Commander Brian Paddick is in charge of policing in Lambeth, south London.
He was vilified in the press last month for a comment he made on an
Internet discussion forum. It was
not the first time he has been in the news for his views. Last November he
received unwanted headlines when he appeared to tell a committee of MPs that he
was not interested in "weekend" drug users who take small amounts of
cocaine and ecstasy.
"If I felt
my officers were going into nightclubs looking for people in possession of
ecstasy, then I would say to them, and I would say publicly, they are wasting
valuable police resources," he said.
Mr. Paddick, 43,
inspired the "softly softly" drugs scheme that has been operating in
Lambeth since the middle of last year. Under the initiative, people caught with
a small amount of cannabis are cautioned rather than arrested; the pilot has
already saved officers thousands of hours of work, but it has been severely
criticised by the Police Federation and rightwing critics who believe that it
sends the wrong signals to drug users.
Some of the heat he got might also have been related to his
status as the highest-ranking openly gay officer in the Metropolitan police.
I think he is a brave man. Some of his
choicer phrases may not be those we would usually expect from a senior
policeman, and surely he does not really believe that the capitalist system is
"corrupt". Nevertheless he is just the sort of policeman this
country needs.
Don’t take our word for it.
You can read what he said in the Urban75 chat room here. We’ve
omitted the posts to which his replies were directed, and corrected spelling
mistakes but not the grammar. Nothing
is omitted. As is usual on such
bulletin boards Paddick uses an alias, “Brian the commander”.
Is Paddick a dangerous radical, or a rare voice of sanity
in the police? Judge for
yourself.
Paddick on Anarchy
5 Jan 2002
“Where do I start? I am here as myself. I am a police
officer and a human being. These are my own personal views. I am not giving some
official view. I am doing this in my own time because I want to. I think it is
really important that I talk to all sorts of people from all backgrounds to make
sure I have a more balanced view of life. I really want to try to move beyond
all the hate and anger people feel although I understand people are expressing
how they really feel. This board provides an important place where people can
express themselves and I would like to express myself as well.
I have to say that I was not in charge of the policing of the march although I
was there. These things are a very difficult call. It is about balancing rights.
It is about balancing the rights of people who want to protest against the
rights of others not to have their properties broken into and their belongings
stolen. We can debate forever whether the police were justified or not. The last
march in the summer was convened by the same people, involved many of the same
people and followed the same route. The organisers refused to tell the Brixton
Superintendent what route they planned to take as required by the law. Deja vu
or reasonable cause to think there might be trouble again? Shop owners and many
others in the community said the police should have known there was going to be
trouble and the police should have prevented the looting. I think what the
police did was within the law and reasonable. Others will disagree.
I think there are many problems with the criminal justice system from start to
finish. In general I think it does more good than harm and until we can think of
a new system or changes to the existing one, I have to try to make it work the
best it can for everyone. I am no lapdog of my political masters. I do not say
the things I say here or elsewhere to impress anyone. I say what is on my heart
and it often gets me into trouble, mainly with my bosses!
I love people. I love Brixton. I want to do my best for everyone, particularly
for those whose voices are not often heard. Two choices I guess. You either
think this is some kind of propaganda or a genuine attempt to broaden my
understanding.
By the way, one of my tutors at Oxford said that whilst I was bright, he did not
think I would do very well at exams as I had difficulty expressing myself on
paper. So, sorry about the spelling and punctuation but I write like I speak.
Never mind the gift-wrapping, look at the content!!
”
Brian
The Commander
7.1.2002
“Hi Guys. Sorry
it takes me a while to get back to you but I am very busy in the week! Anyway...
The concept of anarchism has always appealed to me. The idea of the innate
goodness of the individual that is corrupted by society or the system. It is a
theoretical argument but I am not sure everyone would behave well if there were
no laws and no system. I believe there are many people forced into causing harm
to others by the way society operates at the moment. They would not have to
behave in this way if the current system did not exist or was radically
different. What am I saying here? I am saying that the way society operates at
the moment, with all the injustice and discrimination, pushes people to act
against their nature to damage and harm others. Eradicate all injustice and
discrimination - would that stop all people damaging and harming each other - I
am not sure. If there were still people who would continue to exploit and harm
others, how would you stop such injustice if you had no system, no society?
Ginger nuts [another person posting on this bulletin board] there are certainly
higher rights than property rights. The right to physical and spiritual
well-being of the individual must be higher rights. Why should people have
arbitrary rights over pieces of the world? Of course if you believe in the
innate goodness of the individual, in the absence of 'the system' all would work
to the good of everyone - each according to their ability and each according to
their need. Have we not tried this? The problem is, if individuals are innately
selfish, out for what is in it for them, they will only or primarily work for
the good of themselves and not 'the whole'.
"Do as you will but harm none" is the principle that I try to work to,
within the constraints placed upon me. I have the freedom of my own conscience
to the extent of the priorities I place on what I and my officers do. Does
smoking small amounts of cannabis harm anyone else other than the smoker? I do
not think so. Can I, as a police officer not enforce the law and get away with
it. Probably not. So I introduce a pilot scheme where we do not arrest people
for cannabis in Lambeth.
I am looking at a new strap line for the police in Lambeth - and this is spooky
because I thought of it before I read your latest post ginger nuts - "Don't
damage my community". What does that mean? I guess you could translate it
into "DO as you will but harm none." Is this dialogue influencing me
or am I not miles away from the thinking of my fellow posters?
Every circumstance is different and that is why police officers have discretion
to enforce the law or not in a particular situation. It has advantages and
disadvantages. It is open to getting much better resolutions and it is open to
abuse.
