Doesn’t help when head of Met doesn’t really get it.
The Met apparently “doesn’t tolerate racists” – actions greater than words needed on that one.

It’s still in the mode of assuming that people have to be card-carrying white supremacists to act in prejudiced ways or be part of a system that provably discriminates against particular groups.

I have been guilty in the past of thinking that unless you are ‘a racist’ there’s no problem, but I’d hope a senior policeman would realise how unhelpful this is by now.

Big-n-daft.

Not sure what the communities respomsiblity is in all this. Why should they ‘work with Police?’

I spent 10 years promoting Drum’n bas / jungle nights in a metropolitan city and as much I’d like to have had the help of the police in creating a safe environment for clubbers, engaging with the Police on any level would have been an absolute no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no ,no, no.

Inkster is now on the wanted list for crimes against guitar based rock

Inkster, what night?  Suspect I’ve been to a few of them. Thread derailment, sorry.

crikey
Member

I think I’m thinking along the lines of BLM/antiracism having to become a bit like drunk driving or seatbelts or some other social thing; it needs to become part of us, part of our psyche, an unacceptable thing in general terms rather than in party political terms.

Yup. And an understanding that defending the status quo or resisting attempts to change it, when the status quo is racist, or denying that racism, is itself racist.

The Peel Principles have been cited a couple of times already so here’s another one that may explain Big N Daft’s comments:

To maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and that the public are the police, the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.

I actually love that.

That said, the Peel Principles, which are in my opinion more relevant today than ever before, have been superseded a few times over but more recently with the Policing Code of Ethics – another example of the Police Service/Home Office/College of Policing reinventing the wheel with vapid words and little guidance.

I am a Police Officer and I’m approaching the last few years of my service. It truly saddens me to read some of the comments on here when I personally joined to make a difference and have strived throughout my career to help those in need, no matter what. I work in a specialist role that virtually solely works in high stress and violent confrontational situations and I’ve rarely had complaints from members of the public, and certainly never have I been accused of racism.

When I joined the job the current thinking was that Police Officers should reflect society, particularly in their gender, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. In other words the percentages of men, women, Asian, African Caribbean etc. should ideally reflect the society which they Police. The Police service could not attract the right people and so the problems that existed years before still exist today.

That said, although Police Officers and their behaviour should be the example to which the public can look and follow, in my experience we’ve lost that role some years ago (which is why policing by consent is becoming a distant memory) and now there is little difference in the behaviour of the rank and file and the public. In that way, it could be suggested that the Police do indeed now reflect the society the Police. Is it right? Not in my opinion, but here we are.

The whole service DOES need a shake up but budget cuts etc. do not really solve a problem. Rather, they merely add to the problem as senior officers and managers rush around In blind panic constantly changing every policy and procedure, providing little guidance other than an e-learning package then punishing officers with a public flogging for making an error in judgement, misunderstanding a policy or being plain stupid.

What is needed is the acknowledgment that the world has changed and so have the challenges the Police face. With that in mind, the whole structure of the Police has remained in the past. Most current senior officers started as mere PCs and pass a few multi choice exams and an interview and quickly find themselves in charge of multi-million pound budgets. This cannot be right..!

Anyway, to return on topic, all I would say is that in my experience of being told I’m a racist virtually every day of my service, I see little evidence of racism in my day to day life. I know people will say “of course you’d say that, you’re closing ranks or it’s your unconscious bias informing your view”. Well all I would say is that I know I can’t change your opinion but please be aware that the reporting of the bad experiences always outstrips the reporting of the good experiences, and not all of us, or even a majority, are racist. It does exist, it shouldn’t but it does. This is our reality and it needs to change. What we all need to realise is that cops are human and make just as many mistakes as the next human.

The thing is that your and your colleagues ‘mistakes’ have a
large effect on people’s lives and saying that bad experiences always outstrips the reporting of the good experiences is just victim blaming.

What we all need to realise is that cops are human and make just as many mistakes as the next human.

But the racist ‘mistakes’ have a lot more impact than those not in the police i.e. a racist police officer and their actions will have a much bigger impact in society than my racist grandmother.
How well these ‘mistakes’ are handled is key and is what is lacking.

Have put ‘mistakes’ because I don’t agree that actions based on racism can be classed as mistakes and by sugggesting they are means you are not really accepting the problem.

Lots of keyboard warriors, lots of condemnation of the Police but very little actual substance, very little actual sensible advice or actual action.

