The police

Its quite clear that last week was a public order disaster.

Its also clear that many people who thought the police would protect them were bitterly disappointed, whether a small shop owner who has their livelihood stolen or the women forced to hand over their wedding rings in restaurants that were terrorised by rampaging gangs.

Most commentators now accept that the TV images of the police standing by watching looting in the early phase of the public order disaster.

Clearly the police made mistakes, very big ones with consequences that have cost at least 5 lives and a massive amount of damage and theft.

But it doesn't seem to be the officers on the ground. They seemed to lack direction from above, not courage or determination.

Indeed their bravery is being used to hide behind for senior officers trying to deflect criticism. Some of the standard debating ploys are being used:

1. detail - you can always rely on using more detail to discredit your critics;
2. imply that your critics are armchair critics- that always works wheel, and ;
   
3. claim responsibility for the parts that worked ( in this case on the technicality that police commanders gave all the orders, ignoring the fact they did so under considerable pressure from politicians who returned from their holidays [ more on that in the next post ] ).

The senior police officers are also trying to have a good crisis of confidence by using it to avoid making efficiency improvements in the way the police are run.

The leadership of the police have lost the confidence of a very large section of the public. Those senior police officers who rose high in the ranks during the New Labour years appear to be the worse.

Clearly there needs to be new leadership to restore trust and reform the police. The government needs to make sure this happens. They must ignore the pleading interspaced with threats from those who served the old order instead of the people.

Policing is political because Labour and the chief constables have made it so

I have no time for the whining of Sir Hugh Orde about having to answer to the public for the service they pay for and require him to carry out.

The police have been massively politicised by New Labour and infiltrated by equality groups and more sinister organisations like Common Purpose.

The constabulary are now the shock troops who knock on old ladies door to accuse them of hate crimes for writing letters to the council complaining about the morality of some public displays certain lobbies insist in rubbing everyone's noses in.

Labour have politicised the police with their targets and reporting. The Diversity industry is also a political project.

Like many people I cheered as Boris saw off Sir Iain Blair (Labour's favourite policeman with very string of New Labour links ) and would like to see the police respond to the public, not the jumped up student politicians who have spent their lives creating artificial crimes to oppress and avenge themselves on the middle classes with. ( Which in most of their cases is really a case of self hatred which they should get psychiatric help with. )

In many ways the fact Sit Hugh Orde doesn't like Conservative plans for elected sheriffs shows what a great idea they are. If loads of Chief Constables want to resign like Sir Iain Blair did - then I think there will be far more cheering from the public than any other reaction.

"Its all Damian Green's fault for getting arrested"

Jaqui Smith ( your best mates Mum who Gordon Brown has pretending to be Home Sec right now ) is trying to make the best she can out of her retreat on local accountability for the police.

The debating scheme she's using is to blame "the Tories" ( when is it ever anyone else ) for politicising the issue of the police. Thoughts of pots and name calling of kettles spring to mind here.

The examples Jaqui rolls out are:

1. Boris pulling the rug from under Sir Ian "Labour's favourite Policeman" Blair. ( In the mayor new role which Labour created - thinking their man would be running the Met and Town hall ).
   
2. Damian Green getting himself arrested for trying to hold the government to account for key security information it has tried to suppress for, um, political reasons.

But the Guardian states that its really certain police officers and senior Labour council leaders.

Back in the real world there has been some concern about the politicisation of the police for some time. Officers with right on views about the community and diversity seem to do very well. The police have now turned on the middle classes ( easier to fill up their political targets to get Labour minister re-elected that way than catch hardened criminals ).

Who can remember how the police treated the country side march early in Labour's reign ?

The truth is that the police are already politicised, very politicised. Its too late to reverse it.

Labour have just woken up to how much political control they have over the police and the only result of democratic control would be the lose of the Labour party's control.

One political party has undue influence over the police and its developing culture.

That's why we need elected local police boards.

That's why we now need a Conservative government to deliver them - because labour daren't do it as they now realise what they stand to lose.