What good does the criminal justice system do? Well I guess it has the potential
to enforce the "do as you will but harm none" ethos. If you do harm
someone else, should there not be a sanction against that person. Now I am not
saying that traditional punishments like prison are the right or the most
effective sanctions, but the criminal justice system has identified those who
have unjustifiably harmed others and 'punished' them for that.
Of course whether you are talking about philosophies or religions or legal
systems, they are all the products of, or have been interfered with, by human
beings (even if the Bible is the Word of God, it is interpreted by human beings,
etc.) I think all human beings are fallible and whatever you are talking about,
if there are humans involved, it is flawed. The criminal justice system is
flawed.
I am trying to do the best I can in the job I do within the system that
currently exists. I guess that puts me in the other camp to those who want to
overthrow 'the system'. I do not treat all of anything as criminals - all
protestors, all black people, all straight people (!) I try to treat each
individual as an individual. Do not treat all police officers as lapdogs of a
corrupt capitalist system. Dogs sometimes turn on their owners. They are
notoriously unpredictable and they can end up working against the people that
keep them! Kept dog is OK, I can live with that. Lapdog - in your dreams!
I admire anyone who passionately believes in their cause and I will defend their
right to promote that cause provided they "harm none".”
Brian The
Commander
Paddick on drugs
28 Jan 2002
“Sorry for the
delay - have had some serious personal issues to deal with.
What to do about crack and smack, especially in Brixton? My take - "don't
damage my community". Translates into top priority = don't openly deal on
the streets - it frightens people and raises their fear of crime - street deal
and I'm after you. That means arrest, charge, court, long prison sentence (I
hope).
Chaotic drug users - those so addicted to crack or smack that they cannot hold
down a job, don't have enough money to feed the habit without robbing, breaking
into people's homes or cars = damaging my community. These people are victims
though. Victims of 'the system' that got them into the state they are in -
victims of the drug dealers who encouraged them into taking the stuff maybe. We
need more money for treatment, outreach work, support, so these people can come
off the stuff and start living again. OK, if they rob and steal they'll get
arrested too, but hopefully they will get help too (we have drug workers at the
police station, for example).
Not much time now, but I will develop my ideas as we go along. Bottom line -
screw the dealers, help the addicts.
Light blue touch-paper and retire!”
Brian The
Commander
Later the same day
“Zero tolerance -
sounds like 'police state' to me. In NY they had thousands of extra police,
massive investment in improving the environment, special drugs courts -
investment across the board not just hard policing. Lambeth - I don't have the
cops and the Local Authority don't have the cash to improve things that much -
the spirit is willing on their side but ...
So why don't we just sweep away the dealers? We have mounted every kind of
police operation in Coldharbour Lane. We have had under-cover cops, uniform cops
working off what the CCTV shows, everything. We have arrested about 50 street
dealers in the past 12 months, and within hours of arresting one, another takes
their place. As long as there is the demand, as long as there are poor,
desperate and gullible people willing to put their necks on the line for the
bigger dealers further up the food chain, there will be street dealers.
Number one priority is the street dealers because they peddle death AND frighten
the public. The bigger dealers are much harder to find and arrest and they have
bigger dealers and so on until you get to the importers. All law enforcement
agencies need to do their bit to stop this. My job with my people is to tackle
the street dealers and (if we're lucky) the next ones up. After that it’s out
of our league (but we can pass on the info.) The street dealers are like weeds -
you cut them down and they keep growing back. You need to deprive them of their
'sunshine'. So we need to look at taking out the punters and getting them into
treatment.
Anyone who deals to chaotic drug addicts is in my firing line. It's a
contentious area but these are my priority targets. OK, I have said in the past
that club dealers who supply 'recreational users' who do not resort to crime to
by the stuff are at the bottom of my priority list but how many people do we
know who started with a weekend habit and ended-up with a terminal habit?
We are working now with the Secret Services on this (I think) but this is beyond
my remit. We also need to fight poverty and do more education in places like
Jamaica where poor people are duped into carrying cocaine condoms in their
stomachs. You won't get any of these millionaire vermin drug barons swallowing
this stuff. Maybe a squirt of weed-killer on the right poppies would help?
These people are not easily frightened. A couple of police drive-pasts does not
do it for them. We do patrol the centre and I have some of the bravest,
fearless, unarmed cops who care enough to tackle gun-carrying drug dealers, who
get attacked by the dealers and their cronies when they do, and still go back
for more. These are boys and girls in uniform who put their lives on the line
for us and they get deal grief for it.
We need to decide those issues where the peeps and the police have no argument -
lets get the drug dealers, for example. We need to stand together in Coldharbour
Lane, night after night, and put these people out of business. It's been done
before to get rid of prostitutes but these are heavier. If the community and the
police stand together we will win. It is when we fight each other that the bad
guys win. Sure there are going to be things where you are going to disagree with
the police. Lets decide what we can work together on.
I have asked the police union reps. (Police Federation) to come up with a list
of things the cops think should not be tolerated in Lambeth and those things
that we should be more relaxed about (we cannot enforce every single law all of
the time). I have put cannabis (small amounts for personal use) in the second
column. What would you put in each column? I have told the unions I will ask you
what your big beefs are and then compare the two lists to see where we can agree
on priorities.
I care passionately about people. I love Lambeth, Brixton in particular. I want
people to have as much freedom as possible provided they don't damage my
community. These drug dealers are ruining it for us. What can we do together?”
Brian The
Commander
To read the full discussion on Urban75 click here
