The Thin Blue Line of Accountability How Citizens are Holding Britain’s Broken Police Forces.

Walk through the Saint Paul’s area of Bristol; you will see ACAB – ‘All Cops Are Bastards’ – graffitied on walls and wheelie bins. The tension between some of this part of the city’s residents and the city’s police force is palpable. In 1980, the area was the scene of civil unrest, which resulted in nineteen policemen and six other people being hospitalised. Many in the community point to the overzealous stop and search policies and armed patrols targeting young black men used by the police as a key factor which led to the disturbances. Some feel the over policing of certain communities in Bristol continues today. “They beat me up, they broke my teeth […] I didn’t get a solicitor. I didn’t know why I was being arrested. I didn’t get read my rights.” Alice’s eyes tell a story of affliction as she recalls an armed raid Avon and Somerset police carried out on her house.
“They took 2 dresses, a bag and a hat, lying to me all throughout the event. I don’t think I would be here if I hadn’t been on the phone with a friend.”
Alice is one of the 81,142 people in this country who have made an official complaint against the police over the last year. Normally when a complaint is made, it is dealt with by that police force’s own professional standards department. Bridget, from Bristol Copwatch tells me how the police are ‘unique in the way that they investigate themselves against any wrongdoing’ and explains how consequently officers are often not held properly to account for their actions.

https://bylinetimes.com/2023/11/13/the-thin-blue-line-of-accountability-how-citizens-are-holding-britains-broken-police-forces-to-account/

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