POLICE

The recent policing of protests and use of terrorism powers have called into question just how measured the UK government’s use of the police force is. But it doesn’t have to be this way, says Matt Follett: the Green Party has policies that will return the police to the purpose for which they were intended Given the media controversy over the policing of the G20 protests one would be forgiven for thinking that policing has changed little since the bad old days of the 1980s. In terms of what criminologists call ‘public order policing’ of protests one would probably be right. It seems increasingly clear that whatever improvements have been made over the last 20 years in terms of ‘community policing’ (and there is certainly evidence that improvements have occurred), there is some way to go before citizens who engage in political activism can feel 100% certain that they will be treated fairly by our boys in blue. Sir Robert Peel established the first real police force in the UK in 1829. His basic tenets of policing remain as relevant today as they ever did (see box, right). From these we can see a) that recent events did not subscribe to this approach, and b) the Green Party stance is very near to these original principles. Currently Green Party policy on policing does not necessarily go into great detail, but the principles are clear. The one I wish to focus on is the following: