Police: several levels of ‘culpability’
Having gone truncheons to tasers in a generation, I also have to wonder what purpose the current Police Service has been built for?
It looks like we have been built to violently confront and overcome people. I am not saying that is our mindset, but it is without doubt what we are equipped to do. Once people get over the quasi military kit, we are mostly approachable and pleasant people, it’s just that we dress like Imperial Stormtroopers.
– NightJack, Winner of the Orwell Prize for Blogs, 2009
The last week I’ve been pulling apart the Climate Camp Legal Team report and collating the data into a structured analysis over on my blog. As of today, this is what we know: the rioting police forces were systematically hiding their identities to avoid accountability. There was a coherent policy of abusing the statute book as if it were a catalogue of ways to harass specific individuals and groups. The TSG paramilitaries were directed to use the assault on Climate Camp as an opportunity to punish dissenters. And there was a comprehensive and systematic effort to suppress and destroy evidence of criminal activity by officers of the law.
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Torture: does it actually work?
In the current debate over the Bush administration’s use of torture, most of the discussion has been around the moral and ethical dilemmas involved, with the strongest argument in favour being the infamous ‘ticking bomb’ scenario.
But in fact these arguments and make-believe situations are irrelevent if torture doesn’t work in the first place. On my own blog I argue for evidence-based policy, and in my first piece for Liberal Conspiracy I want to explore the evidence for torture, because if those who advocate it can’t prove that it works, then they have already lost the debate.
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The ‘Evil Poor’
Dave Osler has addressed the question of the class-war-that-isn’t; what we need to talk about urgently is when, precisely, it became good form to treat people on low incomes as if they were an entirely different, morally deficient species of person. When did it become alright to call the poor ‘evil’?
No, really. Let’s not forget that this week the Orwell prize for blogs was awarded to NightJack, a blogger who claims to be a white, middle-aged police officer posting about his experiences in the force, passing over, amongst others, the esteemed Alix Mortimer. One of his winning entries is entitled ‘The Evil Poor’. Initially I assumed that the title was ironic. It isn’t.
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Ian Tomlinson: 3rd post-mortem and a cover-up
Sky News is reporting a big development today:
Newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson, who was shoved onto the pavement by a policeman during the G20 protests, suffered a head injury before he died. A photograph obtained by Sky News suggests strongly that the injury was the result of the alleged assault by the officer, who has been suspended and questioned on suspicion of manslaughter. The picture shows what appears to be large bruising on the right of Mr Tomlinson’s forehead.
That came after attempts yesterday to muzzle Channel 4 News:
New footage of the moments leading up to the death of Mr Tomlinson will be shown today after the IPCC failed in its attempt to block it being broadcast by Channel 4 News. It tried to secure a court order when it emerged that the programme planned to broadcast a frame-by-frame analysis of the film, but a judge refused to grant the injunction. An IPCC spokeswoman said it believed the footage “would potentially damage” its investigation.
Potentially damaging to who? The IPCC, for doing such a poor job at investigating Tomlinson’s death, perhaps? There are more developments today, with Britain’s top cop saying that officers who conceal ID would face the sack.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson unbelievably says that, “there are large sections of the media that are currently engaged in a very unbalanced orgy of cop bashing.” — you mean the ones that were reporting that the police were being attacked by ‘bricks’?? Perhaps it’s too much to expect the Mayor to stand up for Londoners instead of the police.
Police, Camera, Action
David at Minority Report offers some words of warning, regarding the slow trickle of citizen generated footage of alleged brutality at the G20 protests earlier this month:
Reconstructing events by using any number of restricted viewpoints is no replacement for vital missing facts. If I present you with a black box that contains a photo I made of a scene, I’ll happily let you make as many pin holes as you like – you will still struggle to make out whats going on. Especially if I choose the image.
Different circumstances, but I felt this way after Saddam Hussein was executed. There is a real danger in allowing snippets of grainy amateur footage to act as the definitive account of an event. The result in this case has been yet another trial by media, only this time the police seem to be on the receiving end. In reality, we have no way of knowing precisely what killed Ian Tomlinson, and the account of the Nicky Fisher assault makes me uneasy (although admittedly this feeling is entirely based on her sightly spaced-out media interviews). continue reading… »
More damning police revelations (updated)
- Yesterday Channel 4 had the explosive revelations that the Independent Police Complaints Commission was barred from the first post mortem examination carried out on Ian Tomlinson. The Liberal Democrats are demanding a full independent inquiry into whether there was a deliberate police cover up.
- Guardian: IPCC chief slams tactics of G20 police.
Also: how the image of UK police took a beating
- BBC: New video shows G20 protest clash. A new video released by demonstrators (video below) shows a police officer beating a man in the head with a riot shield at the London G20 protest earlier this month.