Singletrackworld exists in its own little middle class, high disposable income, nice left wing politics environment whereas the reality of that world that you don’t have to visit is rather different…

The thing is that your and your colleagues ‘mistakes’ have a
large effect on people’s lives and saying that bad experiences always outstrips the reporting of the good experiences is just victim blaming.

Yes they do but I think you misunderstand what I’m saying as victim blaming wasn’t implied or intended in anything I’ve written. I said the reporting of bad experiences outstrips the reporting of good experiences. The message is that although racism no doubt exists it is far from my experience that it is as widespread as what is implied on social media and that the majority of Police Officers (again, only in my personal experience) are generally disgusted by it and endeavour to get rid of it. The Police is far from perfect but is not quite how it’s being currently being portrayed. Again, in my experience.

Twisted pencil,

Did a lot of nights in 90’s and early noughties Manchester. Venues such as Band obnthe Wall, Planet K, Academy, Roadhouse etc. Our events always had 3 or 4 MC’s rather than the single hypeman format that was prevalent at the time.

Putting things back on the rails, the reason I mentioned it was that you really had to operate undetected by the Police if you wanted to promote music that had any significant black audience in those days. They’d shut you down on a whim.

I remember one summer, when the Police made a determined attempt to shut down some promoters, (easier in the summer as all the students go home and the city centre is much quieter.) The first I knew of it was when my DJ’s and MC’s started turning up early. They were avoiding the dragnet as the Police were stopping any black people driving in to town and my guys didn’t want to get stopped with a bag of records in their car and be asked ‘where are you going? They didn’t want to give the game away.

Anyhow, the Police found us in the end, came in a bit mob handed and shut us down. Venue management told me to scarper, they’d cover for me, saying it was an in house promotion and they promised not to do it again, (have black people in the venue that is)

So you concede that mistakes have a large effect on people’s lives then without a hint of contrition try to close down the victim blaming argument.

Until the Police admit there’s a problem with racism in the service there always will be.
Before I get accused of being something I’m not by crikey, both my parents were police officers, I’m working class, generally pro police and I don’t drive an audi

Hmmm. I can’t develop any kind of anger until I know what kind of car you actually drive…

Debates on here get so polarised, even though this is generally a softie leftie corner of the internet. I’ve seen the end results of the kind of stuff the Police have to deal with, I’ve lived close enough to the kind of places that STWers wouldn’t go after dark and been punched for living on the wrong street.

Racism is a big fat complex problem which involves the Police but is not solely their fault, and using them as a whipping boy is going to solve **** all. Until the communities involved, including the Police, start to take some ownership, some responsibility, some actual grown up behaviour with regard to the situation, things will never change. All this ‘Ooh no, we can’t engage with the Police’ stuff is counter productive.

Don’t forget; the Police don’t have the luxury of deciding not to ‘engage’; it’s their job.

When the shit hits the fan at your protest, at your house party, at your illegal rave, at your D&B night, at your Hospital, at your night club, at your house who are you going to call?

Dawn Butler?

Singletrackworld exists in its own little middle class, high disposable income, nice left wing politics environment whereas the reality of that world that you don’t have to visit is rather different…

You should’ve added “virtue signallers” to get a full house.

I was going to mention coffee **** too but i forgot!

So you concede that mistakes have a large effect on people’s lives then without a hint of contrition try to close down the victim blaming argument.

Yes I do but please show me exactly where I have tried to close down the victim blaming argument? I actually said that victim blaming was not implied or intended when pointing out what is essentially negativity bias in social media reporting.

Someone has accused me of victim blaming when I simply haven’t done this. Why would I personally show contrition for something I’ve never done and not likely to do? Am I supposed to apologise for all of the faults within the Police Service? I’ve agreed that there are problems and I’ve tried to give a slightly different view on certain matters but I cannot personally be held responsible for the actions or lack of actions of other Officers. I’ve raised my head above the parapet because it truly saddens me to see how normal everyday people who are unlikely to have ever had a negative interaction with the Police are now believing that it is absolute fact that every police officer is racist, that the Police Service as a whole is institutionalised racist and that the only way this can be solved is by the Police and only the Police.

