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racism in the police force.
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
did anyone just watch that documentary on bbc1?
i was shocked, i really was.
i thought i was used to racism, because some older members of my family are what my mum calls 'old fashioned racists' - they don't hate them, they just don't understand - but this was something else
the opinions of some of the police officers on that documentary made me sick. maybe i'm just naive, but it's shocking to think that that goes on in an institution we all know and trust.
i was shocked, i really was.
i thought i was used to racism, because some older members of my family are what my mum calls 'old fashioned racists' - they don't hate them, they just don't understand - but this was something else
the opinions of some of the police officers on that documentary made me sick. maybe i'm just naive, but it's shocking to think that that goes on in an institution we all know and trust.
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No way do I.
I have never been one for liking the police but if there is something I cant stand its a bent copper. A lot of things coppers stand for, I dont agree with but being a copper and doing exactly what your there to stop people doing pisses me off.
There are so many racist people out there that you would never believe. Racist people tend only to be racist around other racists.
Yes im ashamed of what I saw on that program.
A friend of mines boyfriend went to an interview thing to koin the police...while he was in the waiting room he got talking to another recruit who said 'i want to join the police force so I can beat N*****s and kill hippies - but of course I'm not going to say that in there'
and
I went to reading festival with my dad in '88 and he spent the whole time mubling 'bloody pigs' and oinking whenever they went by...then he lost his keys...first people he went to see....the police!!
The idea of a police force is a good one, unfortunately they often attract the wrong kind of people.
i wanted to be a police woman but I know that I could not work in what is basically a racist institution.
:yes:
the only experience i have of police is the couple of times we have been burgled, when they never gave me any reason to doubt them.
a couple of members of my family were policemen, in their youth, and they were not dodgy in the slightest.
I was quite shocked...I've worked with the police (back down in the south) in the holidays and there were people of all different races working together happily.
Sure, I know that they don't generally say what was reported on that program to each others faces, but there was a general air of everybody being equal whether or not they were the same race.
I don't think you're naive in the slightest for being shocked.
I suppose you get evil bastards in most organisations, but in an organisation where it's especially important to be impartial, it's even more worrying.
Suddenly those "horrible", "free-loading" parents of Stephen Lawrence don't seem so bad now do they???
how many innocent people banged up for years ...not through incompetence but pure lies and deception on the part of the police!
manchester police refused to comply any longer with the home office ruling on random drug testing within the police ...why?
smoking a spliff will show up as long as two months later on a random test. the police chief realised a large number of his officers were switching to a line of cocain or a shot of heroin instead because thats out of your system within 24hrs ...less chance getting caught out on a monday morning. so the chief stated he would rather his officers smoke pot than turn to class A's.
the violence, the beatings, the deaths. or are these things not reported in the daily mail?
i am not anti cops. it has to be a hard and demanding job dealing with reality so head on. but please ...stop watching heartbeat and try the bill instead.
Anyway, we did and then one of us kicked off on the guy who kicked the ball at his gf's head and then she started on him, not being outnumbered five to one now and this lad... a weedy twat with spectacles shit himself and got leathered by a girl. The other lad took it to the carpark but about ten people unrelated to the original incident turned up and they all went and jumped on him, stampong on him and stuff...
Then my mate, a totally sound guy came across the car park, arms wide, asking them all to stop fighting as it wasn't worth it and somebody attacked from from behind with a hammer, then went for my mate on the floor and we took it to the police. However... whether the lad was right or wrong, we got this response... on officer appologised to us for the attitude of another officer explaining that he didn't like us "goths."
Why the fuck should I trust the pigs? I don't because they're a bunch of homophobic, racist wankers who only ever shift their ass when there's a sale on in Tesco with a discount on doughnuts. I mean I don't hate every single policeman, one or two are sound... but then the institution... yuk. I'd say that a lot of them practice positive discrimination too strongly too.
But coppers aren't there to stop people holding racist views, or even expressing those views. Incitement to racial hatred, maybe, but I don't think that applied in this case.
Indeed, apart from the one who wanted to actually kill ethnics, their arguments about how things worked 'on the streets' weren't so far from the views of other citizens who are spoonfed tales of "Political Correctness gone mad". The idea that police officers shouldn't stop black people at all because they'll be accused of racism might be damaging to policing, and a balance has to be struck. Until then, we'll be hearing a lot more of these stories.
one thing i'm not is naive enough to believe everything i read in the news and see on tv.
obviously i was aware there were certain failings, but imprisoning innocents is very far removed from racial hatred. there are a million and one reasons why an innocent mad might be locked up, but there is NO excuse for the kind of things the guys were saying on that documentary. none.
What I will comment on is what about when the police do good ? all we ever hear are the bad comments, what about the good they do ?
I know in some matters the police are not performing as well, but what about when they stop yobbos beating shit out of someone, what about when they are out on a Friday night getting all the crap from the people who have had 2 beers and think they are hard men/women. What about when they rush to the scene of an accident and sort it out ?
They are not perfect I know that, not all the police are bent so for the good ones out there (which there are many) they get a :thumb: from me.
Theres no way on this earth I could do the job they do and some deserve a medal.
