Private Policing in the UK, is it New?

I saw a re-tweet this morning from a twitter friend @EmmaGeraln pointing me in the direction of an article in the (on-line) The Telegraph Newspaper, with the headline:-

Security guards to form 'private police force' in city centre

You can read the full article here, the article goes on to report that,

Up to 100 officers could be employed by Securitas to patrol the streets of Manchester in a pioneering deal with local businesses. 

They will wear stab-proof vests, cameras to gather evidence and have radios on their utility belts, just like constables. 

The security guards will visit shops up to eight times a day and respond within 90 seconds if staff sound a panic alarm.

It is hoped that one team will patrol shopping areas during the daytime while another will keep an eye on bars and restaurants at night.

And although those in the “retail support unit” will not have the power of arrest, eventually they could be allowed to give out on-the-stop fines for offences such as littering.

A member of the Police Federation is quoted as saying,

Ian Hanson, chairman of the Greater Manchester branch of the Police Federation, said of the new security patrol scheme: “This is the sort of function that teams of police officers have performed for years until the cutbacks. 

“This is creeping privatisation and the public need to wake up to it before it's too late. Police officers need to be out there detaining people rather than withdrawing from the front line because of government cuts. 

"We have been warning for some time that policing is being sold off to the highest bidder. The public and the retailers are being forced into this because GMP quite simply hasn't got the resources to do what we used to do routinely.”

Well, I have news for Emma and Ian Hanson, this has been going on for years and not just as a result of the swingeing cuts currently being imposed on Police bodies up and down the country by our esteemed and current government.

Prior to my current position I was the Contracted Security and Safety Manager in London Docklands, from Shadwell to Gallions Reach (North Woolwich) on the North of the river Thames and Rotherhithe on the Southbank of the river.

We employed, directly around 200 security officers.  These were broken down to, Isle of Dogs and Shadwell, Rotherhithe and Royal Docks.  Each area had about 50 uniformed officers employed on static sites, dedicated patrol vehicles and foot patrol officers with the vehicle patrol officers and the foot patrol officers patrolling the streets in London Docklands 24 hours a day 365 days a year and in direct radio contact back to dedicated control rooms.  We also employed a 30 strong dedicated road safety unit, responding to any incidents on roads within these areas, again 24/7 and because we had the river and of course various docks within the area we had a marine safety unit too.

The Metropolitan Police obviously had stations in these areas, Limehouse, Isle of Dogs, Shadwell, (Leman Street) and North Woolwich, but we were the dedicated patrolling service from the late 80's to when I took over management of it in the early 90's and it was still there when I left in 98!

Police services in the UK have suffered through mismanagement, by their own Chief Constables and by Government for years, it has been a job for life for most, but policing has changed over the years, but the culture of policing has never been quick, if at all able, to keep up with these changes....

An example of this was in another recent post be me where I wrote,

instead of looking at more practical ways to make savings, Essex Police along with a bunch of other forces are spending around £32 million quid on a computer system that, as far as I can tell isn't self propelled, doesn't have a built in arsenal to injure, maim or kill the lawbreakers on our streets, and unlike the 'real' Robocop, probably has no sense of humour either!

Apparently, according to Essex Chief Constable, Jim Barker-McCardle, ".....this will significantly improve the lives of people in the communities we serve." We will be better able to investigate crime , support victims and reduce threat and harm to vulnerable people."

(that post can be read here)

So, there we have a bunch of Police authorities around the country spending all that money to replace bobbies with a computer because it will,

be better able to investigate crime , support victims and reduce threat and harm to vulnerable people.

And is it any wonder that there are not enough Police Men and Women on our streets getting to know the scroats and criminals on their patch, and then we wonder why we have  pot factories springing up and burglaries taking place, with seeming impunity.... not really hard to see then why private security companies are getting in on the act, is it.

I am with you though Emma, I don't want to see Private Companies taking over the policing of our towns and cities, but if successive governments and Chief Constables are incapable of managing this much needed public service, what choice do we have?  Maybe, the government, with the introduction of American style Police Commissioners ( I'm sorry but I keep thinking Commissioner Gordon from Batman and we all know what a bit of tit he is /was - when I here that phrase) that they also want to see the proliferation of Private Policing Security firms that they have in America too, and by that being introduced, they can then cut back even more, on proper and effective 'real' police forces!

