You remember back to 2003 and the secret Policeman business right?
OK, well let me say first of all, Mark Daly (Whatever you may think of him) did his job very well, and the fact that he was able to root out a few stupidly racist and bigoted police recruits was all very good stuff.
Having said that, I have never come across any racist behaviour or language from any police officers whilst I have been in the service. (Perhaps because I haven't been looking for it, I don't know)
Let me say for the record "I AM NOT A RACIST, AND TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE NEITHER ARE ANY OF MY COLLEAGUES" I just want to be allowed to get on with my job!
However pressure from politicians and senior officers regarding what you can and can't say and what is and isn't PC nowadays has resulted in officers being terrified of saying the wrong things.
Let me give you a perfect example that happened to me this week.... (All the names are changed)
Now I am sure you are fully aware of the great Hollywood actor Ishmael K Johnson? No? He was in that film about the serpents on a train or something and in that other film with the guy from Grease who used to dance, where they talk about cheeseburgers and shoot people, yeah you know him now, the black guy, likes to play golf, great actor. One of my favourites. (Bear with me now, I had the change to names here right!)
Now, also be aware of Ishmael Johnson the petty car thief and up and coming villain aged 17 (He is a white guy, just to clarify). Our Ishmael was in custody at my police station the other day and was awaiting me to come and deal with him, I was busy finishing off other things at this time. (Coffee and doughnuts most probably)
Please bear in mind also, that I have never met either Ishmael Johnson Car thief or Ishmael K Johnson Hollywood actor at this stage (I bet you can guess which I have met by the end of this story)
The custody Sergeant (Who happens to be black, but I mention this only because it may be pertinent to the story) decides I am taking a little too long eating my doughnuts or investigating rapes and murders or whatever it is I was doing, so decides to come to look for me.
He finds me, hands over the paperwork I need to do my job, and enquires how long I will be, on being handed the paperwork and reading the name Ishmael Johnson I remark "Oh, it's not Ishmael K Johnson is it"
His reply "YOU CAN'T SAY THAT!!!" The inference being that I had made some sort of racist remark!
WHAT???? Which bit of my question, in any way, or on any level, and on who's world could possibly be considered as racist?
I then spent the rest of my shift worried sick, and going over the two line conversation over and over again checking that I was OK. I even ran it by my colleagues several times, just to double check.
This is the kind of police service we now work in. People are terrified of saying the wrong thing, or even of saying the right thing but it being misinterpreted.
Incidentally, I am led to believe that the The Secret Policeman affair didn't just take into account racism, I am reliably informed that one officer was "moved" after making comments about David Blunketts' dog!
I wonder what would have happened if a member of the Gestapo had made disparaging remarks about Hitlers beloved German shepherd Blondi?
He would have probably been moved to the other side of the Reich, I guess.
© Bob Slot 2007
Saturday 6 January 2007
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4 comments:
Another line supervisor knobhead.
Take care of him Bob and I mean TAKE CARE of him, not take care of him.
I love that Ishmael K Johnson dude.
He's a mean person who fornicates with women of a certain age who have offspring.
Excellent post I agree entirely. The only dispute I would have is with the journalist part. As you mentioned you have not come across bigots in the job (to the extent the programme shows). In over 10 years nor have I. This leads me to 2 conclusions.
Either said journalist was extremely fortunate to land himself in same class as Hitlers grandson or he was a plant. It may be an extreme theory I know but what are the odds. Based on the fact that as we both agree these kind of people just don’t work with either of us.
& before any do gooder reading this takes my comments as supporting said bigots. I don’t I’m glad they got kicked out. & can I just add that although they were portrayed as police, they weren’t. They were in fact only civilians wearing new uniforms. That is the whole purpose of police training. To educate prospective bobby’s in various areas of law & policy, then weed out the bad ones.
Sorry to rant. I could go on for hours about this topic. I just wish journalists would put so much effort into highlighting what a difficult job we do & ho many ordinary heroes’ we have.
Fuck off you fucking racist pig bastards.
Just popping in to say nice site.
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