Police go back to covering up their identifying shoulder numbers: PHOTOS
Posted Under: Police,Uncategorized
Notice anything odd about this police officer? He caught my attention because he had covered up his identifying numbers with what appeared to be black tape. As you can clearly see they are not visible. When I asked him why I was repeatedly met with a stony silence.
After Ian Tomlinson was attacked by a riot officer pulling a similar trick, this practice became a big source of controversy. Paul Stephenson promised to come down hard on officers who obscured their ID badges. Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor in charge of policing reassured us that “the public have the right to be able to identify any uniformed police officer and so badges should be worn at all times”.
This is absolutely how it should be. If the police are going to be handed batons and riot shields, and offered the unique privelege of being able to shove and hit other people in the street, then there should at the very least be a means of holding them accountable. That a police officer should behave like this, and feel confident doing so in front of so many fellow officers, indicates clearly their attitudes towards civil rights.
So I ask commissioner Stephenson, what are you going to do about this?
Reader Comments
Reuben
Check out tonights channel 4 news. End of the leading article (on the student protests) you can see an entire squad in riot gear, wearing masks, with numbers covered. They walk right past the camera.
Well, at least it’s an education of sorts: http://triflingoffence.blogspot.com/2010/11/police-unwittingly-providing-structured.html
Saw something similar on the 24th but alas my photography skills were not good enough to capture it clearly
We can report him if we have his numb…..oh.
whilst i cant condone the ob covering up numbers i think the actions of a few self-obsesses and self important ‘anarchists/communists/wankers’ is the far bigger story here. attacking police, property and bystanders without any aim tarnished a serious march by trade union members. no comment on the rioters audacity to cover their faces either, should have some bottle and show themselves.
@jack are you an idiot? Obviously rioters don’t give a shit about the law. That is why the police is there in the first place. You can’t be seriously implying that if the law breakers do it, the law enforcers might as well do it, too. Police breaking the law is a much bigger issue than some asshat with no special privileges like, oh i dunno, the monopoly on “legitimate use of force”?
Could you give a hint (to us foreigners) where this identifying number should be, normally? On the two blurry photos I cannot detect anything, no even a tape. Where must I look?
Jeeves (#7):
On the shoulder straps.
For more info see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collar_number
Jeeves, see here http://i.thisislondon.co.uk/i/pix/2009/04/police-badge-415×583.jpg
This post will bring some sense in commissioner mind. Well point mentioned buddy. I appreciate your hard work. Keep it up!!
This type of behavior doesn’t surprise me. However, it will most likely continue to happen until someone makes a real stink about it.