Senior Police Officers: “Policing Bill Is Harmful To Democracy”

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will be debated once more in the Commons today. The bill, should it be passed and become law, would give police unprecedented powers to restrict protests.

The bill proposes increased sanctions for people who breach restrictions set by the police. It will bring static protests in line with marches by allowing the police to impose time limits and maximum noise levels.

Some former senior police officers have warned that the proposed legislation has “dangerous and harmful implications” for democracy.

In a letter to Home Secretary Priti Patel, retired officers including Mike Barton, who was chief constable of Durham, Owen West, a former public order police chief in West Yorkshire, and Lord Paddick, a former deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police warned:

“We believe that this bill has dangerous and harmful implications for the ability of police officers to enforce the law and for the health of our democracy. Far from enabling the police to maintain public order, these provisions will place an onerous burden on police officers of every rank in the exercise of their professional discretion, subjecting the police to even greater political pressure. We are concerned that the police . . .are being instrumentalised for political purposes.”

The government claims that the bill was drawn up because of the disruption to people’s lives caused by Extinction Rebellion and Black Lives Matter. Extinction Rebellion were able to prevent the distribution of newspapers last year.

A government spokesperson told The Times newspaper:

“The right to protest is a cornerstone of democracy, but the Government will not tolerate a minority impacting the rights of others to go about their business without unnecessary disruption.”

Yes it’s all very Orwellian. A protest that requires the consent of the police is not worthy of the name.

But protests never changed a damn thing anyway. One million people marched against the Iraq war. Blair and Bush murdered millions anyway. In 2021 alone, millions have marched against lockdown and vaccine coercion. I applaud them, but it changes nothing.

They’ll fear the people when one of two things happen. Either the people do not go home, but march on Downing Street and Westminster in massive numbers to tell them to sling their hooks, or the people engage in mass non-violent civil disobedience.

I choose the latter, but I won’t hold my breath. People have never been more divided than they are now.

 

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