Society
Urban life - Darcus Howe demands an inquiry into Brixton policing
Published 24 April 2006
Brian Paddick should be at the heart of an investigation into Brixton policing
Some time ago I introduced Brian Paddick, the police commander of Lambeth, to readers of this column. He succeeded Chief Superintendent Simon Foy. Foy had pioneered an approach to policing in Brixton whereby intelligence-led work would replace random stops-and-searches of black youths. He was pilloried in the press. Ann Widdecombe and William Hague, in the heat of the 2001 election campaign, charged through Brixton Police Station, TV crew in tow, demanding an interview with the chief super. Foy declined. The Tories lost the election and he took up a senior post at Scotland Yard.
Enter Paddick, who announced that he would continue where Foy had left off. The Daily Mail and the London Evening Standard led the hunt for his scalp. They ransacked his private life to let us know that he was a raging homosexual, that his partner was a weed smoker. When I interviewed the new Lambeth commander in his office there was a glint in his eye. He would pursue his bold new policy come what may and in spite of the hostility of the Police Federation.
Now Paddick is back on the agenda. He intimated to the independent investigation into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes that the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Ian Blair, must have known a few hours after the incident that officers had shot the wrong man. This flatly contradicted what the commissioner had said. Paddick was also accused of leaking the information to a BBC journalist.
He recently appeared in a documentary about the Brixton riots 25 years ago. He was a sergeant at Brixton then. Describing the local police as an army of occupation, Paddick catalogued the criminal behaviour of officers against young blacks: physical abuse, frame-ups on false charges, illegal harassment and racial abuse. Although several of us have been campaigning around such allegations for more than a quarter-century, this is the very first time that they have been supported by identical allegations from the mouth of a serving police officer.
And how have the senior ranks responded? Paddick has been put out to grass. He is to have no contact with the public, and is banned from Scotland Yard until he retires later this year - instead of being at the heart of another investigation, to unearth who did what to whom, when and where during his time at Brixton. Prosecutions should indeed follow.
But I will be extremely surprised if such an inquiry takes place. I am certain that the official consensus will be "let's draw a line beneath it and move on": that much-abused cliché, so often used to disguise cover-ups.
Post this article to
We want to encourage people to comment on our content and to exchange views with other readers and hope this will be done on a courteous basis. However, if you encounter posts which are offensive please let us know by emailing comments@newstatesman.co.uk and we will take swift action where necessary.
