Tottenham: police shooting followed by riots

[Jan Klimkowski]

There's a public spat taking place in Blighty featuring PM Cameron and his senior ministers (such as Osborne and May) versus the UK's top cops, Orde (ACPO), Fahy (GMP) and Godwin (acting Met chief).

The entire government was lounging in expensive villas or waterskiing in exclusive locations, surrounded by taxpayer-funded security, when the riots broke out. On their early return from hols, desperate to "regain the initiative", the politicians claimed they'd cancelled all police leave and ordered 16,000 police (up from 6,000) onto the streets of London.

Despite Orde, Fahy and Godwin all wanting the job of Chief of the Metropolitan Police (vacant due to the Murdoch corruption scandal), these top coppers have reacted angrily to the politicians' claims, stating that the government has no power to order the cancellation of police leave and all operational policing decisions have been made by the police, not by politicians.

Sir Hugh Orde, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers said: The fact that politicians chose to come back is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing.

The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference; they were a function of the numbers being available to allow the chief constables to change their tactics.'

The reality is that the cancellation of police leave is an emergency measure, and across the country tens of thousands of police officers have been moved from their standard 8-hour shifts to 12-hour shifts. This is clearly unsustainable in the medium or long term.

Cameron has reacted by appointing "US supercop Bill Bratton" as a special advisor to the government.

Police forces should be more assertive in their dealings with offenders so criminals would "fear them" and lose confidence in their ability to commit crimes, he (Bratton) said in an interview with the Telegraph.

Bratton advocates a doctrine of "escalating force" against criminals calling for rubber bullets, Tasers, pepper spray and water cannon as potential weapons.

Over the past two decades Bratton has gained a reputation for introducing bold measures to reduce crime, particularly in Los Angeles where he is credited with ushering in an era of safer streets and improved relations between police and communities.

I note in the fine print a fact that MSM has reported in passing but failed to draw any attention to:

Bratton.... is chairman of private security firm Kroll

The fact that Kroll is now directly advising the British government on the policing of the UK's streets fills me with dread.

On September 11, 2009, (Bratton) was awarded with the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II.[1] In early August 2009, Bratton unexpectedly announced that effective October 31, 2009, he would resign his position as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department to take a position as Chairman of Altegrity Risk International in New York City. On September 16, 2010, Bratton became the chairman of Kroll, an Altegrity company

And what kind of services do ARI and Bill Bratton CBE offer?

Altegrity Risk International (ARI) is a New York City based global risk consulting and information services company. A subsidiary of Altegrity, Inc. of Falls Church, VA, ARI provides investigations, business intelligence, forensic accounting, compliance & monitoring and security services to businesses and government agencies around the world.

The spat between the top cops and the British government is window dressing.

The appointment of Bratton and what he represents is the significant deep political event.