this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2023
113 points (97.5% liked)

United Kingdom

4081 readers
169 users here now

General community for news/discussion in the UK.

Less serious posts should go in [email protected] or [email protected]
More serious politics should go in [email protected].

Try not to spam the same link to multiple feddit.uk communities.
Pick the most appropriate, and put it there.

Posts should be related to UK-centric news, and should be either a link to a reputable source, or a text post on this community.

Opinion pieces are also allowed, provided they are not misleading/misrepresented/drivel, and have proper sources.

If you think "reputable news source" needs some definition, by all means start a meta thread.

Posts should be manually submitted, not by bot. Link titles should not be editorialised.

Disappointing comments will generally be left to fester in ratio, outright horrible comments will be removed.
Message the mods if you feel something really should be removed, or if a user seems to have a pattern of awful comments.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Metropolitan police officers are openly defying orders not to wear badges appropriated by the far right and linked to white supremacy.

In July, the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the “thin blue line” badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by “hard-right groups”.

However, images have emerged of Met officers wearing the symbol late last month as they policed a stand-off between LGBTQ+ rights supporters and a rightwing group over a drag act’s performance at the Honor Oak pub in Lewisham, south London.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

In July, the force’s chief, Mark Rowley, banned officers from wearing the “thin blue line” badge saying that in the US an equivalent symbol had been used by “hard-right groups”.

The hard-right group known as "law enforcement".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The principle of it does go against the core ideas of how police in the UK are supposed to conduct themselves. Even if you take away the far right association.

The thin blue line suggests the police are a separate group, in-between you and some evil. This isn't how police should think about their role.

Police officers should conduct their duties as members of the community for the benefit of everyone in the community.

Even the criminals they pursue. People who commit serious crime are often known to the police, early and constructive intervention avoids people becoming serious criminals. Crime is a slippery slope. Early intervention can turn a would be criminals life around. Police won't see this as a possibility in their daily duties if the conceptualise their role as the thin blue line.

Policing by consent is how police forces in the UK were conceptualised initially. It's how they should operate today. We shouldn't import the policing practices if the USA. They are much less effective, and appear to cause harm.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My point was only that the phrase is used widely in the United States.

I don't see any problem with law enforcement in the UK not wanting to use it.

load more comments (1 replies)