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Purnell’s silly plan for alcoholics
I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear a new government proposal for reform of the welfare state, I have to pause for a moment and ask: is this a policy or a headline? For example, when Hazel Blears announced that ‘hit squads’ armed with rubber gloves would be banging on parents’ doors to make sure their kids are ready for school, just about every observer – and probably Blears herself – knew it wasn’t going to happen, but made for a nice headline.
So when James Purnell promises/threatens to make unemployed alcoholics seek treatment or lose their benefits, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask whether this story falls into the same category.
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A Saturday morning vigil
Yesterday, I walked from Bethnal Green to Bank in the rain, and laid flowers at the spot where Ian Tomlinson was attacked. So did hundreds of others. It was a solemn and subdued march, apart from the obnoxious ratty-haired man with a pink radio sellotaped to his head blasting out swing band music (there’s always one). I found myself profoundly moved and had to go and have a smoke and a small pathetic sniffle round the side of the bank, out of sight of all the news cameras in the world.
And then something extremely depressing happened.
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Who’s to blame for the accidental death?
Both Shuggy and Chris Dillow are right in pointing out that the police treatment of Ian Tomlinson was far from shocking, as some others have claimed.
If anything, the officer who violently pushed him over when there was no need whatsoever to do so was taking part in some of the less dangerous action with the protesters that day. As long as Tomlinson didn’t hit his head, and from the video it seems that he didn’t, a push like that is only likely to result in grazed or cut knees and hands, along with the temporary shock that comes from being bundled over when you’re not expecting it. The cracking of heads which other officers were engaged in all day, causes far more potential for concern.
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The media and killing sprees
There’s now been at least six killings sprees in the space of less than a month .
For the most part I tend to be sceptical about claims of media influence, especially to the extent to which it might by itself trigger copycat behaviour or violence, but there does seem to be some reasonable evidence, at least where it comes to suicide, that sensationalistic coverage and especially emphasis on methods can lead to an increase in the number of attempts by those who already contemplating doing so or are otherwise depressed.
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A reader writes…
An LC reader wrote in with this email. She was happy for it to be published.
I am a “UNISON” shop steward. My landlords The Eltham Constituency Labour Party have just applied to Woolwich County Court for a Bailiff appointment to evict me from their property,
my home, of 26 years.
The response by my MP, Clive Efford, when I advised him of their actions:
CE ‘why are you telling me this?’
ACD ‘because you are my M…’
CE ‘well I’m a tenant too’ and away he hurried.
Yes, he is a tenant as regards his office, but not his home. They videoed their last inspection. The last time they [only] photographed an inspection, they threatened to publish the results. I’m thinking that’s what they will say and do this time. I expect the footage is on You Tube by now.
Dawn Butler, Tony McNulty, Jacqui Smith they have homes aplenty and expenses. Me? No home…and humiliation
Annie D
Media quietly admits smearing G20 protestors
Oh look, the Metro reports today:
Eyewitnesses today described how protesters came to the aid of a man who collapsed and died during G20 demonstrations at the Bank of England. Police were involved in running battles with protesters in central London when the man, believed to be in his 30s, fell to the ground and stopped breathing.
…
“One or maybe two plastic bottles were thrown, but it was by people further back in the crowd who did not know what was going on. There definitely wasn’t a rain of bottles. There were lots of us gathered around him telling people to give him space. The idea that protesters did not care is completely false.”
This contrasts with the Evening Standard’s disgusting piece yesterday stating the police were ‘pelted with bricks’ when trying to help him – a story they quietly changed on their website later. The paper is a stain on London.
RIP Ian Tomlinson, a guy who was just walking by, and got caught in the Met Police’s delightful strategy of ‘kettling’ people in. BenSix has more.
I still blame police brutality
We knew this was coming. The Met police had been scaremongering about the G20 protests for weeks through a willing media, based on a few random website postings. This, from an institution which the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights said only a week ago was “too heavy-handed in dealing with protests”. This, from an institution that intentionally harassed and went completely over the top with Climate Camp last year.
And the same happened yesterday. We were only reporting for the Guardian and yet, unexplicably, the police closed in on all protestors from as early as 12:30pm and would not let the several thousand people go anywhere. We managed to escape through the police cordon, but Dave Hill was stuck there till late evening and some, according to the police, would be there till midnight. They all had to be photographed and had their details taken down you see. For just attending a protest.
We can argue endlessly whether the G20 protests had a point. People can even sneer at the message. That is to be expected. But this is about the fact that our basic right to stage a peaceful protest is being eroded. They will just detain you for hours on end, without a toilet to go to, and then arrest you or beat you if you choose to complain. And then they’ll take down your details. Is this the sort of democracy we want to live in?
Sure, there were trouble-makers, as any protest does. But the police penalised everyone right from the start. They predicted trouble and then created the conditions for it. And now undoubtedly they’ll play the victim, aided by a willing media that dance to their tune. And then we wonder what the fuck happened to our civil liberties.