There are a great many Cops on this forum but there is a reason not many are raising their heads right now – they will, as you have just demonstrated, get them lopped off merely by trying to offer or contribute to the debate. No it’s not guilty conscious, no it’s not an admission of guilt, it’s purely down to the fact that whatever they say they will be wrong. I’m merely offering you an alternative narrative that admits that faults exist but to remain grounded and realise that this is not America, the rest of the UK is not the Met, and all officers shouldn’t be judged on the actions of others. We’re all individual human beings who the majority come to work to try to make a difference. And yes, we get it wrong. By saying that it doesn’t suggest victim blaming, it doesn’t deny racism, it doesn’t deny the effect or influence their actions can have it’s a simple fact.

EDIT,

Responded to Crikey but subsequently thought better of it.

Mildred,

One of the reasons the Police are under such intense pressure at the moment is because the Government has abandoned you. The Government has been entirely absent in the BLM debate, save to stir up as much racial tension as they can whilst leaving the Police to deal with the consequences. The Government are hanging the police out to dry, I can also imagine what it must be like if you are a good officer, don’t know if you read my post earlier about a friend that joined the police and how I could see in a particular circumstance the difficulties he faced.

One thing that I’ve learned on this thread is the frequency with which Police stop vehicles with an out of town licence plate, I thought that was a US thing. From a civil liberties perspective I have a problem with that. It’s also not hard to see how this practice could be either abused or applied with unconscious bias, thus making the problem worse.

As a nation we are asking ourselves what kind of country we are, or thought we were. I thought we were the sort of country where if you were minding your own business and not doing any harm you should have no reason to have an encounter with the Police. For many people an encounter with the Police can be very distressing and /or humiliating and in some cases can have profound psychological consequences.

If that sounds like I’m asking for a touchy-feely (covid protocols accepted) police force wrapped in cotton wool with a hug a hoodie mentality then you’d be right. All encounters with the Police should start in this manner and only escalate if there is no other appropriate course of action.

There are a great many Cops on this forum but there is a reason not many are raising their heads right now – they will, as you have just demonstrated, get them lopped off merely by trying to offer or contribute to the debate.

Sorry, but I don’t buy that as an argument.

If there is a “great many” people having valuable input into the discussion then going “yeah but people might disagree with me” is a lame excuse for not posting. Isn’t righting wrongs the police’s very raison d’etre? They’ll cheerfully stroll into a den full of armed drug dealers but are frightened of a cycling forum?

Every post I’ve read from a police officer on here – caveat, I haven’t read the entire thread – has been variations on denying there’s a problem. And there is a problem, which is why ‘heads are getting lopped off.’ This is the #notallmen defence, one I’m personally guilty of being (rightly) lambasted for previously in other circles.

We’re not giving the police as a whole a kicking. We’re not casting aspersions about anyone. But as soon as you float a defence of “I know some police officers who aren’t racist” then you’re part of the problem.

And it’s not just the police, it’s people. But the thing which elevates this as a ‘police’ problem over a ‘people’ problem is that the police are in a unique position of power. Anyone in that role has to be held to a greater degree of responsibility than ‘normal’ people.

One thing that I’ve learned on this thread is the frequency with which Police stop vehicles with an out of town licence plate

Can’t say as that’s ever happened to me in 30 years of driving. And I’ve driven as far North as Inverness and as far South as Carcassonne.

Gotta say though Inkster, I’m loving your posts here and agree wholeheartedly with everything you’re saying.

Genuine question for any officers on here.

Can you see that saying ‘I can smell cannabis’ when there is none present is so unconscionably out of order, It plays immediately to an engrained racial stereotype, confirms in the eye of the victim that the police officer is a liar, shatters all trust, makes the person fearfull not only of being stitched up but also fearfull of potential employment consequences, (especially if you are an athlete). The thought, ‘how will this effect my life?’ will be uppermost.

If a police officer ever says this to you you know you are dealing with a corrupt officer, they are letting you know this from the get go. So you will then proceed in the knowledge that truth and justice have just left the building. You will now be thinking of a strategy to try and get yourself out of this situation and that will now govern what you say and how you respond to the situation. Being innocent isn’t good enough, telling the truth is not going to help you.

Cheers Cougar,

It was a couple of others opening up on other threads that got me thinking ‘time to put my head on the block’ So to speak. I get that police on here feel like they’re going to get their heads chopped off but you have to balance that against the fact that many on here hadn’t felt comfortable raising issues that had affected them over the years for fear of…….for fear of what exactly?