One can only hope that checks on staff are stringent, but from what little I know of the SIA, who 'police' that I do not have a lot of confidence in them either as it is primarily ' a revenue raising service' on charges levied against 'security' companies.....

London Metropolitan Police - Baton Rounds

Image: Wikipedia

There is a debate going on now since it has been discovered, under a freedom of information act request, that prior to the 2011 riots in London and other cities that the Met Police had 700 Baton Rounds in stock at the time of the riots but that they now have over 10,000 in stock ready for deployment.

Just watching the news a variety of people have been paraded stating that this is a horrendous piece of news and that the rounds should never be deployed on the streets of Britain.  One of the cases cited was the death of an 12 year old  in Northern Ireland who died a few days after been hit by a round during the 'troubles'.

But interestingly if you look at the quote from Wikipedia below, you will see that over 8 years 42,000 rounds were used and fourteen deaths were reported.  I am not going to enter into the rights and wrongs of the use or misuse during that period but 14 out of 42000 is not a 'high' percentage, a fatality rate of 0.03%.  Again, any death is tragic, but if you are putting lives at risk by throwing petrol bombs, why should you not run the risk of death too?

The British Government pioneered the use of plastic bullets. Used extensively in Northern Ireland, it was discovered they were lethal at certain ranges.^[11]

From 1973 to 1981, over 42,000 plastic bullets were fired in Northern Ireland. Fourteen people were killed by plastic bullet impacts, including nine children. Most of the deaths were allegedly^[12][13][14] caused by the British security services misusing the weapon, firing at close range and at chest or head level rather than targeting below the waist.

One of the victims, 12-year-old Carol Ann Kelly from Twinbrook in west Belfast died on 22 May, having been struck by a plastic bullet fired by a member of the Royal Fusiliers on 19 May 1981.^[15][16] These concerns led to campaigners such as Emma Groves founding the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets, to call for tighter immediate controls on their use, more accountability after such shootings and even a total ban on their use in Northern Ireland.

The latest variant of the L5 PBR—the L5A7—was introduced in 1994 along with a new more accurate launcher, the HK L104 riot gun. The L5 was followed by the L21A1 in 2001. The L21 PBR is fired from a rifled weapon which gives greater accuracy when used with an optical sight.^[7] The L21 was replaced by the Attenuated Energy Projectile in June 2005.^[17]

The full article from Wikipedia is here 

And while the death of a 12 year old is a tragic outcome, it would be more even handed if they also told us how many rounds had been fired during that incident and how many people had been hit by the rounds?  It is also true as well that since the deployment of the rounds in Ireland, that the launcher has been improved for better accuracy, and better training is given to officers in their use; and lets not forget it is highly unlikely that any Police Officer armed with a weapon firing live ammunition or Baton Rounds, goes out wishing to be the one who has to actually pull the trigger and be the cause or be responsible for the death of anyone.


Are the people who are opposed to the deployment of these rounds, serious in their belief that people rioting on our streets, as they were last year, burning down shops, factories and homes and throwing petrol bombs at the police should be allowed to do so without a robust response in dealing with it and using any and all legitimate means to bring the disorder under control?

I have said it time after time in various posts, I AM NOT OPPOSED TO LEGITIMATE AND PEACEFUL PROTEST. But what I am opposed to are peaceful protests that turn into a riotous out of control mob, lobbing bricks and petrol bombs at police officers and property.  I don't care what their gripe is with the authorities you do not organise a protest or a rally and then let it turn into a mob.  And if it does and you then become, inadvertently, part of that mob, because it has been hijacked by a minority, then it is your civil duty to, a) remove yourself by the quickest means from the mob, and b) report anyone you know who became part of the mob and incited and inflamed the protest / rally into becoming the mob.

By removing yourself from the mob this will then leave the police to deal with them, and you will be safe!

The Police, as far as I am concerned are quite entitled to protect themselves and property by then taking appropriate measures. If those measures include the deployment of Baton Rounds then so be it.  If during the course of the then 'riot' someone is hit by a Baton Round and that prevents them from causing further harm to officers or innocent members of the public and prevents another building, business or home being burnt to the ground, then I have no problem with that.  Yes, it will and would be unfortunate if anyone taking part subsequently dies as a result of being hit by one of these rounds, but by throwing missiles and petrol bombs you reap what you sow!

  Riot images courtesy here 
  News articles on the story - The Guardian 
                                          - The BBC