"Mind how you go, sir!" 
(*The picture/identity of this lovely, friendly-looking copper, is in NO WAY related to the following news item. Just in case you were confused enough to think so after reading it*)
From The Guardian, as carried in most newspapers yesterday...
Met Police Officer Cleared Of Racially Abusing Teenagers
(Perhaps the only good reason for hearing about court evidence in The Guardian is that they don't censor the swear words.)
OK, some (probably most) people think our British policemen and policewoman do a fantastic job in difficult circumstances - the bloody PC Brigade, bloody liberals, bloody government, red tape, bloody scum, string 'em up, etc. Yes, there are the occasional bad apples who spoil it for the rest of them, but overall three cheers...?
Only some of us might say that the police tend to have had a rather dodgy history of acting and considering themselves above the laws they are employed (by us, the public, who they are paid to serve) to enforce.
We can go back to various miscarriages of justice over the years, for example the West Midlands Police Force, the falsifying of evidence and confessions in various murder and terrorist cases over the years. But even in recent times we have had case after case of, at best unprofessional and, at worst, fraudulent and criminal behaviour by our police force. (At this point, yes, I do know that these police officers were found "not guilty". But reading the report I think makes it clear that this is not necessarily an open-and-shut case.)
Not just the de Menezes shooting, there was also the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests (where fellow officers tried to provide a false cover story as to how the guy became "unwell"). There have been numerous cases of armed officers shooting unarmed defendants/suspects under rather contentious circumstances. If a copper gets caught speeding, drink driving or if accused of assault etc, then somehow they do always seem to get found either not guilty or there is a "technicality" which leads to the case being dismissed. (The recent conviction of the speeding police officer, who killed a woman and actually did get sent to jail due to his terrible recklessness, was the exception that rather proved the rule.)
When complaints are lodged against the police, it is amazing how many times evidence is "lost" or the PCC rejects the complaint. Even if they refer it to the local Constabulary, usually no disciplinary action is taken by the officer's superiors. The CPS seems to hardly ever find that it is "in the public's interest" to prosecute servicing police officers.
Reading the above case just makes me ever more convinced that there's a subset of police officers (and I would say the "foot soldiers" are the worst) who not only are still basically racist/thick (there unfortunately will always be those it seems), but actually seem to exist in a culture where they believe that the very fact that they are a serving police officer means that it is OK for them to behave pretty much however they like.
For every headline case, there are dozens of other stories around the country of excessive brutality in police behaviour, unnecessary and preventable deaths in police custody, magistrates effectively letting off police officers by ignoring or dismissing evidence.
In short, we need a police force that doesn't have its hands tied, but at the same time one that we feel confident in, that they exercise self-restraint and fair judgement. Respect for and cooperation with the police is a two-way street.
The majority of police officers (I expect) don't feel they are above the law, nor that doing their job effectively means they are somehow forced to tell the odd lie, or put the boot in for good measure. Surely therefore there's no real excuse for the ones who do.
I'd be interested to hear what people think in general about these issues.