Which is quite interesting when you consider how open and supportive we generally hold this forum to be. As a rule, no topic or problem was off limits and opening up was never seen as a sign of weakness or of being whiney. In a way were kind of symbolic of the problem, on the surface a pretty liberal tolerant and caring bunch, certainly not racist. And yet recent events have revealed things that were running below the surface and always had done. A singletrack schism has appeared and its deeper than the Brexit one.

Part of me thinks that were waking up to some things that had either been hidden or had been generally felt to have been dealt with a long time ago and erhaps we are at a moment of reflection and there’s an opportunity to look at things a fresh.

Then part of me thinks ‘it’s not rocket science is it, it’s the same old shit.

To explain the stopping vehicles from out of town; it is very common practice for officers to volume check vehicles on the Police National Computer, particularly in areas that are suffering more crime than others. You would be amazed what an experienced cop will turn up by this simple policing method. That a car is out of town isn’t a massive reason to stop it it does make you look a bit closer. However, that has certain caveats. For example, the area in which you’re conducting these checks and the time of day the car is out and about. If I check a car near the university I pretty much expect it to be from out of the areas because of how many students have cars these days (I couldn’t afford a car when I was at University). But if I check a car in a rural village at 3am and it’s from the other end of the country I will virtually guaranteed try to stop it.

If a car is cruising around a known gang area and it’s not local – again it will warrant a second look. The reason? Whatever your personal experience is I can say that it still extremely rare for a car from another part of the country to be in certain areas of certain towns and cities. Yes, I’ve travelled all over the UK and Europe and been stopped less than a handful of times but if I’d dipped into certain areas then that would’ve happened more often.

This is not to bolster the excuse that was given but to merely explain that it is an extremely common policing method, which I imagine happens everywhere because of how fruitful it is in terms of catching criminals on the move (not many criminals walk to their victims).

All encounters with the Police should start in this manner and only escalate if there is no other appropriate course of action.

I massively agree with this. I deal with the upper end of conflict and have for quite some time (17 years in my current role). One of the biggest problems I face when mentoring young in service officers into my department is that they virtually always “go in” at too high a level, and then find it incredibly difficult to come down from this. It’s a psychological thing stemming from the fear of losing the upper hand (which they generally haven’t yet got). Experience is key and can only be gained with time and being allowed to make mistakes without fear of being thrown under the bus by management.

Unfortunately some just don’t get it. I try to pass on the idea that if you “go in low” you can always “go up”, but if you “go in high”, you’re already losing because it just gets folks backs up; it’s like it’s human nature to dig in and become entrenched in a view when someone is shouting at you.

By the way, I’m aware some of this could hijack the thread but I am happy to answer any specific questions anyone has, just message me.

Singletrackworld exists in its own little middle class, high disposable income, nice left wing politics environment whereas the reality of that world that you don’t have to visit is rather different…

So racist actions by the police are fine because we don’t have direct experience of them.

Don’t forget; the Police don’t have the luxury of deciding not to ‘engage’; it’s their job.

They sure don’t but they do have the luxury of deciding how they ‘engage’ and how their actions, approaches and treatment differ between races.

If there is a “great many” people having valuable input into the discussion then going “yeah but people might disagree with me” is a lame excuse for not posting.

It would be if that was the case but the usual STW twisting of words makes it a waste of time. See the whole victim blaming nonsense above. There is no dialogue, it’s a bunch of people hogging the stage and dictating the narrative. How many police side points have been accepted vs non police? None. Because in the great STW tradition everyone knows someone else’s job, personal experiences and perspectives better than they do.

It’s a waste of time trying to engage as there is absolutely zero objectivity or any attempt to see things through other people’s eyes so why would you bother? Especially with such stellar arguments as this:

Not sure what the communities respomsiblity is in all this. Why should they ‘work with Police?’

I spent 10 years promoting Drum’n bas / jungle nights in a metropolitan city and as much I’d like to have had the help of the police in creating a safe environment for clubbers, engaging with the Police on any level would have been an absolute no, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no ,no, no.

So because it was especially shit 30 years ago we shouldn’t bother engaging now. With attitudes like that no wonder change is slow and the whole policing by consent concept has gone out the window.

mildred,

I’m glad were in agreement that it’s much better to go in low as that gives you more time and options in a given situation. As a Police officer your authority is a given, there’s no need to demonstrate it.

If we examine the the Dawn Butler video I think we can see this principle demonstrated. The first officer goes in low and whilst he and Butler are in disagreement the exchange is polite and civil, then a second officer comes in at too high a level. Not only is this bad in itself, She also is potentially obstructing her fellow officer, she’s certainly unravelling any progress that he might have made.

