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Underground > Switchboard >

Anarchy in the Met

12:21 / 19.02.02

quote:A top London police officer today admitted publicly that he finds anarchy attractive...[Commander Brian Paddick] writes..."The concept of Anarchism appeals to me. The idea of the innate goodness of the individual that is corrupted by society or the system...but I am not sure that everyone would behave well if there were no laws..."From today's Evening Standard. Paddick is a senior police officer, openly gay, and taking a considerable risk in making these statements. He's also responsible for the policy on Cannabis in Brixton.

My latest attempt to get Barbelith to acknowledge that police officers are human, and that a career in the Police does not immediately mean you're a fascist bastard with a power complex.

[ 19-02-2002: Message edited by: Dao Jones ]

12:23 / 19.02.02

methinks i'll need to pick up a copy of the evening standard on the way home.....

19:12 / 19.02.02

totally agree, Dao.
what? everyone is an individual unless they are part of a group, shortfatdyke?

19:25 / 19.02.02

It's hard to be cynical about it when there seems to be so little, in terms of conventional personal rewards, he could expect to get out of it.

The bit I heard on the radio, he said something about having to be careful or he's end up "counting paper clips in Human Resources". Had to chuckle, as I was looking for a paper clip in the bowels of the Human Resources Dept.

Hope he's been engaging in discussion online that's as well informed and as challenging as it can be here on occasion. Can't surely be a bad thing.

Guess to get so far in the Force and be openly gay, you have to be used to working out your own strategies and have the balls to stick by them.

09:45 / 20.02.02

I think that was directed largely at me (already been accused of arrogance this morning, so don't worry about it), so I'll say again that it's obvious that cops are human, and anybody who says otherwise just isn't serious. That has absolute fuck all to do with the institutional pressures of police work.

Thank you for your time.

09:57 / 20.02.02

Must admit the fact that he's being criticised as a result of comments he made on a message forum reinforces my own personal paranoia about being 'identified'...

09:57 / 20.02.02

08 - not quite sure what your comment referred to. what i meant was that i was intruiged and wanted to read the full story (as much as the evening standard is likely to give, anyway); paddick's comments seemed really refeshing and intelligent. the so-called 'outrage' at his 'astonishing' beliefs, i.e. that people are generally good but get corrupted by society/environment, is predictable, and i am hoping this bloke doesn't get the sack because he seems like rather a ray of light.

19:46 / 20.02.02

Couldn't agree more SFD. So called Newspapers make me sad.

09:21 / 21.02.02

quote:Hope he's been engaging in discussion online that's as well informed and as challenging as it can be here on occasion. Can't surely be a bad thing.

Someone should ask him to come hang out here.

09:21 / 21.02.02

I'm a regular contributor to that board (username: fridgemagnet), and I recall the initial debate where he turned up as "The Commander".

To be honest, he was talking an awful lot of sense. I grew up in the area and I don't know a single person who would disagree with him on any of the points he made, from my parents to my friends.

My stepmother, in the process of trying to get prostitutes evicted from her street, has come into contact with him, and was impressed.

It's almost a given that he will be forced out of the force. I'm amazed, as a gay man with "unorthodox" views, that he got that far. He's disagreeing with government policy, after all. I think he must have known that he was going to be expelled. He's on holiday now, which indicates that he must have known the risk he was taking before he gave the interview to the Big Issue that gave the game away.

All I can say is - respect to Mr Paddick for getting to that stage and not succumbing to the political bullshit that prevents others from speaking out. A few more like him and we might be able to do some good for the community.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

06:56 / 22.02.02

Yup... looks like he's gonna be out on his arse. Which is a fucking shame. But promisingly, there were a fair few letters in the next day's Standard supporting him.
Kind of reminds me of that song by (I think) Killdozer, "The Pig Was Cool".
Here's good luck to the guy.

The Natural Way

10:21 / 22.02.02

Yeah, the headline was all "Top Cop Endorses Anarchy!" (or some such bollocks, but YAY! for Hyperbole). And I sat wondering how many of my fellow commuters knew what "anarchy" meant.... Knowing they didn't. In the worrying way.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

16:44 / 22.02.02

As I recall (having just done the 'pick up someone else's paper on the Tube, leave it for the next guy' thing) one of the letters in support DID point out the difference between anarchy and Anarchism... which was nice.

14:36 / 18.03.02

Looks like Paddick has been shafted, so to speak, by shitty ex boyfriend and the British meeja, don't you just love 'em.

What kind of people does the Met want to recruit in the future? Jehovah's Witnesses and Tory peers? He seemed to be prepared to take risks and I guess no institution is comfortable with that.

I read that the ex boyfriend got a huge wad for his story. Watch out for that old karmic rebound, Judas.

14:50 / 18.03.02

If he is forced out that will make the police force that bit more conservative. Most of us probably think that is a pretty accurate description of the police anyhow and that this doesn't make any difference.

Assuming this has some validity, is it because of the particular job pressures involved (as DPC says)? Or can we lay the blame at our own feet to some extent? I mean, the right wing are always keen to support the police through thick and thin. While many lefties feel quite wary about them. Do we bring into being our own fears?

02:38 / 19.03.02

i agree that paddick's ex has committed one of the worst sins - conspiring with the media. paddick has been posting on urban 75 recently and the folk there seem genuinely interested in communicating with him and for the most part have respect for the bloke. in contrast, hackney has just appointed a new chief cop who appears to have no interest in talking to the community. i'm not sure paddick will ride this one out. i really hope he does, though.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

10:42 / 19.03.02

It screams fit-up to me and who gets the story? A right-wing homophobic paper with a strong anti-drugs no-tolerence stance. Coincidence? It's not exactly a new idea that when you can't rubbish an idea you try to destroy it by rubbishing the person putting it forward.

If they dump him then after all the shit they are still going through with the Asian policeman they tried to prosecute for sending racist mail to himself they will just show they have no interest in involving minorities in policing.