Posts Tagged ‘Nicola Fisher’
Moat’s Last Moments. Are All Our Policemen Wonderful?
On Friday night they had Raoul Moat cornered at last. It was the culmination of something more akin to a military invasion than a reasonable response to just one deranged nutter. Northumbria Police had already made fools of themselves but we were all biting our lips, not yet protesting, hoping against hope that there would be no further casualties.
The first photographs from the stand-off were released and they clearly showed police pointing tasers. On BBC News the ex-police firearms expert was interviewed and asked why a taser couldn’t be used to disable Moat. He answered quite unequivocally that using a taser when a man has a gun pointed at his head was more than likely to result in him firing the weapon involuntarily.
First thing on Saturday morning and it was no surprise to learn that Moat was dead. What was utterly shocking was to learn that two tasers had been fired and the recording broadcast by the BBC revealed the shouting before the sound of the shotgun blast. The unavoidable conclusion is that exactly what the firearms expert had predicted was what happened.
I don’t have any sympathy for Moat. As far as I’m concerned a good case could have been made for him being shot on sight but I am very, very unhappy with the way the police handled the affair.
It may be that the denouement itself was handled properly. We will never know what really happened however many inquiries we have. What I am certain of is that overall the police should have done much better. Those far, far better qualified to judge than me have already said as much. I speak only as a concerned citizen.
I really worry about our police service. While I believe there are many brave, honourable coppers, some of whom are highly skilled, there are too many worrying indications that our police service is not up to the job.
There’s thuggery and the rank-closing covering-up and justification of it. There’s the appalling canteen culture which is at the root of all the institutionalised racism, thuggery and freemasonry. There’s the amateurish approach of senior officers who seem barely competent at times. There is inevitably some corruption but also a long-running deception that the decision to prosecute is at arms length. The police decide who to investigate in the first place. The CPS and the police eat in the same canteen
Look at the brutality of the police, the TSG in particular, at the Gaza and G20 protests and how they’ve got away with it. Look at the Inspector Gadget police website for an insight into the disgusting attitude of many officers. Look at the management of situations like the Cumbrian shootings and the Raoul Moat affair and the use of ludicrous, self-evidently bad ideas like the “kettling” at the Gaza and G20 protests. Look at the income generation from speed cameras promoted by some chief constables. Look at the absurd, intrusive, wildly excessive use of CCTV. Look at the ridiculous administration routines that many chief constables have imposed. Look at the insistence on retaining the DNA of innocent people.
The police are now very well paid. A starting police officer gets about twice as much as a starting soldier. They have wonderful pension arrangements. They’re also excused, let off and get away with behaviour that should never be allowed. Look at the thug, Sergeant Delroy Smellie , who repeatedly beat Nicola Fisher at the G20 protest and got away with it, or the officer who assaulted Ian Tomlinson, who later died, and who has still not been charged over a year later.
All the brave, honourable coppers are let down by those bad apples which myopic “support” of the police allows to rot and infect the rest.
The British police service needs a shake up. It is complacent and inefficient. Excellent work is done in anti-terrorism and organised crime but the truth is not all our policemen are wonderful. We need to face up to that truth and make some changes. Perhaps locally elected police chiefs are a way forward.
Thug Smellie Gets Away With It
Another miserable day for British justice. Another scandalous triumph for police brutality. Another incompetent, unforgiveable failure by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. “Independent” my ****. Weak, corrupt and pointless more like!
Sergeant Delroy Smellie, who should be languishing in jail for several years, in segregation for his own safety, has got away with his brutal assault on Nicola Fisher at the G20 protest. See the full story here.
This is a licence for British police officers to use violence and brutality whenever they wish, even when they are being filmed. Whatever the evidence they will get away with it.
It took the Metropolitan Police 30 years to admit they murdered Blair Peach. Somehow, in the face of the crystal clear facts they have been able to get Smellie off the hook. This failure of the Courts and the IPCC to call him to account can only be corrupt. There can be no other explanation.
What about the assault on Ian Tomlinson? He died after another Metropolitan Police thug assaulted him at the G20 protest. More than a year later we are still waiting for the officer concerned to be charged. What hope is there for justice for him?
Theresa May Must Act On Gary McKinnon And Ian Tomlinson
After defence there can be no higher priority for any government than justice. The new government’s honeymoon period is over. The cases of Gary McKinnon and Ian Tomlinson need urgent attention from our new Home Secretary.
Gary McKinnon’s case raises profound issues. He is in danger of “extradition” to the US but any idea that this is some legitimate process is nonsense. He is actually in danger of illegal rendition or kidnapping which the previous Labour government seemed ready to sanction. Any alleged crime was committed on British soil so there isn’t even any question of “extradition”. If he is to be tried he must be tried where the alleged crime was committed.
There seems though to be no progress at all on the murder of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests. This is a scandal and injustice of the very highest order and those responsible for prevaricating and filibustering over bringing charges are criminals themselves.
Ian Tomlinson’s family waits helpless while the dilatory DPP, Keir Starmer, and the CPS quibble and procrastinate over facts that the whole country has seen revealed on its TV screens. Obviously they intend to delay long enough so that the case be consigned to history like the murder of Blair Peach by a police officer in 1979. It was only last month that the Metropolitan Police came clean on this, 30 years too late.
