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Comment Editor: David Siesage

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PALATINATE | Thursday 31st January 2013

Deputy: Catherine Malpass

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Corruption: who watches the watchmen?

Plebgate, Hillsborough and phone hacking: the police need to work to regain trust

After numerous scandals bringing the police into disrepute, corruption and silent solidarity can no longer be ignored Photograph: West Midlands Police

Ben Hamer

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uis custodiet ipsos custodes?

This was a question Juvenal originally posed in his Satires two thousand years ago, and it has remained relevant throughout human history: who, when the watchmen are corrupted, are there to watch them?

Such a phrase seems particularly apt in the wake of a number of publically damaging incidents for the British police, such as the Hillsborough disaster, the phone-hacking scandal and “plebgate”.

Once a paragon of duty and trust, has the bobby lost the respect the general public once unconditionally afforded to him? It seems to me that confidence in and respect for the police is not something that we should give up readily. However, the handling of recent events by the police has called into question the professional and ethical behaviour that underpins their service.

The fallout from the investigation into Hillsborough is still causing con-

troversy, over twenty years later. The phone hacking scandal, too, revealed the cosy relationship that some officers had with executives from the News of the World.

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There is little self-policing: no one to watch the watchmen

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Most recently, the “plebgate” incident, where Andrew Mitchell, the former Chief Whip, allegedly went on a tirade against the British police, has caused a particular furore. Mitchell, despite the mounting pressure that eventually claimed his position in government, always maintained, that while he swore at an officer in frustration as he was redirected to another exit gate, he did not say what the officers claimed he had: that they didn’t “run this government” and that they were “****ing plebs” and “”****ing morons”.

Serious doubt has been cast on

the veracity of these allegations. The police transcript, for one, doesn’t fit the CCTV, and the CCTV reveals the lack of a public audience, calling into question both the police log and a letter a “witness” sent to the government. Further investigation, months later, revealed the witness was in fact a police officer.

This a story that even Juvenal could not have made up. Andrew Mitchell was pressured into resigning by the police force whose funding is being cut by his party; slandered in the newspapers for unfairly treating police, when the police, it turns out, unfairly treated him as well. He was further condemned with “evidence” from an onlooker, who turned out to be a police officer committing the strange act of impersonating a member of the public at the scene, in absentia. Further vilification followed for exhibiting such unpleasantries in front of a crowd of “visibly shocked” onlookers, who, it turned out from examination of the CCTV, weren’t actually present at all.

Mitchell’s comments, which the police log has as, “I’ll have your job for this!” amongst others, seems to have not only claimed his position, but those of several policemen.

The problem inherent in the police system is that there is little self-polic-

ing: no one to watch the watchmen.

The government, the press and many judges are slow to criticise them — to do so would be unpopular.

While the corruption exhibited in the phone hacking scandal and plebgate may not be endemic in the culture of the police, this ‘blue wall of silence’, one of solidarity in the service, certainly is.

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The ‘blue wall of silence’ is an endemic problem

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Their traditional enshrinement as a bastion of Britishness, of fairness and trust is something to be proud of, but failings within a system that isn’t properly self-disciplining need to be addressed, especially in light of a survey of police officers by the Open University, which proved that only half would report a colleague who punched a captive suspect.

In recognition of recent events, and the poor publicity that has ensued, a new code of ethics is being considered as a possibility to curb further crises. However, the question of whether these will be sufficient remains. After all, the body carrying this out, the Association of Chief Police Officers, is a limited company and therefore unaccountable to Parliament or the public.

In contrast, police action and invaluable management of the London Olympics and the Jubilee have shown us a force that is capable of being the very best that Britain has to offer.

The problems in the police force are down to a few, and exacerbated by a culture that has seen criticism of officers within and outside the force dwindle.

The move towards a new code of ethics and discipline is a step in the right direction, but in order to truly solve the problem that caused “plebgate” and the phone hacking scandal, deeper and more comprehensive reform must take place to ensure a revival in public trust and confidence in British policing.

