Robust accountability measures in any public service (not least the police), will always be required and are an important factor in supporting levels of public trust in that service. But hey, just in case you hadn’t realised, whilst hiding away in your individual microcosmic bubble of virtual reality, it’s a shitty world out there and (shock/horror) it’s actually full of lots of shitty people, often doing shitty things to themselves and to each other!
BBC News: Sixteen people were murdered in England and Wales during 2009-10 after police had been informed about concerns over their safety, the police watchdog says. The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it was the highest number of killings after police contact for at least five years. (Read more)
Guilty or innocent, rightly or wrongly the actual wording used by the IPCC, usually hyped up into something a little more emotive and more ‘newsworthy’ by the media, have a profound effect on the public perception of policing and police officers.
Thankfully that perception is still often fairly distant from fact and, despite the fundamental need for accountability, there is a distinct danger; with our drive to rid the policing barrel of any bad apples, society runs the risk of Tarring and feathering the whole service and consequently, undermine the whole concept of British policing.
Remember shit tends to stick!
Related Articles
- Murders after police contact rise (bbc.co.uk)
- Deaths in police custody since 1998: 333; officers convicted: none (guardian.co.uk)
- Sixteen murdered in the last year despite prior warnings to police, IPCC finds (telegraph.co.uk)
- Drunk tank pilot scheme recommended (mirror.co.uk)
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