The Silent Party

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Tarih	: 03 Temmuz 2008 12:47

Whether or not much is to come from this fortnight of noise the importance that these issues, and the fact that they are currently pertinent political issues, should not be undervalued. Not least because they are on the political agenda because of brave principled action by those acting on behalf of the type of person who after coming up against an invisible wall, either in the form of a declination for a job (whether in the police or other), or maybe as an IPCC complaint that may have been declined for hard to understand reasons, may have lacked the energy or opportunity to take their concerns to the top.

Even the meek amongst us (e.g me) might have come against treatment by the police which wasn't quite right. For instance on one fateful night in December 2006, I had the dubious pleasure of being tested for alcohol consumption after the police found me sitting in the front seat of a car with the engine switched off. What ensued was three negative responses from the breathalyzer contraption (which was blamed on my not giving enough breath) and a subsequent forceful arrest which meant that me and my friends were bundled to the ground and sworn at even though we didn't put up much resistance. Thereafter, and after I lodged a complaint with the IPCC, the police managed to lose the blood tests that were taken from me (after I again tested negative on the bigger breathalyzer at the station) and the CCTV footage which would have no doubt shown that my friend and I were handled with anything but care. The IPCC claim ended in nothing as there was not enough evidence to prove wrongdoing against the officers. I wondered whether this was because it was the IPCC were not as independent as I thought they should have been or because they were simply not proactive enough in looking at the actions of the officers thereafter. I always felt that this should be a sure sign that the Police were trying to cover something up. I never did take the issue up with the gusto it deserved after this negative response.

Because of this I have empathy with the story of Tope Omisone, who in the Enfield Gazette, told of his maltreatment by the police and how they managed to dodge recording his injuries when they claimed that all they had was a black and white Polaroid camera to take pictures with. There seems something amiss with Enfield police it would seem.

So you see the raising of concepts such a discrimination, maladministration, diversity and race in the same period as caused by the Equalities Bill, the Met race row and IPCC is music to me  as one who was formerly one of the silent minority.

I wonder now how long it will be till we begin to link these concepts to the spate of gun and knife youth crimes and when people will begin to look upon the perpetrators of such crimes not only as criminals but as complex individuals who may feel like a criminal because they have in part been made to feel that way by overzealous policing. This is not to suggest that all is wrong in the Met but there is something amiss. Maybe this something is a good place to start when trying to look at what fuels gun and knife crime. And maybe the silent minority should do their best to take part in the consultations and dialogue that these developments have created.

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