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PALATINATE | Thursday 31st January 2013

@PalatinateUK Palatinate

Cautious trend emerges in foreign policy Whilst France takes action, David Cameron has come to an unsatisfying compromise Al Russell

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he government’s decision, this month, to aid the French intervention in Mali by “providing logistical military assistance to help transport troops and equipment” marks an emerging trend in British foreign policy, seen previously in the “no boots on the ground” approach to Libya in 2011.

It seems that the Cameron administration is hesitant to commit British troops to humanitarian intervention, but is equally wary of allegations of standing aside while human rights violations take place.

The primary cause of this move away from New Labour’s policy of liberal interventionism is the outcome of the two most prominent instances of this policy becoming reality: Iraq and Afghanistan, with the success story of Sierra Leon getting very little coverage. British soldiers continue to die in Afghanistan, while the public perception is that very little has been achieved in the twelve years since the US-led invasion; Iraq was similarly messy. These are wars of grey areas, with no clear victory or defeat, making their justification to the voting public very difficult.

The simplicity with which these campaigns are viewed is often frus-

trating. The fact that Iraq is no longer ruled by a dictator who ordered the deaths of tens of thousands of the population, or that Afghan women have gained the fundamental right to education since the Taliban have been out of power, are all too easily overlooked, and the government seems to have been acutely aware of this in its recent deployments.

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The result of Britain’s trade off is rather unsatisfactory

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On the other hand, Cameron’s foreign policy has clearly learnt something from disastrous episodes such as the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when the international community simply watched as up to a million Tutsi Rwandans were slaughtered by their countrymen. It has been a source of embarrassment ever since, and is regularly held up as an example of the powerlessness of the United Nations.

Admittedly Mali presents a very different situation: the major concern seems not to be the violation of human rights, but rather the threat

of the country turning into a “terrorist haven” which could destabilize the region and threaten Europe. The reality of a direct threat is questionable, but it certainly plays better with the electorate than interference.

In offering logistical support to the French operation in Mali, Britain is upholding its role as “a responsible member of the Security Council”, as described in the government statement on the operation, without putting the lives of British troops in serious danger. Nobody can say that the British government is neglecting Mali, and yet very little British blood or treasure is at risk.

The French involvement in the country has very different motivation. In recent years France has been strongly opposed to intervention, but their relationship with their former colonies is much more paternalistic and much less guilt-wracked than Britain’s, and thus the Islamist advance that threatens the government in Bamako is a very real concern at the Élysée Palace. Equally, Hollande’s ailing poll scores could only benefit from a successful intervention and strong, decisive action may help to combat his increasingly weak image in domestic politics.

Meanwhile, the result of Britain’s trade off is rather unsatisfactory. It seems that Cameronian foreign policy is an exercise in back-covering, neither risking British lives nor taking an explicit stand against intervention. On a fundamental level, the foreign policy of a state such as this

The liquidating machine churns relentlessly on...

What can we do to save the remaining high street shops? Illustration: James Crosland-Mills

Cameron is compromising Photograph: Guillaume Paumier one should be based around a commitment to doing the right thing, rather than an uninspiring exercise

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ast week, Katie Shuff wrote for us on the decline of the high street, in a fortnight that has seen the demise of Jessops, HMV and Blockbusters. This, she explains, suggests that ‘the once vibrant and desirable high street is dead’.

Indeed, it does seem a rather bleak state of affairs for high street shopping in Britain. Katie argues that these shops are not helping themselves, blaming ‘seriously out of date business strategies’ for the fact that many retailers have ‘lost touch with the needs of consumers’.

However, she argues that the main culprit contributing to the decline is ‘the beloved internet’, and with an e-retail economy of £68.2 billion in 2011, this seems very difficult to dispute.

Consumers are ‘only venturing out when absolutely necessary‘, favour-

in sitting on the fence, more concerned with re-election than principles.

ing the ease and comfort of an online shopping which can now ‘provide a community feel’ with ‘daily blogs and music playlists’.

Meanwhile, retailers are venturing online more and more where rents and risks are low. Indeed, those who have taken advantage of this have ‘reaped the rewards over the festive period.’

Nonethless, Katie believes that the high street’s future is ‘not all doom and gloom’, suggesting that innovation could return it to its past glory.

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