TOTTENHAM RIOTS

[Mervyn Mitton]

I went into some opinions on the Riots in Britain, on the Lounge this morning. However, I thought with our Police membership and friends on this Forum, that I would give you a little background on what happened in Tottenham on Saturday night. Perhaps it will lead to a discussion on how other Countries deal with outbreaks of viloence.

Firstly, as I said on the Lounge - rioting is quite common in the Britain - perhaps not as bad as in France, but enough that it had it's own Riot Act to cover eventualities. Once read by a Magistrate the Police were given much greater powers to deal with the unrest. Unfortunately, some years ago the Act was repealed and substituted with the Public Order Act. This has it's moments and has strong penalties - the problem is that a liberal style of Government inhibits judges from proper sentencing.

One of the reasons it was repealed was that once the Police styled it a Riot - they became responsible for paying all damage out of the Police Budget.......

Those who have my book will see that I listed some of the earlier riots - however, they have become fairly common over the last 45 years. I took part in the major ones at the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square - at Rhodesia House in the Strand - at the Sth. African Embassy and also, at the Turkish Embassy when they seized half of Cyprus. Not something to look back at with any pleasure - to use an old British phrase - 'Bloody frightening !"

Now , to come back to Tottenham. This is an inner North London suburb - run down, and where I would not like to have been a Police Officer.

During the 1960's ,the Government of the time built massive concrete developments - one of these was the Broadwater Farm Estate. Covering acres it was a mass of tall blocks of flats - lower terrace houses and hundreds of small alleys - the main entry way was across a bridge. Over a few years people moved away - it was such a dangerous place to live.

West Indian migrants moved-in and tried to make it their own territory and to keep the Police out. They were quite succesful but, despite the hostility young Home Beat Constables were appointed to try and keep a Police presence.

One of these was a young family man - Constable Keith Blakelock.

The young savages controlling the building set a trap for him and when he was attempting to answer a call they attacked him. He was tortured - cut to pieces - and beheaded. This last was always kept from the public. However, I think it is time it came out.

My book had just been published and I was badly shaken by the whole incident - although I was not in the Police at that time. Via the Ch. Supt. in charge of the case I sent his son a copy of the book - with a note saying this was his Father's heritage to him. For some reason it was not given to him or, his Mother. Some years ago when the Supt. died the Solicitor (Lawyer) contacted me and asked should he try to track Constable Blakelocks son. I said yes - and eventually, I had a lovely letter of thanks from him - and at that time he was a constable with Devon and Cornwall.

That is the background to this area - when armed Police attempted to arrest an armed suspect on Saturday the whole area was called out to protect their territory. One of the blocks they set on fire had 32 flats totally destroyed.

The additional villain in this recent - and ongoing - saga , has undoubtedly been the social networks - Twitter etc.

Having given this background I hope we can have a discussion from the Police point of view. How to deal with riots like this ? How to control Twitter ? How to give better protection to our Officers' and of course to the public ?

I will say that I am surprised that homeowners' did not band together to defend their homes and cars - our Police have always been a civilian one - and that includes support from the public they protect.

I look forward to your comments - and how you think these events would be dealt with in your Countries ?

Edited August 9, 2011 by Mervyn Mitton

[NickLangley]

There is an awful lot of mythologising about the traditional British way of policing. Most of it dates from the 1940s and may have been a result of propaganda operations to contrast Britain with jackbooted totalitarian regimes.

In fact if you read newspaper accounts of disturbances, which are tiny compared with the current ones, the authorities were not slow to call in the military. During the Liverpool Police strike troops were deployed on the streets with orders to shoot looters, and they did. Newsreel footage of the General Strike shows armoured vehicles and machine gun nests on the streets of London in anticipation of trouble. This would be unthinkable to the current generation of politicians and senior police officers.

I will never forget the furore over equipping Met officers with shields for the first time. Well the truth was that it was not a first. Liverpool Police had received circular metal shields 60 years earlier and I know for a fact that Nottingham City Police acquired an illicit stock of colonial-style riot equipment in the aftermath of the 1958 race riot. The Home Office having forbidden the force from repeating its use of fire hoses to quell disturbances.

http://www.liverpoolcitypolice.co.uk/#/police-strike-gallery-1919/4552230405