When we see police coming in at too high a level it is easy too assume that it is because they are aggressive or prejudiced by nature. Unfortunately sometimes this is the case, but I’d like to look at that situation from the perspective of human nature. Aggression is a result of fear, and all too often I see fear on the faces of young police who (like me) have grown up in a rural environment. After a few weeks training they find themselves policing the tough city streets. They don’t recognise the environment and are neither comfortable or confident in it. They haven’t got the urban savvy for the job and that often plays out in the awkward exchanges.

Going in low actually gives you more power, it shows savvy and gives nothing away, it buys time for the officer and gives time for the suspect to trip themselves up if there is anything nefarious going on. In the video the second officer ceded all the power to Dawn Butler the moment she came in over the top, the moment she started making random excuses. Up until that point it was looking like a score draw with Butler and the first officer, neither giving ground but avoiding an un-neccesarry escalation.

Experience is indeed key and I take note of your observation that young police need time and space to learn and even make mistakes with out being thrown under the bus by the bosses. Funnily enough, Being a white middle class country boy in the city myself, experience has taught me that if I do get into a confrontation where someone is trying to take advantage of my naievity or my percieved ‘softness’ the best response is often silence. Keep your opponent guessing and give nothing away. I had an incident only a few months ago where a youth confronted me and tried to escalate things. I just looked straight at him, said nothing and he scootered off. (Quite literally, as he was on a scooter at the time.)

With regards the successes that police stops in general might bring, for every success there will inevitably be many other stops that result in nothing but inconvenience (at the very least) for the innocent driver. There will be a resultant collateral damage. We need to ask ourselves what level of collateral damage do we find acceptable and at what point does that collateral damage do more harm than good?

Especially with such stellar arguments as this:

One of us has missed the joke 🙁

I’m glad were in agreement that it’s much better to go in low as that gives you more time and options in a given situation. As a Police officer your authority is a given, there’s no need to demonstrate it.

I’m wondering if there is an opposite point of view (misguided imo) that the police have to go in super aggressive and “control the situation”, “shock and awe” and all that bs?

One of us has missed the joke 🙁

So the whole post was a joke or just the music reference?

It would be if that was the case but the usual STW twisting of words makes it a waste of time. See the whole victim blaming nonsense above.

Oh,bravo. You complain about non acceptance of arguments yet dismiss one as “nonsense”. If this is indeed a waste of time, you are playing an active role in making it so.

if I check a car in a rural village at 3am

Out of interest, is random patrols in rural villages at 3am a common occurrence?

Squirelking.

When the price of engagement may be too high your not going to engage. If it puts your and others livelihood in jeapordy you’re going to think twice. If the trust isn’t there then the community isn’t going to take a chance unilaterally. They would need to see substantial change from both the Government and the Police before they would budge an inch.

So in that respect if the community feels that engaging with the police could put them or other members of their community in jeapordy then the community bears no responsibillity. It is encumbaht upon the authorities to make the first move.

Things are slightly different on the club scene these days (at least until covid) most events have a cordon of police with sniffer dogs vetting the punters. This has the effect of dettering many people from going to the event in the first place.

As for how many police side points have been accepted versus non police, you obviously havent read any of my posts. Your post is oxymoronic, It might be that the debate is overwhelmingly critical of the police but it is a debate none the less, many side points have been considered but not, as you say ‘accepted’. This could be down to the quality of your argument.

I’ve made it clear where I stand in this argument and have put up the barricades, I’m not budging, Im not prepared to cede any ground. If however, someone like mildred is prepared to put his hand over the barricade then I’ll shake it, (or bump fists given the current circumstances).

Out of interest, is random patrols in rural villages at 3am a common occurrence?

They’re often not random. Many criminals will use country lanes, byways, unmade roads, tracks etc. To move from place to place as they know you’re far less likely to encounter the Police or get pinged by an ANPR camera. Also, rural crime is on the up as many rural communities tend to have a far softer approach to crime prevention; there are still villages where it’s common to leave the front door unlocked..!

Farm machinery is an easy target for some as well; if we hear of a Manitou telehandler or similar getting stolen, it’s often a precursor to an ATM theft. It’s no coincidence that rural village ATMs get targeted by organised groups of criminals. Easy picking with lengthy Police response times, and the equipment to carry out the attack is readily available. virtually every jCB or Manitou I’ve recovered can be started using the same key..!

