The link is to a Wail story found via Dickiebo. The story is typical of ‘those Gadget won’t print’. Cowardly cops not doing their job, and not being brought to book through police complaints. The Ian Tomlinson saga grinds on, long after his death. The crap cop in that ain’t in jail either. These are not isolated incidents – they are incidents made isolated by the non-working complaints system. Lessons are not learned from them as they go on and on, with vile cop-toadies puking out the insulting jargon like ‘learning lessons’ making matters worse. Anyone genuinely trying to complain is subject to vilification as a ‘nutter’, ‘cop hater’ and the rest. It’s time, yet again to bring down the whole shebang of complaints against the police. This, as Graham Smith has pointed out, is part of a pathetic vicious cycle that ends up with a new version of the same old crap. The latest same old crap is the IPCC.
Complaints systems are problematic. To work, they need to be established along with firm understanding that the organisation concerned will be transparent to criticism. This is almost impossible in Britain. We shit on our whistleblowers almost as routinely as vile Middle Eastern regimes. Trying to do anything here is subject to our own ‘wasta’ system. Wasta is the name for the corruption in countries like Iran, Baharain, Saudi and so on. We have our own. An extensive sociology is available. People are blogging, writing books, we have Dispatches, Panorama and some genuinely critical journalism, but it is all to no avail in our dismal country. As a boy reading about the Gulags, I was distressed about the forced labour forced to eat ‘boiled grass rations’. Now, I can see old people dying of malnutrition in our NHS and meals unfit for my dog slopped up. There is always some vastly overpaid turd around saying everything is hunky-dory. The critical material around may as well be Samizdat, the undercover ‘voice’ of ‘subversive material’ found in the former soviets. I no longer feel it is too strong to say our ‘performance management’ is in the shit league along with ‘wasta’ and ‘Samizdat’. Indeed, the bread in the shit sandwich is now the filling. The lunatics are in charge of the asylum and have been for so long we can hardly make this out.
Although I have massive sympathy with notions that ‘selfishness’ is at the root of our problems (Banksidebabble writ large if you like), I also know that ‘virtue ethics’ is not the answer. This form of thinking did not help Plato, his memory-invention Socrates or even the admirable John Locke get past slavery. Indeed, one thing evident in much ‘clever thinking’ can be just how smug it turns out to be. Plato imagines ‘Guardians’ rather like himself, Spinoza makes out a politics aimed at defending people rather like himself and some donkey-professor of happiness tales his £70K for years, only to pronounce that being more happy leads to happiness.
My partner is just introducing our new puppy to the cats. There are arguments we should not keep the animals given global warming and human squalor elsewhere. I expect a treatise from the cats soon! We have our foibles. We need simple answers to our human problems, yet the first stage of this, if we are not content with shooting all those of promoted rank across our society, will be unraveling the complex myths and idiocy of current society. I will start buying the Grauniad again – though any reading will be secondary top its use in pup-potty training.
Allcoppedout's Blog 
In the early 80’s I was ‘diciplined’ because of an alledged ‘neglect of duty’ complaint in a similar incident… Whilst performing point duty on a busy junction outside a popular northern horse race meeting, a drunken man approached me and shouted from the side of the road, “hey I’ve been assaulted”. I did not have a radio (as was common then) so was unable to call for someone to deal with the complaint, I advised him to wait a moment and I would deal with the issue.
After a few minutes I looked back to where the ‘complainant’ had been standing, only to find he had wandered off. As I hadn’t obtained any details of the man’s identity I was unable to trace him. Within the hour I informed my Sgt of what had happened and before the end of the shift I was summoned by the Inspector to be advised I was being investigate for neglect of duty. The man had subsequently presented himself at the police office where the scratch to his face (barely visible at any distance) had been photographed and a statement obtained.
I had intended using my story to raise a salient point however, I appear to have lost my original train of thought? As my tale is relevant to the post I will leave it in place… Just a pity I didn’t have a similar mind block when joining the police 30+ years ago, then perhaps I wouldn’t have (apparently) wasted such a large part of my life?
You have to hope that some stories are not quite accurate. If the report was fair, most members of the public are set to take a very dim view of a particular police service. It will do no good for relations in general. The wider view takes in a picture of a National disgrace with a sense of sharing the shame.
This post was noble and worthy. Nevertheless stand by for Gadget’s derision and common abuse characteristic of her rabble.
No member of the public ever lodged a complaint about me, though a fairly high-level crook tried to frame me and the stuff was taken seriously by idiots in rubber heels for a while. In the rest of my career, I’ve found people, and sadly especially women, do make up junk. The most laughable was a loony who claimed I waved my dick about in class for 15 minutes. I think genuinely independent outside complaints investigation would protect decent cops or anyone else better than our typical British cover-ups. The third series of Spiral (BBC4) reminds me of some of my past!
To be objective, complaints will always go with the teritory somewhat. After all, interactiing with people who find themselves in a stressfull situation (and often in drink) when they’re in the wong (alledgedly) will mean they will try to offset the issue, and what better way than a complaint against the officer. This trait is now common place however, would that be the case if officers weren’t so reflective of the society they police?
I am happy to say the only blot in my coppy book was the one above. Any others that I got sucked into, generally due to the actions of others, I was often praised for my honesty and integrity, at the expense of derrision from some of my peers.
To add to and qualify my original comment; I actually loved my job and felt I was doing something for society, I am just saddened as to the state of things today.
You having a bad day? Best get reading the Grauniad, Your current theory will then be validated by like minded academics……….
I rarely agree with either the Grauniad or academics Shaz. Honesty comes hard in most professions.