Who would be a cop nowadays?
It seems like almost daily we’re hearing “police bad” stories and long gone are the days when being a police officer commanded respect.
Lately, it would appear that having a badge and wearing a uniform is likely to have you labelled a misogynist or worse.
Anti- police sentiment has never been higher – I’d go as far as to say it’s almost, but not quite, as bad as it was during the miners’ strikes of the 80s.
But can we really blame the public for giving police forces across the country a hard time?
Let’s be clear here, I’m not talking about the neds who have gone to that famous law school called Google and spout their rights whenever the long arm of the law comes calling, or the rubber-neckers whipping out their phones filming legitimate arrests to post on social media for the baying mobs to cry “police brutality”.
I come from a police background – I know not all cops are bad. I’ve said it before – for every bad ‘un there’s hundreds more going about their duties honestly and can hold their heads up high.
I know many officers who don’t see it as just a job, it’s a vocation and one they take tremendously seriously.
They’re men and women who see the worst of humanity every day – they’re in life and death situations on a regular basis while at the same time they’re being vilified, abused and disrespected. Most of them are good people doing a tough job.
But, and we can’t escape that big but, the police in general have lost the respect of the public for a lot of good reasons.
Just weeks ago, our very own Police Scotland was making all the right noises about protecting women and restoring faith in police officers in the wake of the shocking Sarah Everard murder – but then it turned around and forced lone women to walk through a pitch black park while some dignitaries are having a fancy dinner.
Come on! Two years in the planning for COP26 and it couldn’t come up with a better idea to service the local community?
Coming just a couple of weeks after it lost a tribunal which found evidence of a “sexist culture”, it led a kicking from press and public. And it deserved it.
Who could have failed to have felt abject despair listening to the mum of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman speak about her pain upon discovering two serving officers took photos and made memes of her dead daughters while supposedly protecting the crime scene?
Lately, it feels like something is rotten at the heart of UK policing and the change can only come from within. We need a clear-out and the force needs to get its own house in order before it all falls down around their ears.
It needs to stop seeing any criticism as anti-police. Having an opinion on the bad eggs is not anti-police. Like politicians, doctors, lawyers and, yes, journalists we need to recognise there are shoddy practitioners and be prepared to expose them.
Can you imagine a world without police? They police by the consent of the public without having to use sheer force to impose order. To the ordinary man and woman that agreement is teetering on the brink.
