A London-based police officer has written about their feelings following recent events, which have seen many of their colleagues seriously assaulted whilst trying to police the pandemic.
As more-and-more anti-police groups seek to hijack peaceful protests, the number of officers injured during widespread disorder has skyrocketed, as documented in our ‘Assault on Duty‘ section on our website.
The worrying trend of largely peaceful, albeit ‘unlawful’ protests being hijacked and sabotaged by anti-police antagonists seems to show no sign of abating.
The unnamed MPS officer said:
‘I’m done with the self-appointed monitors of policing who feel it’s their place to photograph, video and (sometimes) selectively edit recordings of police doing their jobs.
‘I’m done with people who misrepresent the truth for publicity, to self-promote and, sometimes, for mischief.
‘I’m tired of people who value ‘likes’ on their chosen social media platform above helping a lone officer struggling to detain a violent person.
‘I’m done with the cowards in society who would rather film a cop being beaten up than pitch in to help him or her.
‘I’m done with people who ‘know their rights’ and who consider that (often mistaken) knowledge is sufficient justification to kick, punch and spit at police officers.
‘I’m done with people who tell us to do more stop-and-search in response to escalating knife crime but who then criticise us when the criminals who get caught as a result bleat about having their civil rights breached.
‘I’m done with criminals using the complaints system and legal process to intimidate hard working cops.
‘Yes, that is what happens.
‘Criminals use both to try and make it easier to continue with their activities, uninterrupted.
‘And I’m done with the payouts made to criminals because our legal system has created a situation where firms of lawyers can tout for business, encourage civil actions and know their clients will get paid out because it’s actually cheaper for the police to do that than fight the case – regardless of the result.
‘I’m done with an organisation where the policy is to punish rather than forgive, to discipline rather than teach.
‘I’m done with fearing if I make a mistake that I will be punished rather than have my employers accept I hadn’t been taught or trained as well as I should have been.
‘And, while I’m on that subject, I’m angry too.
‘I’m angry that Hendon, the flagship of police training, has been demolished and sold off to developers.
‘That the swimming pool where officers were taught life-saving techniques is now gone. That the sports facilities, the gymnasiums, the canteens, even the police stations themselves are all gone.
‘The police section houses are gone.
‘Even New Scotland Yard was demolished and the site sold.
‘I’m done with being photographed and criticised – sometimes, even fined – for using a public cafe to eat when all the police canteens have gone.
‘I’m done with having to travel across London to one of the few remaining custody suites where prisoners can be processed and where we have to wait in a huge queue to have a detained person booked in.
‘I’m done with being asked by my supervisors not to arrest people because that means I will be off the ground, unavailable and the calls will soon build up.
‘I’m tired of trying to do the job to a standard the public has a right to expect but that forty-thousand more us used to be available to do.
‘Think about that for a minute.
‘Forty-thousand less police officers in the UK than there were ten years ago.
‘And all because one Home Secretary considered the ‘role of the police is to fight crime, nothing more, nothing less.’
‘So, when I’m directing traffic, helping someone find their lost child, trying to find a missing person, supervising a demonstration or football crowd, or many of the other non-crime related roles that fall to the police, I’m reminded that one politician decided society needed less cops.
‘But, you know what?
‘I’m not so tired I’m about to give up.
‘Because I still believe in working for a better society.
‘The reasons I became a police officer are still valid. I still want to help people.
‘I still want to put bad people behind bars.
‘Policing has to be accountable, I don’t know of a single colleague who disagrees with that.
‘But what I do ask is to be given the tools, the facilities, the support and the means to be able to do my job.
‘Is that too much to ask?
‘Because being a cop is far more than simply fighting crime’.
This blog first appeared on mattjohnsonauthor.com and has been reproduced with permission.
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I retired 30 years ago after 30 years and 8 days. Loved the job and got respect from the majority. Got backing from most bosses If you where seen to be doing the job. I don’t think I could put up with what the rank and file have to put up with now days. Good luck and best wishes to all serving now
Im done with the daily mail brigade, and how even the PCO is telli g cops, smelli g weed on someone is not enough reason to search them. What the fuck? How much more of a fucking clue do cops get than the offender stinking of the fucking stuff?
Yesterday’s clash is th fault of daily mail readers and the express wanna be’s, thinking they know better. Softly softly doestt work, and never has.
I’m glad I went to yoi, as it was a wake up call, to change my life. That was 34 years ago, and I’ve been out of trouble since.
I have great respect for cops like this. It’s the lazy fuckers that piss me off, going for the easy targets.
I have great respect for hardworking honest cops.
Keep going, and keep yer pecker protected!
I retired 3 months ago, saw the writing on the wall, hate to say it but it will get worse yet when further lock downs materialise. Its time the Police bosses started telling the Home Office what to do instead of the other way round and to insist they get the support for the troops from The Government AND the Press but sadly almost without exception todays Police bosses are spineless Politician wanna-be’s. Stay safe folks and watch each-others backs, best wishes.
Has everyone noticed that what is happening here is also happening around the world? It seems as though the police everywhere have been told to use heavy-handed tactics to deal with the public. In America it’s gone as far as public executions of black people. The guilty cop is sacked and then joins the police again in another area. When there are peaceful protests a mob turns up all dressed in a certain way and the police stand down while they start fires and loot shops. In the London riots it was noticed that the looters all wore brand new track suits (either black or grey). When they started fires the police were amazed to be told to stand down and not make arrests. An abandoned police car was set on fire. In the recent Bristol riots police vans were left unguarded and were destroyed. One perp slid a piece of burning hardboard under the side of the van and it went up in flames. No police tried to stop him. I’ve seen a video made on a mobile of a peaceful protest a couple of years ago where one guy wearing an “Anonymous” mask was goading people with “Let’s attack the police”. Somebody noticed he had the same boots as the police and so he was told to take his mask off by the crowd. He jumped over the police cordon and was apparently “arrested” but was seen later in the back of a police car still wearing his mask. Recent TV news footage of a riot in USA showed a man dressed all in black smashing systematically a row of windows at a bank. But he was carrying a half-opened umbrella in his left hand. Was that a secret sign to warn police “Don’t arrest me. I’m one of yours.”?
It seems there’s a campaign around the world to make the public hate the police and demand they be replaced. In around 1996/97 two civilian staff at Lambeth Police Station discovered a “torture chamber” in the basement where boys from a local children’s home were beaten and it was filmed by a police officer. The 2 civvies reported it and were suspended. One police officer was eventually taken to court with the head of the children’s home. (The cop had been flagged by officers in another force investigating child porn films online.) When an officer from Lambeth wanted to continue investigations as a local political official was involved he was told to drop the case. He was then charged with some indiscretion and had to leave the force. This should still be on Google search.
What have they got planned to replace the police? 1000s of crimes are not being registered as such. Still, that means they’re not so busy they can’t be told to break up protests instead. The government are increasing the police by 1000s and decreasing the army by 1000s. Coincidence?
To all the officers leaving the force and stating why on this website, I say thankyou from the people you helped in your career and ask for your help to all those brave enough to try and bring this world back to sanity