Why, is this the police's fault? Why does this make the police racist? Surely these recruits have to come from somewhere, and if the majority of people think like they do, surely it means there is an underlying problem in society?
think about it, EVERY job you have ever been in, every school you've ever been to, people there have been racist. either with comments like jokes, or more serious.
I do it at work with chinese people, we make jokes about them because they're all so alike, they all think we're trying to rip them off and we're not, they show no respect for us so we show them none back.
It's the same whereever you go, which makes you think it is a problem with the way people are brought up.
I also think the way the programme was made was disgusting, note how he edits out all the comments he makes, and he was leading them on with questions, trying to pry things out of them. half of the people he made "friends" with wouldn't have been different from you or I. Yes, the people involved deserved to be punished, especially Pc Pulling, but I also believe that the reporter should be fully punished as well, for betraying the trust of his colleagues, for posing as a police officer and for acting as an agent provacatuer.
how the hell should i know? how the hell should you know. In our justice system only a handful of people really know the truth, the accused and the real perpertrators. Sometimes they are the same people, sometimes not. But how can we ever know? Oh yes of course, no doubt the Daily Mail's crack squad of trilby-wearing detectives really solved the case but then, for some reason, didn't present their findings...or in fact any evidence. I'm not saying innocent people arn't sent to prison, they probably are, but neither you or i know how many OR why, and we probably never will.
I'm not anti or pro cops. That would be like saying i'm pro-women, some are just nicer than others but to bulk the entire bloody lot into one lump and say 'i hate/love them' is foolish. I don't watch any cop shows either, but if you're going to base your opinions on TV program (even if it is the bill) then you should examine your own naivite for a moment.
All the run-ins me or my friends have had with the police has shown me only one thing: some people are nice, some arn't, but they both wear badges.
If any of those racist scumbags had been a decent human being there would have been no entrapment. If I'm a recruit and some bloke starts asking me questions such as "what about pakis eh?" I would at the very least tell him to fuck off, if not repot him straight away.
There is no excuse, no half ways, no blurred lines. Anyone who thinks in anyway that black or Asian citizens are lesser than white English ones, or that they deserve different treatment by the police have no place in the institution.
Racists are usually cowards and therefore are very good at hiding their feeling (except when with like mind folk) so they are able to get into jobs where being open minded is an important part of the job. These PC's were disgraceful in their actions and there is no excusing that but remember that a huge part of the training was forcused on stamping out racism.
There is racism in every industry.
The police have done a lot to stamp out racism with policies etc
but the fact is that rules do not change attitudes.
I'm trying to join the met police by the way, but I would still think the same even if I wasn't.
But will this change the actions of individuals? Will it stop them getting into the force?
Probably not because everyone has the ability to lie through their teeth.
I guess more checks will have to be made. And officers should be strongly encouraged to report any racist attitudes they might observe on colleagues.
In many cases, ethnic minority officers are often pressured into being even tougher toward their own kind in order to "measure up" to prevailing attitudes amongst their police brethren.
Ive long held the view that since the duty of the police is "to protect and serve" (i.e. the public ) they should be subject not only to local/regional/national government scrutiny, but to some extent more so to a established body of private citizens (organised according to district if need be) who would preside over annual or even semi-annual reviews of performance with the power to dismiss officers found to be a menace to the public wellbeing.
As things stand in many parts of the industrialised world, our supposedly upstanding guardians of public order are little more than an organised and secretive mafia protecting those interests which kick-back the most into the coffers.
Citizen empowerment to oversee matters might well restore public confidence in the role of the police more than any top down government policy ever could.
Why are people happy to generalise about 'the police force' when what this programme really waa about was a few individuals..........
How often do you see or hear of police forces welcoming and gladly cooperating even with scrutiny by IA? More often than not, anything which seeks to uncover corruption or abuse of power within police ranks is viewed as a betrayal of the "club", even when those investigating are police officials themselves.
here is a link to a daily telegraph report.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=%2Farchive%2F1998%2F09%2F27%2Fncopz27.html
Why the hell would someone being fast tracked be a good thing? Noone like the Indian for one reason. he had been allowed to join the training centre 3 months earlier than the other recruits. He was simply allowed to walk through all the initial testing and interviewing. Explain how that is right? yes we need different people in the force, but it's not going to do much for relations if they are promoted ahead of people who put a LOT more work and effort into it.
I also suspect they're doing this just to bump up the figures and reach the targets that have been set
(something like 25% of all police to be ethnic minorities by 2023 or so)
I think what would be interesting to see is if someone could go undercover to see what are the views of senior officiers.
If you have a Force where the people with power have racist views then you have a big problem.
I remember two of the possible questions when applying to the police was
'What would you do if you overheard a colleague making a racist remark in the canteen'?
'What would you do if you overheard a senior officier making a racist remark in the canteen?'
I think in reality people would be afraid to 'grass' up fellow police officiers (esp senior)
as it is quite a close 'together' environment. It also seemed this way from some potential recruits that added their opinion.
and if everyone is too scared to report existing racism within the police then they're going to have a hard time stamping it out & getting rid of existing racist officiers.
Thought you might be interested.
I was asked this exact same question in my police interview yesterday!
How did it go/what force are you applying for? Or will you not reveal that since you're a very secretive fellow??