Police

[Lyndsey]

Do you think that the police should be investigated more often or are racist police just a small area of the british police force?

[sft42]

I take it your question is posted i reference to the excellent documentary "The secret policeman" shown last night? If so I think if you recall the undercover agent in all this was at great pains to point out that the vast majority of the policemen and women that he met during his time on the force weren't in any way biased and this was reiterated many times through the programme.....Racist views will obviously be held by individuals and this is their right to hold such view under the democracy we live in (not racist actions though! note the difference) and I don't think the small minority that are there in all walks of life, not just the police force, should ruin the reputation of the whole.

It has been announced that the highlighted policemen have been removed from duty.....probably in all likelyhood given the nature of these disclosures, for good.

[Jenny Tools]

Or are you refering to The Black Policmans Assoc.

[treaclefight]

sft, i think the point is that we invest a great deal of power in the police and they make decision about our personal liberty which english and scottish law regard as some of the most fundamental basic rights we have. there are indeed racists everywhere, but to invest these sort of powers in someone who has an irrational dislike or even hatred of a particular social group is to put the members of that social group in danger. people dont just believe racist bigotry, they act on it, a racist barmaid is one thing, but a racist policeman is something else entirely. the police are representatives of the government and the government represents all of us, there is no space to make allowances for racism in that. i had to abandon my own plans to join the police when i realised how much i hate the scots (for all the noraml AB ers reading this, that is private joke about the scots for sft's benefit and not intended to cause offence).