POLICE: WE MAY HAVE TO LET VIOLENT THUGS GO
FRONTLINE officers could let thugs go if the public fails to back them, a police leader warned last night. Ken Marsh, who represents almost 30,000 of the rank and file, condemned a ‘walk on by’
culture in which witnesses film violent scuffles instead of trying to stop them.
The Met Police Federation chairman spoke out after an appalling video emerged of a yob using a kung fu kick to send a policewoman into the path of a bus. She narrowly escaped being run over in the confrontation in Wimbledon – the latest example of the violence gripping Wild West Britain.
Although one member of the public tried to help, several cars went past without stopping and the person filming the attack appeared not to step in.
A string of sickening incidents involving machetes, axes and guns
have been caught on camera. Police chiefs fear the incidents highlight a disturbing lack of respect for the law, or fear for the consequences of confronting authority.
Mr Marsh said: ‘Are we now in a society where, if we think we can’t detain somebody, we just let them go? It’s just not worth it. We’re going to come to a point where we’re going to start pushing messages out to our colleagues: “Risk-assess it dynamically and, if you think you can’t detain a person, just let them go”.
‘We don’t come to work to get assaulted, and if we’re not going to be backed up in what we’re doing then what is the point?’
The latest incident took place after a traffic patrol stopped a suspicious vehicle on a busy road in south-west London on Saturday evening. As the two officers spoke to the driver, a scuffle broke out and he and his two passengers tried to flee.
The confrontation spiralled out of control as two of the men – both in hoodies – punched and kicked the officers. The male officer was dragged across the street, clinging to the driver’s legs. His female colleague tried to spray the men with CS gas but missed.
She was then hit by a running kick as she tried to help her colleague.
The clash was filmed by a motorist, whose failure to intervene – and flippant commentary – sparked uproar.
As the mobile phone footage unfolds, he
‘A disgusting attack on our sociey’
says: ‘They are all fighting – look, they’ve got him. She’s spraying them up. He’s hanging on to him! Look! Oh dear me, he just kung fu-kicked her in the head! Look! I am getting this all live, boys and girls, I thought I’d just stop and have a little watch.’
When the footage was posted on Twitter, a user replied: ‘If it was the other way round, there’d be riots. Have some respect.’
Another said: ‘Shame on you for ... not trying to help.’
The mobile phone footage showed the officer being bowled over into the path of a passing bus, whose driver was forced to perform an emergency stop.
Eventually a man in a motorcycle helmet stepped in to help the officer on the ground as another bystander went to check on the woman officer.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said both officers received hospital treatment. The female officer suffered a head injury and her colleague cuts and bruises.
Chris Hobbs, a former Met officer, said: ‘This isn’t the only footage of people just walking on by or filming. Police on the streets are getting absolutely hammered – the abuse of officers trying to do their duty is increasing, the assaults and their severity is increasing. We are getting officers seriously hurt by criminal elements who feel able to attack police. What we are seeing on the streets is a perfect storm.’ Assistant Chief Constable Nick Downing, a former Met officer now with Kent Police, said the footage was sickening. ‘This was a disgusting attack on our colleagues and our society,’ he added. John Apter, who leads the national Police Federation, described the attack as ‘outrageous’.
He said: ‘For the person filming it to treat it as a bit of entertainment sums up some in our society. Shame on him.’
Last night it was revealed that the video was first shared by Guildford City FC captain Nehemiah Adams. In the ensuing controversy he locked down his Twitter account before issuing a statement saying criticism of him for not intervening was ‘irrelevant’ as he did not film it.
He admitted the caption he wrote – ‘South London at night Lol’ – was inappropriate, saying: ‘I can only apologise for that.’
The Metropolitan Police said a 20- year- old man appeared in court yesterday accused of actual bodily harm, assaulting an emergency services worker and driving without insurance. Detectives continue to hunt for the other two men.
A new law comes into force this month that potentially doubles the penalties for those who attack police and others in uniform. Judges must now consider longer sentences for any crime committed against those working on the emergency services frontline.