Wednesday 10 August 2011

Newsnight with Gove and Harman.. robust policing +will we see an end to postcode 'wars'?..

Thought Michael Gove was quite rude to Harriet Harman on newsnight last night. Trying to score cheap points.



Most overused words of the past few days?.. condemn, criminality, community,.. phrase? feel the full force of the law.
Clearly the official line of the Gov' is ( regardless of the party) condemn the 'mindless violence' and let the country know we'll be using the full force of the law to deal with it.
Where's Bush the younger when you need him eh!! now that is a joke:)

I heard someone mention that the police are working with one hand tied behind their backs as they don't want to be accused of institutional racism etc.. oh how quickly it became a black thing. (for some) Clearly, for those people, the white faces amidst it all have become invisible. hmmmm

Now, I've heard the phrase 'robust policing' being used a few times yesterday. I wonder if that means that even the innocent bystander' may be charged with an offence (joint enterprise) if they fit the 'profile'

Now I've seen all sorts on the news, out there on the streets. I hope robust policing is not just another green light to police to continue to stop, search and taunt young black boys as if it's going out of fashion .. oh hang on.. if that's the case, then perhaps we've had robust policing for years!!:)

Now i personally abhor violence to be honest. makes me sad scared nervous and and upset. Yet i was quite scared for some of those youths when i saw them 'facing up' to the police in that way because... well just because
And besides, 'innocent' people are getting caught in the crossfire, it's dangerous and people are getting hurt. I'm not sure if giving the police the green light to use plastic bullets will help, or increase the violence - see article here

Yes the police have a difficult job to do, but you dont become a doctor if you cant stand the sight of blood. They are trained 'professionals. They are the people we go to in a crisis, or if we have unfortunately become a victim of crime.. sure. That's how it should be. We should be able to trust them, respect them, and not fear them. We need to feel as though they will not discriminate or practice blatant racism and discrimination, or worst use brute force against.. anybody. In short...we need to get along.
It can happen, and my hope is ( for those who feel far removed from that) it will.
The irony is, the London riots may just have saved a few police jobs! there were pending cuts to policing which our Mayor of London now thinks may not be such a good idea!!
The irony is, local vigilantes protecting their property may just say , 'hey.. this is the big society in action' they come here.. police or no police were dealing with this ourselves' what can Cameron say to that?!?
Oh what a tangled web...

The violence must stop, the stealing must stop, the victimisation must stop, the oppression must stop, the abuse of power must, stop.

ps the post code wars seemed to have taken a back seat for awhile. The youths out there appeared to have come from all areas - side by side. If nothing else comes from this I would hope it's an end to the so called 'gang /post code' wars.. now that really is mindless

*will this become a debate about morals?/values? If so, are our politicians in a position to manage that debate?

2 comments:

  1. how true a statement or what? indeed the government will have to increase police spending rather than cut. my fear is it will only lead to an increase in tensions. All those calling for harder police action seem to have forgotten the 70s and 80s and all the community mistrust that have taken years to sort out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sometimes I feel i don't get the worlds economy the way i'd like to.
    we spend more for everything, were charged for things that once was free e.g parking etc, so where's the money?
    they want to cut spending on defense, welfare, wages,pretty much across the board. If they don't cut on policing as they claimed they needed to, where will the axe fall? something else will have to cover the shortfall

    All those who were in favour a a smaller state etc, may be thinking twice now.. who's gonna sort this mess? we need services, investment!
    70's and 80's.. Thatcher and Tebbit tried the hard line stylee.. I wonder if they'll be a 2011 'scarman'type report.. and if so , who will write it

    ReplyDelete