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200 Private Cops For Liverpool?

Neon Black | 04.04.2007 14:28 | Analysis | History | Repression | Liverpool

It looks like Liverpool will have 200 privately funded police in 2008 – Capital of Culture year.

The Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, Bernard Hogan-Howe, says he wants to put a cop on every corner during the festivities. In practice, this apparently means he needs £9.3m extra to recruit another 200 officers. The Government is currently refusing to pay up, so Hogan-Howe is looking for other ways to enlarge his gang.

Hogan-Howe set out his case in yesterday's Daily Post, announcing that the expected 20 million visitors to the city in 2008 will mean extra police are needed. This is no surprise. Many of the tourists will be a lot richer than the vast majority of Liverpudlians, so they will be an obvious target for people looking to supplement their incomes.

The Chief Constable claimed 'there will be no privileges or concessions made to those making an offer'. However, this is very hard to believe. At the end of the day, businesses care about one thing – making a profit. Any business which donates all or part of £9 million would be putting themselves at a serious disadvantage compared to their competitors, so they will be wanting precisely the 'privileges' and 'concessions' which Hogan-Howe mentions.

At the moment, the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce – which represents the interests of Liverpool business as a whole – is against the idea. Their chief executive, Jack Stopforth, told the Daily Post that 'general policing must remain a public service', and 'Liverpool/Merseyside should be able to draw down funds from central government'. In other words, make UK Plc pay, not Liverpool business. But while Stopforth doesn't want to pay up, others may be considering it, if they reckon they can stitch-up a good deal.

Much of Liverpool city centre now belongs to one man - the Duke of Westminster. His 'Liverpool One' development is due to get its grand opening next year, and the stage is being set for the Duke's 250 year Reich. £9m is a drop in the ocean for the UK's third richest man, and he could consider it a worthwhile investment.

Privately funded police aren't a new thing in Britain. In the 1700s, the owners of the West India company paid for the 'Thames River Police' to protect their port from impoverished looters. The 'Bow Street Runners' in London's east end started off as fifteen men with pistols, who guaranteed their capitalist clients a fifteen minute response time to their calls for help, in return for 'blood money'. When Robert Peel got back to England after defending Ireland from the Irish, he became Home Secretary. In 1829, he established a state police system in London, joining up the dots of the various private forces. These 'cops' (from the French 'caper', to seize or abduct) were drawn from the ranks of the poor, and soon became despised by most of the working class they began persecuting. Not long afterwards, Peel brought his favourite kind of pigs over from Ireland, and started breeding them in Tamworth. The rest is history.

Then as now, the police are used against working class people, whether they are trying to take back what has been stolen from them by the capitalist system, or protesting against injustices the system throws up (war, poor health care, abuse of animals). In theory though not in practice, the police are subject to control by the whole population. If the rich are allowed to buy their own bodyguards, even this supposed freedom will disappear.

The twisted logic of capitalism is being laid bare before our eyes. Marches and letter-writing campaigns are not enough. The struggle has to be taken into workplaces and into the streets. The working class has to unite, so we can rid ourselves of these parasites!

Neon Black
- Homepage: http://dreaming-neon-black.blogspot.com

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

bloody bloggers

04.04.2007 15:55

Normally get tired of bloggers coming here to drum up traffic, but what's this? A concise, interesting article that is actually news (to me anyway). Excellent.

bobby


Don't count on it

04.04.2007 16:21

... so pierre joseph proudhon said in the 18th century ... what since?

dfdbc


This is excellent news

05.04.2007 13:45

It is great that our Chief Constable is open to using innovative sources of finance to fund the protection of all Liverpool people and vistors to the Capital of Culture from the evil criminal scum who still infest our streets. Contrary to your ill informed rant, the majority of victims of crime are from working class backgrounds, as are the majority of police officers. The only objections to this scheme will come from criminals themselves and those who hate Liverpool and wish to see the Captial of Culture blighted by crime. Thanks to dedicated and hard work by Merseyside Police, Liverpool is now one of the safest cities in Europe, but we must all work hard to ensure that it stays that way.

Liverpool is the greatest city in the World and we must all play our part in making it an even greater place to live, work and visit. It is the European Capital of Culture 2008!

Mike


Join them, then beat them

05.04.2007 15:21

More 'total policing' from the total fascists of Merseyside Constabularly.

Maybe they should ask Chiqita, they have a proud history of sponsoring death squads:

 http://www.counterpunch.org/krebs03162007.html

And they seem to have a presence in Liverpool already :

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1961453.stm

Or maybe we should all volunteer to become Special Constables for the event - I mean, is there a law against being anarchist ? And then you would have the same powers of arrest as any cop - and the first person needing arrested is obviously the Chief Constable ( and don't forget to use your CS spray and baton if he puts up a struggle).

 http://www.merseyside.police.uk/html/recruitment/specials/index.htm

orca


Change from within...?

06.04.2007 12:36

'Total policing' is a slogan which makes me cringe a little - one wonders exactly what Merseyside Police did before the 'total policing' initative - detect crime and arrest offenders prehaps. So what has changed?

If you want to see change in Merseyside Police - and despite its achievements it is not perfect, then to influence from within is a prefectly valid approach - provided you meet the required standards of course. The majority of applicants do not, but good luck with your application.

As a regular or special constable you will be making an invaluable contribution to the safety of all who live, work and visit Liverpool.

Liverpool is the greatest city in the World and we must all play our part in making it an even greater place to live, work and visit. It is the European Capital of Culture 2008!

And if you really have evidence that the Chief Constable is guilty of an offence I suggest making a complaint at your nearest police station. You could try an 'any person' arrest under SOCPA of course, but you'd better get it right.

Mike


echo

07.04.2007 21:23

"'Total policing' is a slogan which makes me cringe a little"

Mike, there is hope for you.

"Liverpool is the greatest city in the World and we must all play our part in making it an even greater place to live, work and visit. It is the European Capital of Culture 2008!"

Yeah, and Glasgow was the Capital of Culture last millenia and it still has the greatest levels of violent crime , poverty, ill-health and social exclusion in Europe. If you are proud of your city, and want to improve it, you have to face it's flaws while proclaiming it's strengths. Now when Rio was hosting an international event, the local police there thought it would be a good idea to take all the street urchins away and shoot them. It was a PR exercise that backfired badly. If you are genuinely promoting Liverpool, then I think it is not just the 'total policing' slogan that should make you cringe, it is the draconian tactics that the police are employing behind that slogan. The mass-breakins on poor streets. The round-ups of anyone witha foriegn name. They are targetting the most vunerable in our society, in your city, and when oppression of that sort occurs you get a backlash that is worse.

That's just my opinion Mike. I'm not slagging your city, if it wasn't for your police chief it would probably be the city I would like to live in most anywhere. I don't need to steal, but I think anyone should steal rather than let their kids go hungry. If the police are so damn tough then why can't they concentrate on the major crime-lords and corrupt politicians ?

orca