“They also serve who only stand and wait” is a famous line of Milton’s, from his
about his blindness. The idea is that it is not given to everyone to serve God through heroic action and sacrifice. For some, quiet and patient living according to his will is enough.
No one could have imagined that “They also serve who only stand and wait” would ever become the official policy of a metropolitan police department faced with gangs rampaging, burning, and looting in a capital city. Yet that was the case for four nights in London this last week, as Harry Phibbs writes in the August 11 Daily Mail:
In London the police have been adopting the modern, sophisticated approach of observing while criminals loot and riot. In Manchester they have generally chosen the more old fashioned approach of arresting those involved.
In Birmingham the probability of a rioter ending up in a police cell would seem to be quite a bit higher than in the capital. In Nottingham and Wolverhampton the message is credible that the police will come and arrest anyone involved in rioting.
The importance of that message should be obvious enough. Arresting the culprits while engaged in violence is critical. Maintenance of public order is the first duty of any Government.
Riot police in Hackney come face to face with a mob after a number of cars were set alight on Monday evening
Riot police in Hackney come face to face with a mob after a number of cars were set alight on Monday evening
Waiting until after the event and relying on CCTV is not enough. Yet that was the policy of the Metropolitan Police until last night. Of course catching the perpetrators who get away at the time subsequently using surveillance images should be thoroughly pursued. But it should not either/or.
Everything possible should be done to stop the damage taking place—not just wait until it as been done before acting.
Was it that the London coppers were less brave than officers in Salford or Bristol? Not at all. Was it that the local police did not match the courage shown by Turks in Dalston or the Sikhs in Southall?
Absolutely not. To imagine so is to completely misunderstand the terrible mess that policing in London has got into. As a report in The Times said this morning the police were under orders to ‘stand and observe’—far from funking their orders they were obeying them.
This risk averse approach was based on far of legal battles. The report added that: ‘Scotland Yard insiders said the tactics had caused huge frustration among frontline police officers who were itching to arrest vandals and looters.’
I am not saying that policing outside London is all fine. The problems of cravenness, political correctness, delay and bureaucracy apply elsewhere—just not so the same extent.
The choice of Ian Blair as head of the Met from 2005 to 2008 was a disastrous one. Even Brian Paddick, the former police officer who went on to be Lib Dem candidate for Mayor of London, despaired at the paralysis caused to police procedures during that time.
Panic: Members of the public flee through Manchester as rioters hit the streets during a night of unrest in the city
Panic: Members of the public flee through Manchester as rioters hit the streets during a night of unrest in the city
Force: Mounted police tackle the mob in Manchester, where the response was stronger than that from the Met in London
Force: Mounted police tackle the mob in Manchester, where the response was stronger than that from the Met in London
A target for a higher ratio of female and ethnic minority recruits to the police was met not by attracting more applications from such groups but by putting high calibre, much needed, white candidates on a waiting list.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson managed to get rid of Ian Blair which was an advance, even though his successor Sir Paul Stephenson recently had to resign as well. But far more needs to be done to eradicate institutional political correctness.
There also needs to be clear accountability. Who is in charge of the Metropolitan Police? The Mayor of London? The Home Secretary? The Metropolitan Police Authority? If everyone is in charge then nobody is in charge.
The MPA should be abolished and it should be made clear that the buck stops with the Mayor, that he has the power to hire and fire. That he sets policing policy and priorities—although not, of course, interfering on operational matters.
As for the rest of the country the riots illustrate the need for police accountability and the case for elected police commissioners. If someone thinks ‘stand and observe’ is the right police response to riots then let them stand for election on the manifesto and see how they get on.
Some serious punishment for those convicted of crimes is also key—not least in rising the morale of police and ensuring that the fear of arrest is taken seriously. There is an e-petition submitted to the government which says: ‘Any persons convicted of criminal acts during the current London riots should have all financial benefits removed.
‘No taxpayer should have to contribute to those who have destroyed property, stolen from their community and shown a disregard for the country that provides for them.’ It had already attracted 53,830 signatures when I looked.
London policing failures have given some idea for the rest of the country of what not to do. There is potential for the Metropolitan Police to be better trained. Thankfully as Northern Ireland is no rather more peaceful than in previous years some of the police with their experience could be redeployed in the capital. There will be consideration over what extra equipment the police should use, such as water cannon and rubber bullets.
The good news is that the Met and the politicians who preside over it do seem to have got the message.
Amidst the despair I retain a glimmer of hope that the terrible era of soft, passive policing will end—not just in terms of confronting any rioting tonight or tomorrow night but in a permanently robust approach to eradicate crime.
As Rudyard Kipling said: ‘Let us admit it fairly, as a business people should, We have had no end of a lesson: it will do us no end of good.’