TV Eye with tunnel vision ARE PHOTO: Mark Rusher, IFL

Scan page 8

Hackney Trades Council joins march against SUS laws formed force.

The setting up of such a body of armed men to protect the parasitic minority within society whose power is based upon exploitation and corruption, inevitably meant-the police force itself would be riddled with men who reflected that society.

Indeed within eight years of 1829 over 5,000 men were dismissed for one reason or another.

No change Things haven't changed much in 150 years.

On the day of the anniversary, the head of Northumbria Police drug squad was forced to leave-having been sentenced to seven years for stealing and pushing drugs in London!

With this kind of record (as long as the arm of the law) it is not surprising that the British working class did not feel inclined to celebrate this anniversary.

But it is surprising that the press and media were also reluctant. The only programme I could find on television that week about the police was TV Eye (Thursday 10 pm).

It dealt with the difficulties Complaints are dealt with by the police themselves (and the Tories moan about closed shops!).

A report is sent to the Police Complaints Board, described in the programme as a cosmetic to satisfy the public.

If your complaint fails, you then face the possibility of yourself being prosecuted (and persecuted) for "wasting police time"

Complaints are dealt with by C1B2 (formerly A10) a group of 100 police drawn from the CID in London.

This means that very often when investigating complaints they are investigating people they may have worked with recently and know personally.

Information is therefore often "leaked" to remove the element of surprise and enable cover-ups to take place.

Of the reports that are sent to the Police Complaints Board by CIB2 99% are accepted and there is no appeal against its findings.

Members of the Board are paid £5 for each report they deal with.

The programme gave the example of a Board member, a magistrate whose husband is a police reports.

9,000 complaints In London last year there were over 9,000 complaints against the police which resulted in 145 being disciplined, 3 convicted and 10 resigned.

Although attempting to give the impression the authors were involved in investigative reporting and tough interviewing, the programme was kept at a véry superficial level.

The makers refrained from using the many reels of film to which they have access and which would have illustrated visually the stuff that complaints are made of.

They kept well clear of the very topical subject of complaints against the violence the police use against pickets, anti-fascist demonstrators and in the harassment of black youth.

Stopped on SUS They showed only one snippet of a group of black youth stopped on 'sus' Instead the programme was content just to tittilate our curiosity with vague innuendos and references to a 'firm within a firm'.

The problem the makers of the programme faced is that in dealing with one issue, another, more serious and more damaging to the police image, kept arising-that of corruption.

The references to 'a firm within a firm' is to corruption on a large scale and well organised.

It is a network officers with contacts in high and low places who are used in many ways-such as putting pressure on people or bribing them to drop complaints; getting charges against criminals dropped; and actually organising crime.

At the moment an investigation is under way into police involvement in bank robberies at the Bank of America, and Williams and Glynn, as well as wage snatches at the Daily Express and Daily Mirror, where a security guard was shot dead.

Exposed It was said that the existence of a 'firm' in London was exposed ten years ago by a report in the Times newspaperand that is something every Police Commissioner dreads.

But when Deputy Commissioner Patrick Kavanagh was questioned directly about corruption, he denied knowWhitelaw ledge of any and refused to answer specific questions on the grounds of "Sub Judice"

There is, however, one section of British society who have no complaints about the police and who do appreciate their value.

Huge rises

This of course is the ruling class and the Tory Party. The Tories have marked their return to office by instantly awarding huge pay rises to the police.

These pay rises should be seen as a combination of loyalty money, protection money, and bounty money for bringing in pickets and anti-fascist demonstrators-dead or alive.

Scan page 9

Bag What, then, are the general questions raised by this important book?

Firstly, when Heffer argues that it is all a moral question, he gives something

----- pull-quotes -----

MUGGERS- AFTER YOU