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The ongoing plebgate saga

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
So a while back [september] we had plebgate where Andrew Mitchell was accused of swearing at police and calling them f**king plebs. This original story kind of went on far longer than I thought it should have. I thought it valid that the police were concerned about govt perceptions and trust in police, but the subsequent use of "I'm a pleb" T-shirt outside the Tory conference in mass numbers, was literally trying to make the situation bigger than Ben hur.

It now seems that we have gategate, information is being revealed that suggests a member of the public who witnessed the incident, turns out may be a police officer and not actually at the scene at the time. The emerging footage seems to cast doubts over the official police log and the email sent by the member of the public [believed to be a police officer]. The email is also reported to have been sent before the police log was widely published, leading some to believe there has been some level of covert collusion.

I raise this point not in a smaller point of discussion on whether the government can be trusted or not, whether you like the austerity cuts or not; I'm looking into the wider issue of public perception in police.

Over a year ago we saw widespread rioting in London, where the perception of the rule of law was at least temporarily skewed by apparent mass hysteria. Along with such recent issues as the quashing of inquest verdicts at Hillsborough, cover ups of information surrounding the death of an individual during the G20 protests, the shooting of a man on a tube train and this recent issues of aspects of the police attempting to undermine a cabinet minister; is public trust in the police force as an institution ebbing away?


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Comments

  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Police officer is a lying scumbag shocker!!

    I love how so many people still think that the police always tell the truth.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    As far as I can tell, the last time there was any trust in the police was in about 1950. And ironically, back then they were probably a lot more crooked than they are today. But when I look at all the shit that went on in the 80s, I find it hard to believe that the police were any more well thought of than they are now.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    NB Just because the "member of the public" wasn't, doesn't mean that Mitchell didn't say what was reported.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yes, but the member of the public who turned out to be a copper, may not have been there to witness the situation. With the integrity of the police log being called into question as well, there is a lot more than meets the eye to this situation. Call me cynical, but perfect opportunity for certain members of the police federation hierarchy to jump on the pleb band wagon. I've even read today that the pleb protests outside of the Tory Party conference were at first discouraged, incase the situation backfired on them. Which it may well still do.


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