I'm a former officer - two-tier policing is nothing new but getting worse under Keir Starmer: GP Taylor
I was very proud to be a police officer. Even though the military style training of early morning parades, running, self-defence and swimming was hard work, it was worth it. The day I was sworn in at Northallerton magistrates will be with me forever.
‘Without fear or favour’ still sticks in my mind. People back then were policed equally, regardless of race, colour, or religion. We were fair but firm.
In my service, I was assaulted, threatened with knives and guns, and dragged off the top of a chemist’s roof by a burglar. Yet, even back in the late 80s I could see two tier policing creeping in.
Thatcher had used the police as a political weapon in the Miners’ Strike. Maggie’s Army fought at Orgreave and in doing so, helped her destroy a community. In the aftermath, the bosses, seeing the damage that had been done, tried to distance themselves from political policing, but not for long.
On the day of the Satanic Verses disturbances in Bradford, I, along with other officers were put on standby in case we had to assist. It was made clear that we would have to police the event with “cultural sensitivity”, in other words take a softly, softly approach and contain but not arrest.
A short while later, I was deployed with other officers to the Meadow Well estate in Newcastle, to quash the rioting there. The same boss who had advised cultural sensitivity in Bradford, now encouraged us to “go and crack some heads.”
The white working class were fair game for being dealt with by force. After all, they couldn’t complain that the police were racist. In 1991, the police service had already gone woke.
Despite this, I have always been a supporter of the police. Until now.
The police lost control of the streets and lost the confidence of the people they are supposed to serve.
Officers are promoted to higher ranks not on ability, but because of diversity.
In the town where I live, it is not uncommon to see the unshaven, scruffy and overweight driving police cars. How these officers can get out and chase villains is beyond me – perhaps that’s why they don’t.
The last police officer I spoke to had her apathy to my problem written all over her face. Youths breaking windows was obviously not a concern. She even asked me how I had managed to get her to visit when they didn’t usually turn out for such things.
The police are no longer a force, they are a service that doesn’t really serve.
It has become obvious over the last few weeks that they would rather police the tweets than the streets.
It is easier for them to go after the hurty words of a keyboard warrior with little influence than it is to arrest rapists or burglars.
Two tier policing is nothing new, but under the current Starmergeddon, it has gone to new heights of absurdity.
Paedophiles are allowed to walk free from court after publishing disgusting images of children, but the same judge will lock up someone who criticised the current immigration policy or Islam on Facebook.
Operation Early Dawn, activated on Monday, will see the rapid release of prisoners so that there is space to lock up protesters and commentators on social media.
The police service has become the Starmer-Stasi, monitoring the internet, destroying free speech, and enforcing a blasphemy law by stealth. They are now a political tool of the toolmaker’s son and will be used accordingly.
As we saw in Rotherham, cultural sensitivity will become the norm and anyone who criticises it will be crushed with the full force of the law.
If only they could lock up real criminals with such zeal, perhaps then it might be safe for women to walk the streets.
A recent survey in April stated that only 40 per cent of the population trust the police. Looking at the way in which they have operated recently, it is obvious that the police no longer exist to serve all citizens equally. How many did they arrest after Harehills or Birmingham?
Home Office figures state the police are solving the lowest proportion of crimes on record.
Only 5.4 per cent of all crimes resulted in a charge, just one in 20 offences are solved. Seven in 10 members of the public believe the police have given up on trying to catch shoplifters and burglars.
The police must go back to basics. Basic training with all officers taught to solve crime and not dance in Pride marches.
Coppers must go back on the beat, policing the streets and not social media, putting an end to treating communities differently.
Section 2 of Robert Peel’s 9 Principles of Policing states that officers should recognise that the power of the police to fulfil their functions and duties is dependent on public approval of their existence, actions, and behaviour and on their ability to secure and maintain public respect.
I, like a growing number of people believe the modern police service has lost public consent, respect, and approval.
It is not fit for purpose.