Does story reflect change in police stance?

If this incident had been prior to the national rioting at the start of August, would the police have dealt with it in the same manner (i.e. with common sense and the implied message that the burglars got exactly what they deserved)?

Dave Rollins is noted as having “full on rugby tackled” one of the criminals while Matt Crowley detained another. Prior to August the men could have expected to be detained themselves for their use of force and/or any allegations that the burglars may have made against them either when arrested or formally questioned.

Are the police finally getting their act together and “getting tough” after nearly 15 years of lily livered left wing, liberals telling them to be “nice?” Or is it merely political spin from cynical police senior management and the Crown Prosecution Service in view of recent horrendous public disorder?

Personally I hope it’s the former but I’ll root for the latter.

While working as a Bobby I saw hideous police conduct to victims or “HAG heroes”, all performed in light of “performance targets” and “community liaison” and forever tying people’s brains in knots as to what “reasonable force” actually is.

My top three stories to illustrate this are:

A shopkeeper who locked two shoplifters in his store and then called the police was told that he may face prosecution for unlawful detention. The attending officers also asked the shoplifters if they wanted to make statements against the man.

A pizza shop owner who was constantly plagued by kids damaging his delivery scooters ran out and slapped one of them across the face, just after they’d pushed a bike over yet again. The cops on scene ignored his protestations of the repeated nuisance and criminal damage and simply told him if he ever hit a child again he’d be arrested for assault.

A cab driver was jumped by three men one night in his taxi. He successfully fought them all off and drove away. Later when arrested they claimed he’d used racist language against them during the scuffle. He was nicked, charged and it only fell through when none of their statements as to what he’d allegedly said matched up in court.

We have moved into an arena of the police caring only for what people think of how they look. It matters more to a police force that a duty Inspector has filled in his “customer satisfaction survey” every month than it does that he or she is keeping people safe on the streets during their shifts.

When I served from 2004 to 2008, it was considered more important to “cover your backside” than to actually try and use some ‘on scene’ subjective evaluation as to whether it was right or fair to nick someone. If a person had detained a shoplifter but the thief claimed that person had hit them or worse…called them a racist, homophobic or sexist name…then the officers would almost always nick both parties and let senior officers and the subsequent interviews form the decisions.

I dearly hope that the riots last month have finally caused the Government and the British public to realise just what they have forced the police to become. I further hope that the HAG heroes story is one of many to come and that people can once again intervene without fear of persecution or arrest for doing the right thing.

Be careful what you wish for. You may end up stuck with it. - Lance Manley LLB (Hons), via email