HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Liverpool Indymedia

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

Display the following 6 comments

  1. bloody bloggers — bobby
  2. Don't count on it — dfdbc
  3. This is excellent news — Mike
  4. Join them, then beat them — orca
  5. Change from within...? — Mike
  6. echo — orca

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

[navigation.actions2016]

[navigation.actions2015]

[navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Actions 2013

G8 2013

Actions 2012

Workfare

Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech

Publish Your News


Temporary Scroogle search

-->