Met oficers seen wearing divisive ‘thin blue line’ symbol at sensitive protests despite orders to remove them
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.
As the pay, support and education for officers diminishes, the police as a profession become less attractive to those who are intelligent/educated, who might carry a slightly authoritarian slant but ultimately view their role in the context of being beneficial to society/preventing crime etc.
Due to Tory cuts to forces, the numbers of those who are more thuggish, less educated, more racist, and generally shouldn't be policing wider society due to unchecked and unchallenged beliefs increases.
I know people who hadn't achieved their GCSEs saying that it didn't matter as they'd become police.
Like I'm personally not the biggest fan of the police, but those who were educated enough to get better jobs but stayed in the force because they believed they were genuinely helping have left, only leaving mostly those who seek power/control over other people. Obviously this is a general sweeping statement, but like everything else under Tory rule it's been hollowed out.
Being a member of a fascist group should be a firing offence in the police, or at least reason for extreme scrutiny because there's next to no chance the member is not an arsehole who is going to abuse their power and hurt people.
My answer to that would be “okay, then you’re only on a watchlist for now, and I’ll also be enrolling you in a mandatory training course to recognize symbols of domestic terrorism. Present yourself for inspection first thing tomorrow. If that badge is still there, you’re fired.”
Of course, this all takes place in a fantasy world where police can actually be fired for supporting fascism and white supremacy.
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.
Her reference to firearms police concerns the hundreds of Met officers who last month temporarily stepped back from duties after a colleague was charged with murdering Chris Kaba, 24, who was shot last September.
Rowley banned his officers wearing the insignia – a black and white Union flag with a thin horizontal blue line – before policing Pride celebrations amid concerns it could offend the LGBTQ+ community.
One officer wearing the badge at the protest was pictured beside rightwing activist Laurence Fox days after he made misogynistic remarks about the political journalist Ava Evans.
Blowe added that the fact some officers felt emboldened enough to ignore the Met commissioner suggests an ugly mentality was alive and well, despite Rowley’s attempts to change the culture of the force, which was described in a report earlier this year as institutionally homophobic, misogynistic and racist.
Nick Adderley, the Northamptonshire chief constable, said he would not allow a minority to “twist the meaning” of the patch, which is produced by the Care of Police Survivors charity and sold to raise money for the families of officers who died in the line of duty.
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