, it was well known on a public street level and now there's plenty of evidence to support it.
Don't get me wrong I'm in no way supporting the Tories.
 
I don't think that's got anything to do with corruption, racism, bigotry, misogyny within the Police, they've been like that (and worse) in this country (NI) for as long as they've existed, it was well known on a public street level and now there's plenty of evidence to support it.

Thinking about it it was a bad comparison as whilst both are rotten entities the Met has a leader that knows much of the force is corrupt, violent and institutionally racist/sexist, and has for so many years refused to clean it up, the Tories have a rotten corrupt leader, they know it, and most very actively back that leadership. One rots from the bottom up, the other from the top down. Both are unfit for purpose.

PS Sadly NI arguably shows the worst of both.
 


advertisement


Back
Top