Dr.J

The shock and awe thing could sometimes be the case, I think it played a role in the TSG stop of the athletes. Though as I intimated earlier and mildred referred to, lack of experience and confidence plays a big role. As well as fear, not only in relation to unfarmilliar environments but fear of sanction from superiors.

I’m wondering if there is an opposite point of view (misguided imo) that the police have to go in super aggressive and “control the situation”, “shock and awe” and all that bs?

As Inkster says I think it’s more lack of experience, both policing and life, that causes that type of thing. When I look at local response teams the most senior PC can often have no more Than 3 or 4 years service…

Without derailing this discussion the big picture is that when budgets were cut many of the forces got rid of expensive (i.e. experienced) officers – particularly in CID. Also, those who were close to retirement and were considering stopping on as either a civilian investigator or 30yrs+ were put off by the increasingly toxic and divisive atmosphere. The whole pensions debacle had people thinking “**** this“ and getting out when they could for fear of losing what they’ve worked towards.

So, couple this with the increase in extremism, domestic and international terrorism, child exploitation, human trafficking, modern slavery, cyber crime & fraud, county lines drug dealing, and not least the huge increase in knife crime a simple reshuffle of remaining staff was never going to cut it. All of the experience in investigating complex, serious and organised crime had been massively watered down. In other words CID had been decimated and we were now entering an era where complex investigations have increased exponentially. So someone had to fill the gap, which as always fell to the Police service’s lowest common denominator – local response.

Longer serving Officers moves over to Public Protection and CID type roles leaving literally no experience in response. The answer? Recruit 20,000 new officers 👍🏻. However, in a job where you can only learn your trade through experience, who is passing this experience on? Officers with little experience themselves.

So what we now find is a very young in service Police response trying their best in situations where they’re generally out of their depth, crapping themselves, and as a consequence making shaky decision at best. The “problem” is that now every time a Police Officer turns up to any job there’s generally a high number of smart phone cameras being pointed at them, which instantly causes further tension, which further affects their decision making. There is now a whole generation of Officers who are terrified to “get hands on”, because they know that it will be instantly all over social media with every mistake being discussed and dissected by “experts”. Some of this can follow them all of their service. It can impact their private and family life and it certainly contributes disproportionately to that accumulation of stress most officers experience over their service life.

Mildred, you should be part of the police PR team. The current media faces from the police are making things worse but you seem to be able to give a reasoned point of view from your side without dismissing the concerns of the victims. Thanks for writing here.

I originally said that it saddens me to hear some of the things being said – it really does, and I know it does a lot of my colleagues but as mentioned by someone else earlier, the Police Service have been abandoned.

It started in 1993 with the Sheehy report. It was resurrected in 2006 by one of its special advisors – David Cameron – who have a speech outlining his ideas for reform of the Police Service, and was then resurrected again 2011 with the Winsor report, whose findings and recommendations were basically a rewrite of Cameron’s 2006 speech.

A former Police Officer wrote:

Attacking people’s pay and working conditions does not make them work harder. It doesn’t make them become more effective. Creating job uncertainty doesn’t make people feel valued, nor make them want to work harder either – it demoralises people and destroys their confidence.

Also just consider the level of cuts:

In the October 2010 spending
review, the Government announced that central funding to the police service in England and Wales would be reduced in real terms by 20% in the four years between March 2011 and March 2015… Forces plan to achieve… 73% of the savings by cutting the total police workforce… by 31,600 (13%) between March 2010 and March 2015. This comprises: 15,400 police officers; 13,400 police staff; and 2,900 PCSOs. 
 Forces’ plans show that 95% of these planned workforce reductions for the whole spending review period should already have been made by March 2014’ (HMIC, 2013, pp. 14-16).

By any standards these were big cuts that will take years to recover from.

None of this is to excuse poor behaviour or poor professional standards but farming recruitment out to multi force agency staff who have little understanding of Police work, or even worse in my opinion only taking graduates (who as a generalisation come from very similar “privileged” backgrounds), or those already in the “Police family” such as specials or PCSOs (who may already have developed certain views through lack of training or guidance) is nonsense and serves the public poorly. In other words, we’re getting even further from the Peel Principle I quoted above that “the police are the public and the public are the police“. We’re incredibly far from our service being a cross section of the community we Police, and this I suspect is one of the causal issue when examining current issues such as racism.