Metropolitan Police Federation

Systematic failure? We fail to understand

When metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) member Victoria Borwick addressed a meeting of the Association of Police Authorities, she told her audience that she had "tried to be reasonably controversial".

Well done, Ms Borwick. You succeeded.

In her speech, she told Association members that the MPA had been addressing ”clear systematic failures, such as G20”.

G20? A systematic failure?

Let's think back to the May Day 'protests' of the year 2000.

The Cenotaph was defaced with graffiti. The McDonalds restaurant in the Strand was ransacked, having had every window in the premises smashed.

The turf was dug up in Parliament Square and there were running battles in the streets, with 'protestors' hurling iron bars, bottles, sticks and scaffolding.

Amid all the violence, there was massive disruption for law-abiding members of the public. Politicians and media rounded on the police for being too cautious and lenient.

Notwithstanding two well-publicised incidents which are currently subject to investigation, the policing operation at G20 ensured minimal disruption to the public.

Damage to property was confined to one incident in which demonstrators broke into a bank, where there was some looting and an apparent attempt at arson.

The meeting of G20 leaders was allowed to proceed without hindrance.

Quite how Ms Borwick comes to conclusion that this was a “systematic failure” is hard to understand.