Abolish Seditious Libel
There’s a chance that the outdated law of seditious libel could be abolished today. Dr Evan Harris, the Liberal Democrat MP, has tabled amendments to clauses 5 and 37 of the Coroners & Justice Bill. The move has support accross party lines, is welcomed by campaigning groups like Liberty, Index on Censorship, and English PEN, and by campaigning comedians Mark Thomas and Rowan Atkinson.
Unfortunately, there’s a chance that MPs may not get to vote on the amendment, since only a short time (45 minutes, I believe) has been allocated to debate such things.
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Gun control and school shootings
While I tend to be for the most part as socially libertarian as you can get, one of the things I tend to disagree with the actual libertarians on is gun control. One of the undoubted major reasons why gun crime in this country is for the most part incredibly rare, especially when compared to other countries is thanks to the draconian nature of our laws; you could argue that we’ve never been major gun lovers over the last century in any case, and that we’ve never had the sort of constitutional protection like in the United States which has encouraged mass gun ownership.
But it’s almost certainly a factor as to why we thankfully haven’t experienced the school shooting massacres that the US has become notorious for and which Germany experienced its second of earlier this week.
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LC briefing: editor’s note
Last year Hazel Blears MP (in)famously said most blogs did little to ‘add value’ to our political culture. If by ‘value’, Blears did not mean bloggers doing research into government initiatives and occasionally exposing them for the gimmicks they are, then she probably won’t be pleased with our briefing either.
Today, coincidentally, David Hencke asks if James Purnell is the worst social security minister ever: I’d say he is in contention for the worst Labour minister ever given how empty his initiatives at the DWP have been. His plans to trial lie detectors to tackle benefit fraud will eventually be exposed as one of those vacuous stunts.
First a bit of background.
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Liberal Conspiracy briefing: Exposing the DWP’s lie detector testing
Hello LC readers I have a treat for you. Today we start publishing the first of our briefings – a document I’ve been working on for the past month or so. It’s not coming out all at once because there are some legal and other issues still to be resolved. But in coming days and weeks, more will be revealed.
Our focus is on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and in particular its recent decision to use lie detection technology to catch out benefit claimants.
We think that this is not only unethical, but the technology itself is so prone to error as to be useless for the purpose for which is it supposedly intended. So why is the DWP spending over a million pounds promoting it across local authorities? Has it done research into its drawbacks and limitations? If yes, then why is it still using it?
Baby P back to being a political football
Lord Laming’s review of child protection ordered after Baby P appears to have been leaked to the News of the World ahead of its official publication on Thursday.
Whether or not the content reported by the paper is genuine (one authoritative source has suggested to Community Care the NotW is merely guessing) it raises the question of the motivation behind the story. A clue could lie in the way the main political parties have used the tabloids for point-scoring over Baby P. Was the “leak” placed by the Tories in yet another attempt to attack Labour’s record on child protection since Victoria Climbie?
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Against ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ on teenage pregnancy
We’ll begin, as is the vogue when writing about this topic, with some of those tiresome anedotes which somehow prove the observations which follow.
Back when I was still lugging crates of cheap pop around a newsagents in Meadowhall, I worked with a girl named Claire*. Claire was sexually active well before the age of consent, was pregnant by the age of sixteen and had only a handful of GCSEs to her name. So far, so ‘Shameless ‘. Except, as soon as her maternity leave was up, Claire returned to work whatever hours she could manage whilst still looking after her newborn. Some two years after giving birth, she enrolled on a part-time hairdressing course, which she squeezed-in between her paid work and all the hours where she simply had to be a mum. She finally qualified last year and, last I heard, was working in a hair salon with dreams of one day opening her own.
How do we explain the populist case against civil liberties?
At the Convention last week, the magnificent array of speakers did their job of giving us some strong and pithy arguments against the encroachments on our shared civil liberties.
Memorable rhetoric is important, because the shifting of public opinion is not shifted by one speech by Philip Pullman, (however lyrical) but by a hundred thousand discussions in homes and offices, and more than a few more opinion columns and TV shows in the coming years.
But we did not hear how to address the possibility that specific crimes may be committed when some of the state’s major incursions into our liberty are rolled back. It is crucial that those of us who push for a tempering of databases and surveillance own these possibilities and embrace them.
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» How bad is the feline obesity crisis?
» Why don’t MPs pay back tuition fees instead of increasing ours?
» Obama is right to slam BP – and why capitalists should too
» Why does Phillip Blond see civic cohesion as a security issue?
» So what if the Labour candidates went to Oxbridge?
» Last night’s Labour hustings: will it get interesting or turn to torture?
» It’s now down to Ken to win London for Labour
» The Labour people need
» Blog Nation: what would you like to see discussed?
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» In defence of these fraternal nominations
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