Okay, thanks for the clarification. I did say from the beginning (and again thereafter) that I don't know the full picture, and you did seem to imply that I had something against Police. My father is a member of the Armed Forces and has had the Public Order training, and has been involved in policing student protests as well (albeit in another country), so I have heard of what these situations are like. I know that mistakes are made by anyone, but certain aspects are deliberate. Removal of service numbers, wearing of balaclavas, lying to people etc don't help. I also know most police are good, like I said in my very first post here, officers like the ones in the video make everything bad for the upstanding majority!
I think we have maybe been misunderstanding each other a bit, I agree with most of your second paragraph. I had a poke around non-media sources and found a couple of articles you may find interesting:
Police complains and criminal prosecutions. Smith, G. (2001). Modern Law Review. Vol. 64, No. 3 (May, 2001), pp. 372-392.
"It was in this context that the Court determined that the police complaints process does not meet the requisite standards of independence
to constitute sufficient protection against the abuse of authority'...The fact that 'political nominees' play a part in the criminal process is damaging to the integrity of the process and raises serious questions regarding the manner in which some criminal allegations against police officers are treated at the pre-prosecution stage"
"...while debate has prioritised who should have responsibility for managing complaints, sight has been all but lost of the accountability of the police officer for his/her wrongdoing, most particularly with regard to criminal liability."
"A result of the general classification of complaints is that the reporting to the police by a member of the public of what would be a recordable criminal offence if made against another member of the public is recorded as a complaint when made against a police officer. At the commencement of the process an officer alleged to have committed a criminal offence is treated differently from the citizen with the consequence that the police officer arguably enjoys a privileged position relative to the citizen at the outset. This is because under section 65 of the Police Act 1996 the offence must be reported by the victim and not by a witness; thus the 'good citizen' is prevented from independently reporting police crime of this nature.18 Moreover, the allegation is dealt with separately from other criminal allegations in accordance with the police complaints process."
"Having argued on grounds of principle that a combination of
legal procedure and police practice has contrived to create a different pre-trial criminal process for police officers, it is now necessary to add substance to the argument that administrative procedure has replaced due legal process. Police complaint statistics are 'confusing and misleading',28 and the practice of regularly changing the way they are compiled and presented, by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC), the CPM and the PCA, inhibits analysis of long-term trends."
"A striking feature of the statistics is that only 20 per cent of substantiated complaints lead to criminal or disciplinary proceedings. The reason for this is that the majority are considered not to require disciplinary action and are followed by a supervisory officer giving words of advice or an admonishment to the officer
complained against (the aforementioned "slap on the wrist"
). However, given the disparity between the number of successful malfeasance claimants (see below) and officers who face criminal or disciplinary proceedings as a consequence of substantiated complaints, serious questions arise regarding the accountability of police officers"
"The importance of this comparative statistical exercise is not to engage in argument over the relative merits of alternative remedies to police misconduct; it is to demonstrate that police unlawfulness is more widespread than the criminal statistics suggest"
This one is also quite interesting:
Police accountability and local democracy. Smith, S., J. (1986). Area. Vol. 18, No. 2 (Jun., 1986), pp. 99-107
"The police complaints system deals with individual grievances concerning police misconduct. It has been criticised for its ineffectiveness: the process is lengthy, it allows the police to investigate their own misdemeanours, and it rarely ends in a disciplinary recommendation (less than one per cent of complaints had this outcome in 1980)."
Things have changed recently (e.g. IPCC), but many of the regulations still apply, and these do show the situation in general (across time as well as incidence). Sure, Britain is good compared to some places, but that is by no means a vindicating statement.
I think we have maybe been misunderstanding each other a bit, I agree with most of your second paragraph. I had a poke around non-media sources and found a couple of articles you may find interesting:
Police complains and criminal prosecutions. Smith, G. (2001). Modern Law Review. Vol. 64, No. 3 (May, 2001), pp. 372-392.
"It was in this context that the Court determined that the police complaints process does not meet the requisite standards of independence
to constitute sufficient protection against the abuse of authority'...The fact that 'political nominees' play a part in the criminal process is damaging to the integrity of the process and raises serious questions regarding the manner in which some criminal allegations against police officers are treated at the pre-prosecution stage"
"...while debate has prioritised who should have responsibility for managing complaints, sight has been all but lost of the accountability of the police officer for his/her wrongdoing, most particularly with regard to criminal liability."
"A result of the general classification of complaints is that the reporting to the police by a member of the public of what would be a recordable criminal offence if made against another member of the public is recorded as a complaint when made against a police officer. At the commencement of the process an officer alleged to have committed a criminal offence is treated differently from the citizen with the consequence that the police officer arguably enjoys a privileged position relative to the citizen at the outset. This is because under section 65 of the Police Act 1996 the offence must be reported by the victim and not by a witness; thus the 'good citizen' is prevented from independently reporting police crime of this nature.18 Moreover, the allegation is dealt with separately from other criminal allegations in accordance with the police complaints process."
"Having argued on grounds of principle that a combination of
legal procedure and police practice has contrived to create a different pre-trial criminal process for police officers, it is now necessary to add substance to the argument that administrative procedure has replaced due legal process. Police complaint statistics are 'confusing and misleading',28 and the practice of regularly changing the way they are compiled and presented, by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC), the CPM and the PCA, inhibits analysis of long-term trends."
"A striking feature of the statistics is that only 20 per cent of substantiated complaints lead to criminal or disciplinary proceedings. The reason for this is that the majority are considered not to require disciplinary action and are followed by a supervisory officer giving words of advice or an admonishment to the officer
complained against (the aforementioned "slap on the wrist"
). However, given the disparity between the number of successful malfeasance claimants (see below) and officers who face criminal or disciplinary proceedings as a consequence of substantiated complaints, serious questions arise regarding the accountability of police officers""The importance of this comparative statistical exercise is not to engage in argument over the relative merits of alternative remedies to police misconduct; it is to demonstrate that police unlawfulness is more widespread than the criminal statistics suggest"
This one is also quite interesting:
Police accountability and local democracy. Smith, S., J. (1986). Area. Vol. 18, No. 2 (Jun., 1986), pp. 99-107
"The police complaints system deals with individual grievances concerning police misconduct. It has been criticised for its ineffectiveness: the process is lengthy, it allows the police to investigate their own misdemeanours, and it rarely ends in a disciplinary recommendation (less than one per cent of complaints had this outcome in 1980)."
Things have changed recently (e.g. IPCC), but many of the regulations still apply, and these do show the situation in general (across time as well as incidence). Sure, Britain is good compared to some places, but that is by no means a vindicating statement.
