Two And A Half Weeks In

Last updated on August 22nd, 2023 at 12:54 pm

2021 is but Two And A Half Weeks In and the merciless onslaught on our fine, brave bobbies has started up again.

In no particular order

Front Line Police Officers who face some of the worst risks during the Covid Pandemic have been told that, if offered, they must decline ‘spare’ or ‘left over’ vaccinations and wait their turn. In parallel they have NOT been made a priority for receipt of such vaccine. They are expected to deal with all the crap from Lockdown Guidelines/Rules/Laws, confront the angry demonstrators and the law breakers with only a face mask for protection.

Two published articles, one old, one very new, highlight exactly what the Home Office, under Mrs May, thought (and probably still do) of the Police Service.

The first was an item in The Spectator highlighting how racial bias in the art of Stop/Search is a myth. The Home Office knew this and chose to bury the evidence because it did not suit their agenda.

Very recently a blog post by Danny Shaw, not previously known for his support of the Police, provides the second piece of evidence. It highlights his 3 year battle to get the Home Office to release a document under the FOIA. Now that he finally has it, the document proves that the Home Office knew 3 years ago that their cuts to the Police Service were causing damage and crime was rising, but they, obviously, didn’t want that fact to become public knowledge. The relevant document is referenced in Danny’s post.

Remember the 4 Horsemen of the Police Reform Apocalypse? Well the Policing Minister at the time, Baron Nick Herbert, has just been appointed Chief Executive of the College of Policing. I can only imagine why a retiring former Chief Constable would be replaced by a professional politician. Nick Herbert was very much part of the worst excesses of ‘reform’. I look forward to seeing how he performs at CoP.

Today there was a piece in the Grauniad penned by Mike Cunningham, the very recently former Chief Executive of the CoP. He takes the opportunity to have a go about the ‘disproprtionate’ number of BAME youths subjected to Stop and Search, very much intimating that there is some Racial Profiling afoot. He actually describes it as ‘eye watering’. To the best of my recollection he came up with very few answers so his time at CoP could be regarded as a bit of a failure in some respects. Then within days he’s appearing in the National Press criticising hard working Police Officers, saying that things have to change, but offering no suggestions.

Finally, Boris Johnson’s much vaunted 20,000 extra Police Officers have mysteriously morphed into 20,000 ‘new’ Police Officers. Maybe he’s finally realised that his grand gesture was never going to be achievable and had steered in a new direction.

If this is what the first 2-3 weeks of the year has produced I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year will produce.