A scandal has broken out in the United Kingdom’s undercover policing of protest groups, The Guardian writes.
According to the newspaper, former director of public prosecutions Lord Macdonald accused the London police of “monumental misjudgment” for penetrating with groups of protesters and then giving false evidence in court. One of the reasons behind the present-day scandal was the exposure of detective constable Jim Boyling who gave evidence under the name of Jim Sutton during the trial of an environmental protest group which he earlier infiltrated. Both Lord Macdonald and British society grew indignant over his lying under oath to mislead the investigation, which naturally affected the court’s ruling.
Even though this happened 15 years ago, the one to face the music will be the incumbent Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe. What a fine present from Scotland Yard officers to their new boss, indeed! Mr. Hogan-Howe has a lot of work to do even without this scandal, in view of the recent wave of unprecedented riots that swept across London and other British cities. Especially given that many politicians and public figures, including Prime Minister David Cameron himself, made the London police sort of a scape goat and almost the only institution to be blamed for those disorders. In particular, its staff was accused of passivity and even feebleness when suppressing them.
The ongoing phone-hacking scandal involving News of the World journalists who wiretapped celebrities, including the royal family, has only added fuel to the fire of public criticism towards the London police. Public sentiments around the issue did not even fade away after Scotland Yard’s former chief Sir Paul Stephenson was compelled to resign in July 2011. According to the Associated Press news agency, the British police knew that News of the World correspondents had been hacking the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler in 2002 but took no steps to suppress the crime and concealed it instead.
Thus, the new London police chief will have his work cut out for him to do away with all the shortcomings in his department’s activity. Hogan-Howe was not slow to pledge substantial adjustments and a tough line against criminals to make them fear the police, with support of general public. Apart from that, the new Scotland Yard commissioner voiced his intention to increase the number of police officers tackling street crime by half.
The question remains as to whether this will make a difference in the activity of London police and help restore order in the streets of London. Scotland Yard has to recover its reputation spoiled by August disorders and the News of the World scandal not only by means of hiring more personnel and tougher counter-crime measures but also revising and updating its methods of work in order to avoid scandals like the one with constable Boyling.
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