Comment: A PR report for police who lost their way
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Wednesday, 25, Nov 2009 12:00
The police have forgotten their mission statement. But it will take more than a PR exercise to fix it.
By Ian Dunt
If Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary's report on policing has any message, it is this: protest policing is now a PR exercise, just like everything else in politics.
The use of heavy-duty riot gear gives a bad impression, Denis O'Connor said. The way the police behave towards the public gives a bad impression. O'Connor's report is highly commendable. But at its heart, it is a PR exercise. This is what it looks like when the police catch up with protestors. After all, activists have known this for years. Images and information now travel so quickly, it is impressions which win the war in the internet age.
It was this realisation which saw the anti-globalisation movement take form. Colourful costumes, home made banners, video virals, cute names for protests and an atomic structure to demonstration organisation came to define the movement. For a short time there was a bizarre overlap between the protest movements of old, and those of the new world. The remaining Liverpool Dockers watched with bemusement in the late nineties as colourful, dreadlocked anti-capitalists came out to support them. But generally you can watch the old Socialist Workers party (SWP) protests next to their anti-globalisation successors and see the difference - the colour and vibrancy that anti-capitalism's new wave gave the protest movement. These new protestors looked funky and fun. When you have colourful, enigmatic people in front of rows of riot police, the PR battle is already won.
It appears the police have now begun to understand that. Or at least, O'Connor has. He's right to. I've covered a few protests in my time. During one of London's old May Day battles, it began to rain as demonstrators fought pitched battles with the police. "Bit of rain," a copper mentioned to me as he looked upwards. "At least you lot have hats," I told him. We both laughed and went on our way. A smile and a bit of eye contact. A bit of British spirit. It stayed with me forever.
I remember something else too. September 11th 2001, and while the Twin Towers were falling I attended a protest outside an arms fair in London's Docklands. I watched police beat middle-aged hippy women repeatedly. These were not women who were causing trouble. They were women who, in no alternate reality, in no parallel universe, would ever be a threat to the state. I never forgot that moment either.
This behaviour has been going on for years. But now it's in the public eye. It was important Ian Tomlinson was not a protestor. If he had been, the media would have shown far less interest. But he was just a passer-by. People could relate to him. They could see the same thing happening to them if they were unlucky enough. And suddenly the police's actions were under unprecedented scrutiny.
That's not how it usually is. Think back to just after the G20 protest, but before the details of his death emerged - about two days later. The coverage was of brave police against mad anarchists. That wasn't the real story, but it was the story that was told. It took a tragedy to make us look at policing again, with a critical eye.
So far, that new look has been entirely beneficial. Today's report says the practise of routinely filming demonstrators is problematic when considered against their human rights. Quite right. This disgraceful tactic shows just how confused the police are about their role, and the role of demonstrators, who the police have increasingly viewed as synonymous with criminals. They are not criminals. They are troublemakers. And quite right too.
This nation was built by troublemakers. Change only comes through a bit of trouble. Trouble is a necessary part of the improvement of man and it has certainly been a necessary part of the improvement of this country. The police are not supposed to protect the status quo. They are supposed to uphold the law. That's a laughably naive statement, as anyone alive during the minors strike will tell you. But it's precisely what we're aiming for.
And there lies the problem with today's otherwise excellent report.
It remains predominantly a question of style over substance – and proudly so. "Style matters," O'Connor said this morning at a press conference. "Style has been a bit absent from the conversation in the last few years. It's been treated as a technical issue. It's not, for the public." Practical changes are suggested in the report, such as the uniform set of standards expected of local police forces when they join together to police demonstrations. But this is primarily a PR proposal.
The trouble goes further than that I'm afraid. The police, by and large, have lost an understanding of their role. They have equated protestors with lawbreakers.
British policing remains the best in the world. There are few people who would genuinely challenge that – especially not anti-globalisation protestors, who typically have experience in various countries. Italian policing isn't any kind of fun, I'll tell you that for free.
But British policing needs more than a bit of Photoshop. This isn't just about policing with a smile and wearing reassuring outfits. We need cultural change, from the roots. Over a decade ago, Sir William Macpherson found institutional racism in the police. The suspicion of troublemakers is institutionalised too, and it will take genuine radicalism to make modern policing live up to Sir Robert Peel's legacy.
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