There is some nonsense excuse being peddled that there is a problem with obtaining expert medical evidence. This is a dreadful miscarriage of justice. These are issues for a jury to decide. Keir Starmer should be dismissed for gross misconduct and should consider himself lucky if he doesn’t go to jail for perverting the course of justice.
We have already seen the inexcuseable acquittal of Sergeant Delroy Smellie, the thug who assaulted Nicola Fisher at the G20 protests (see here). This must be one of the lowest points ever in the history of British justice. There can be no other description of this verdict and District Judge Daphne Wickham who made the decision than corrupt. She deserves to be tarred and feathered for what she has done.
What can be higher in priority on Theresa May’s todo list than these matters of great principle and injustice? She should put everything else aside. There can be no more excuses.
A Real Insight Into The Police
The conduct of the police has been in the news again this week for all the wrong reasons. First there was the disgracegful, outrageous and deeply corrupt acquittal of the thug policeman, Sgt Delroy Smellie, who beat up Nicola Fisher at the G20 protest. See the story here. There’s also the CPS’ deplorable failure to bring to trial the police officer who was responsible for the death of Ian Tomlinson, also at the G20 protest. See here.
In the course of writing about these events and reading other blogs I came across Inspector Gadget. This is a blog by a policeman for policemen (and women). I’m not quite clear whether the author is a serving police inspector or not. If he’s still in the job I’m not sure that it’s entirely proper for him to be writing as he is but I’m still considering my verdict on that.
Inspector Gadget does offer an extraordinary insight into the attitudes of serving police officers. There are hundreds of comments demonstrating intelligence, passion, anger, professionalism and, in a few cases, crass stupidity and irresponsibility. I’m reassured that there are many police officers who see that the acquittal of Smellie and the delay in prosecuting the murder of Ian Tomlinson causes enormous damage to the police. I am very deeply disturbed though by the attitudes that far too many of Inspector Gadget’s contributors demonstrate.
It is quite clear that many officers are psychologically unsuited to the job and are not “fit and proper” people to be given the authority and responsibility of a police constable. Judging by some of the contributors who claim to be trained in “split second decision making” and the control of violent disorder, I’d say that some of them are bordering on psychopathic. They shouldn’t be allowed on the streets at all, let alone in a police uniform.
I think Inspector Gadget should be much more widely read, certainly within the Home Office and by those (I wish I knew who they are) who have control over the strategic direction of policing and police recruitment. There are attitudes demonstrated that suggest to me we should be opening a whole new wing at Brixton or, more probably, Broadmoor, for psychopathic, violent ex-police officers.
Obviously this won’t make me popular with some people and, as I don’t hide my identity, maybe I should be expecting a knock on the door in the middle of the night, but I cannot stand by and let attitudes such as these prevail.
You’re not entitled to complain about being shouted at, abused, sworn at, threatened (within limits) or protestors not obeying your “orders”. This is all part of the job.
Your standard of behaviour must be far, far higher than the protestors. If you cannot control your temper, even in the face of extreme provocation, you shouldn’t be in the job.
I am a strong supporter of the police. The necessary concomitant of that is that any officer who steps out of line or goes over the top must be punished severely, more severely than if they were a member of the general public.
Anyone who cannot see the wrong perpetrated by Smellie against Fisher and by Officer X against Tomlinson is not fit to be a police officer.
Who Will Stand Up For Justice?
The CPS are dithering over the police murder at the G20 protest. Just like the assault on Nicola Fisher, we all saw on television the attack on Ian Tomlinson which led directly to his death. The delay in bringing charges in this matter is outrageous and already amounts to a miscarriage of justice. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Keir Starmer, the Director of Public Prosecutions says he is working as quickly as he can on a careful investigation in “this difficult and complex case”. See the full story here.
This is rubbish. It is a pathetic excuse and I simply don’t believe him when he says he is having difficulty getting medical evidence. Proceed without it! The evidence is clear enough. If the accused was anyone other than a police officer he would already be behind bars.
With the Smellie acquittal, this perversion of justice at the DPP’s own hands and the Newsnight story yesterday that people arrested at the Gaza protest are being treated as terrorists, we have reached a new low point in our history.
Those politicians, civil servants, police and legal officers who have allowed these events to unfold are guilty of treason. They are destroying our country and our civilisation just as much as they could with bombs and bullets.
Smellie Not Guilty Verdict Stinks
No! No! No! I do not believe it! This has to be one of the greatest travesties of justice ever inflicted on the British people. Sergeant Delroy Smellie who beat Nicola Fisher with the back of his hand and his baton at the G20 protest has been acquitted of assault. This is an outrage, a bad and sad day for Britain. The man is a bully, a brute and a liar. He is a violent criminal who should go to jail for at least two years.
We all saw it, in full colour on our television screens. The man is an unmitigated thug. There can be no doubt in the mind of any reasonable person. The video evidence is entirely conclusive. The excuses put forward in his defence are manifest nonsense. District Judge Daphne Wickham who made this disgraceful decision is either corrupt or dumb. Her ruling flies in the face of common sense, reason and fairness. Her comments as detailed here are absurd. We should not stand for this. There should be protest on the streets, questions in the House and an immediate appeal against the verdict.
So, on the same day that guilty verdicts were delivered in the first trial without a jury for 350 years, we see the true colours of our increasingly cowardly and politically controlled judicial system. British justice is a laughing stock. It has no value any more, at all.
All the decent and honourable police officers out there must realise that this decision damages them beyond repair. Who will stand up for justice now? Who can we trust?