Why I no longer trust the police

by Chris | 8 Apr 2009 | No Comments

This is an illustration of why I no longer trust the police. Here a man is seen being attacked for absoutely no reason, with no apparant provocation.

G20-death-footage-scene-ian-tomlinson

In fact, he was attacked whilst walking away from police with his hands in his pockets. At best, this was unnecessary, at worst manslaughter since this man later collapsed and died.

And the police also lied, originally stating that they had tried to help him, but the crowd had not allowed them to. The video shows a very different story.

Alone, this would not cause me to distrust the police as a whole. But the petty officiousness that pervades their current working model. I rarely see a policeman – or even a waste-of-space PCSO – on the streets, and even when I do they’re no longer a reasssuring presence but seem more like a part of the Big Brother state, watching everything we do, hoping to hand out a piece of paper to justify their existence.

Of course, this is a stereotype – I am sure that there are very many very good police officers on our streets. But the way this government has changed thier role has undermined the entire institution, turning them from a reassuring presence in dark blue uniforms to almost threatening in their hi-vis jackets.

I never thought I’d say that I no longer trust the police. But unfortunately I no longer implicitly do so.

Hat-tip for the video link: Quaequam Blog!

Categories: Law and Order, Personal, Police

No Comment »

  • Quaequam Blog! » Tory bloggers: they don’t like it up ‘em! said:

    [...] the people who have directly responded, they seem to fit into three categories. A number, including Thunder Dragon and Iain Dale, have unfussily expressed their concerns, and that is fair enough. Mr Eugenides [...]

    # 10 April 2009 at 12:05 pm
  • PC Plastic Fuzz said:

    I’m glad you’ve acknowledged that it is a stereotype. A sweeping generalisation. You base your opinion on the entire 140,000 stong Police officers, on the actions of ONE, who has yet to give his side….

    Speaks volumes about you mate.

    # 10 April 2009 at 5:22 pm
  • ThunderDragon said:

    You’ve obviously misread my post – I don’t trust THE POLICE, not police officers.

    # 10 April 2009 at 7:20 pm
  • LibertyMine said:

    When you say you don’t support the police, people will automatically and rightly believe you do not support police officers.

    This was a bad incident, but the media frenzy over a few seconds of film showing a man getting a whack on the back of the legs is incredible. I also have issues with the first statements released by the police, but I am very concerned about how little is being made of what happened to those police officers in the lead up to this. For hours they will have been subject to some of the most exhaustive stresses possible. Thousands of people, the majority innocent, but with hundreds of violent, goading individuals using them as cover. I saw plenty of vile attacks on officers on that day. Many of the people committing them will probably never be caught because they were able to disappear back into the crowd.

    I want to know more about happened in the time before that video clip before I jump to a conclusion.

    # 11 April 2009 at 10:52 pm

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