I Police image changing

Press, 16 July 1986, Page 17

I Police image changing

From

ALEX MORROWSMITH

in London

The British bobby is about to suffer a metamorphosis that can only dent his benign image world wide.

Fears of a repeat of last year’s violent rioting in the London districts of Brixton and Tottenham have prompted the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, to give the capital’s police force the goahead to re-equip with 24 bulletproof Land Rovers, 80 armoured personnel carriers, and 1500 double-sized 2ft 4in (70cm) truncheons.

The Home Secretary has also reiterated that he is in favour of using CS gas and plastic bullets — as deployed in Northern Ireland — if all other anti-riot measures fall.

The new tough line and — for Britain — provision of a formidable array of hardware came in response to requests from London’s police chief, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Kenneth Newman, a Northern Ireland veteran. His report on the riots in Brixton and Tottenham, where one police officer and a press photographer were killed and firearms were used against the police, was published last week.

The Commissioner warns that he is fully committed to the new hardline, big-stick policy, insist-

ing: “It will remain a fundamental and overriding priority that the law should be enforced. Nogo areas — as were set up during the Broadwater Farm Estate riot at Tottenham — were not acceptable.” However, Sir Kenneth rejects the setting up of a full-time riot squad — a Third Force on the lines of the French no-nonsense CRS.

Last year’s rioting reached "unprecedented levels of savagery,” the Commissioner says. London was given “a horrifying glimpse of what happens when public order breaks down.” The report told of 93 police officers and 31 members of the public being injured during the Brixton riots, with over 900 reported crimes leading to 219 people being charged with offences including murder, rape, arson, and robbery. At Tottenham, police were attacked with beer kegs and paving stones and assaulted with long poles. Normal riot shields and short truncheons had proved useless during these attacks. For this

reason the double length sticks, which Mr Hurd stresses will be used only in situations of "extreme disorder," are to be introduced.

In the hope of making the policeman’s lot an easier one, plastic cards listing the conditions for the deployment and use of any specialist weapons are to be issued — another example of drawing on the Northern Ireland experience. Sir Kenneth was at pains to point out that the police force could not prevent riots on its own. It would work with other agencies to erase the problems that led to riots such as those of last year. But If the situation gets out of hand, the police can be relied on to react in a robust manner.

The National Council for Civil Liberties was quick off the mark with criticism of the new hardline. The legal officer for the organisation, Marie Staunton, hit at the move for "tooling up for trouble rather than avoiding conflict.”

Copyright—-London Observer Service.