Right now, Britain is like the Wild West of Europe, and it’s been said our police have lost control of our streets.
I asked serving members of the British Police what it is like to be a police officer in the U.K. today. Their truths will make you weep.
This is Dave’s story:
“In 1999 I was suspended from the police over an allegation of assault against an Asian male who had beaten his girlfriend in the street.
“It was a night shift and I was crewed with a female probationer. Without backup or assistance, I needed to use CS spray and my baton to control the situation and arrest the man.
“My accuser is a 6ft 4” kick-boxing expert, an alleged enforcer for a local drugs baron. He’s suspected of one murder and has been convicted for various violent offences, including firearms. I am 5ft 6” and weigh 12 stone in all my kit.
“He made a complaint of racially aggravated assault and I was charged and suspended.
“I was told by my division commander, off the record, that the only reason I was being charged was because the police didn’t want to deal with the publicity of acknowledging I acted within the rules for the use of force. In fact, the force paid him £12k in compensation before the case even got to court, during which time my accuser was shot in a drugs feud and I was listed as a suspect. He survived.
“After a four-day trial at Crown Court, it took just 20 minutes for me to be found not guilty. Unanimously.
“I returned to duty broken. I lost my first marriage from the stress of it all.
“When I returned to work I was put on a race and diversity course, implying I had acted with prejudice despite the not-guilty verdict. I was also given a written warning over my conduct during the investigation.”
Now ask yourself why anyone would want to be a police officer in the UK today.
Why would anyone want to join when this is how we treat the people tasked to protect us? When crime has reached all-time highs and public trust is at an all-time low?
Machete gangs on mopeds race through London’s streets threatening to kill for a watch or phone, with no fear of recrimination. Shootings, stabbings and acid attacks are so commonplace they barely raise an eyebrow in the news. The Metropolitan Police Force has been accused of losing control of London.
And yet it has managed to assert a vice-like grip over its own employees, preventing them from speaking out about the impossible position they are in and the lack of support they receive from their seniors.
When I ask serving police officers to share their stories, they all begin the same way:
“Don’t use my name. I’ll be sacked for bringing the service into disrepute.”
I assure them I will use pseudonyms and keep their trust.
Sarah says:
“I am ashamed, as are all my colleagues. Serving officers are working in a PC environment with their hands tied behind their back, scared to actually make decisions. The police service has been destroyed and men and women who’ve given blood, sweat and tears over years have been badly let down.”
One thing is clear. Serving police officers want to get on with the job of policing and catching criminals. But they are prevented by a new breed of highly politicised police managers without practical policing experience.
A senior officer tells me:
“For many their only dealings with crime are seeing police tape on while on a stroll to get their first Frappuccino of the day. They find it hard to envision a 13-year-old armed with a machine gun and in possession of over £1,000 and quantities of drugs. They believe the screaming man they see being cuffed on the floor could be spoken to rationally or in a more friendly manner, even though that man has been off his meds for two weeks and has just been on a 72-hour crack binge.”
This new breed of police manager knows that being politically correct and putting minorities first is the path to promotion and pension:
“The new management class is obsessed with social media and political correctness instead of getting in criminals’ faces. They pander to the whims of local minorities and in many ways treat them more favourably.
“Problems are dealt with only when they get in the press. They chase after ‘victims’ who are themselves criminals and the subject of some feud, rather than deal with real victims who deserve our time.”
I am sent a photo by a serving officer in the Yorkshire Police, sick of the endless courses on Islam or Trans Acceptance he is obliged to attend, another day of policing wasted to placate his PC masters.
Andy shares his experiences from a football match at Crystal Palace:
“We were recently sent to assist with the policing of the Brighton v. Crystal Palace football game. In the briefing our sergeant told us we must be VERY proactive in dealing with any abusive homophobic chants. If a Crystal Palace fan was heard singing anything that could be deemed homophobic, we were to take immediate and decisive action.
“During the game a man drove by chatting loudly on a mobile phone. I said to my sergeant, ‘Aren’t we going to do anything about that?’ He replied: ‘We aren’t here for that but your enthusiasm has been noted.’
“So someone singing an immature chant in a pub is a priority but a driver on his mobile phone who could run over a child is not. That’s modern policing for you. It’s all about appearance and virtue-signalling.”
Many former officers have used their extensive experience to report crime, only to be ignored:
“I spent 30 years in the force. I once rang in to report scooter thieves heading into the West End. When I eventually got through and gave a full explanation of my experience and reasons for ringing, I was met with indifference. I no longer ring. The police have given the streets up to feral, dangerous youths. London is slowly declining into the sort of third-world city we have been warned to avoid when travelling.”
Officers working in specialist units dealing with child abuse and paedophilia have watched their jobs and status deteriorate as ‘new priorities’ around diversity and sensitivity to Muslim communities take precedence:
“I am a serving Metropolitan Police officer and have worked in some of the most rewarding units in the Met, from the Vice Unit that looked after Soho (CO14) and the Paedophile Unit based at Empress State Building (ESB) in West Brompton (SCD9). These forces have been decimated by new spending priorities.
“We were a specialist unit that was 100% focused on dealing with child abuse. Now? Forget it, they are made to feel worthless. It was a detective-level role because it was serious. Now it’s staffed with PCs. It’s a disgrace. I’m in regular contact with my old friends in the paedophile unit and they all want to leave. When diversity and minorities are the priority, child abuse goes to the back of the queue.”
Many officers say they cannot wait to get out of the force, sick of seeing the job they loved so diminished. Or new recruits accepted to tick the diversity box, who would never have made it through recruitment just five years ago. White males were not even invited to a day on how to succeed at selection. Only minority, LGBT, Muslim or non-whites were free to attend.
But my inbox is also full of stories from officers who were forced out against their will, after complaints against them from those they have apprehended – like Dave, whose story we began with:
“I was a front-line officer in Telford for 12 years. I was eventually hounded out of the job for using ‘excessive’ force to save a nine-month-old child’s life.”
(A force too excessive to save a baby’s life? Now there’s a contradiction in terms.)
The lack of support from those high up the chain of command has made policing an impossible task. Police officers make split-second decisions in real time. The law judges them slowly in the comfort of the court. Barristers are paid to ‘prove’ them guilty. And then they face time inside for doing their job.
Even senior officers acknowledge that they operate in constant fear of being seen to ‘victim shame’ offenders, or to be deemed confrontational and insensitive to an offender’s needs, vulnerabilities or minority status.
“These fears have been imposed upon us by people who feel that corruption, racism, brutality and incompetence are all prevalent within the day-to-day policing of the city. This is simply not true.”
The result is officers on the street who are expected to tiptoe around these sensitivities instead of policing from a position of strength, and criminals who are perfectly aware how shackled our officers are and who know they have the right to complain on racial or minority lines.
Which is why the crime stats rise, criminals are the new victims, and, in far too many cases, the good guys wind up in the dock.