New Zealand police pay tribute to Matt Ratana by performing the Haka.
The year 2020 would have, in any event been one of the most challenging ever for the UK’s hard- pressed police; then came the devastating news that a police officer had been shot dead on police premises.
There is an investigation as to the precise circumstances thus those in police circles are currently avoiding speculation. Conspiracy theories inevitably abound as does criticism but it would seem that the manner of Sergeant Matt Ratana’s murder is without worldwide precedent. There is however a training video originating in the USA which shows that a murderous act of this nature involving a suspect cuffed to the rear is possible.
The one certainty in this tragic affair is that Matt Ratana was not just a remarkable police officer, but a remarkable human being. A video tribute has now appeared involving individuals from across all Croydon’s communities, his East Grinstead rugby club has also paid its own moving tribute while his former New Zealand colleagues performed an emotional Haka in his honour.
Tragedy ‘just around the corner
No-one could have predicted the manner of Matt’s death yet shocking as the murder was, there was always a feeling in police circles that another tragedy, following the death of PC Andrew Harper, was ‘just around the corner.’
Sections of the media, normally hostile to police suspended their vendetta and the portrayals of Matt as a dedicated, caring police officer have been commendably accurate.
In recent years, a bruised and battered police force has seen assaults on officer’s soar in both numbers and severity. In the days before Matt’s death, ten armed officers carrying out a drugs search were burnt by a corrosive liquid in circumstances yet to be ascertained while a Greater Manchester police officer was stabbed.
Covid-19 and George Floyd
Running in parallel with increased levels of violence against officers, has been an almost vindictive campaign by sections of the media which has been given fresh impetus by both the Covid epidemic and the death of George Floyd.
Covid restrictions saw officers coughed at, spat on and bitten as media outlets actively sought ‘over-zealous’ police enforcement stories which surely only served to increase the risk to and defiance of, officers. In fact, amidst the hundreds of thousands of Covid related interactions between police and public, only a handful of penalty notices were handed out per force per day.
The dreadful manner of George Floyd’s death saw immediate universal condemnation from across the UK’s policing community yet the issue of ‘racist police brutality’ soon transposed itself to the UK. BBC London News devoted two programmes to the issue; the first was a virtual party- political broadcast for Black Lives Matter while the second focussed on ‘police use of force in London.’
Former BAME police officers weighed in with allegations of a racist police service and front-line officers soon found themselves experiencing increased hostility on the streets. Attempts to apply a ‘light touch’ to Black Lives Matter protests failed as officers in their ‘day uniforms’ came under attack from a substantial minority of otherwise peaceful protesters.
Increased Violence
However, increased violence against police officers can be found emanating from across all communities in all parts of the country over the last few years.
During another incident in Basildon, officers arrested a motorcyclist after a dangerous pursuit only to be attacked by a crowd on a housing estate. Officers were doused in petrol to cries of ‘light them up.’
Of particular concern is the increasing use of vehicles as weapons against officers and only good fortune has prevented another tragedy akin to that suffered by PC Andrew Harper.
Abuse of and attacks on police officers has become the norm and the government has responded by increasing the penalties for assaults on all emergency workers.
Betrayed by the criminal justice system.
Yet police officers can still feel betrayed by the criminal justice system: Sergeant Tom Dorman of Thames Valley Police was run down by a drunken driver also high on cocaine. Tom’s leg was amputated and the driver, one Hayden Brown was sentenced to five years imprisonment. That may have been, in itself, less than adequate given that most sentences can be immediately divided by two. In Brown’s case he has just been released from prison on license after just 10 months.
The case referred to above where officers were doused in petrol, saw the main protagonist responsible for the potentially lethal assault being sentenced to three years eight months.
Anger too at the verdict and sentences meted out to those deemed responsible for the death of Andrew Harper which has led to a popular campaign by Andrew’s wife Lissie to in respect of ‘Harper’s law;’ those convicted of killing a police officer or other emergency work should face life imprisonment.
The Media
Sadly, it seems that with sections of the media be it the Guardian on the left, or the Mail on the right, a police officer has to pay the ultimate price or nearly pay the ultimate price to engender coverage that approaches being supportive and sympathetic. Even then, that tends to manifest itself via quotes from third parties rather than editorial and journalistic comment.
Fortunately, there appears to be a gulf between news editors of both newspapers and news programmes and television programme planners. It could well be argued that the overall support for police from the public is, in part, maintained by the plethora of police ‘fly on the wall’ documentaries that go some considerable way to showing policing as it really is.
Police Interceptors, The Force: Essex, Harbour Cops, Road Wars, Brit cops: Law and disorder, The Met; Policing London to name but a few are all examples that show police officers as human beings together with the stark situations and abysmal behaviour with which they have to deal.
There was a complete absence of media sympathy for police as they dealt with issues linked to both Covid and Black Lives Matter. In London police have found themselves attacked, not only by Black Lives Matter supporters but by far-right protesters who turned up to ‘protect statues’ and more recently by Covid deniers, anti-vaxxers and allied conspiracy theorists.
Attacks on police too by mobs at so called ‘block parties’ and raves.
Police brutality and mental health
Inevitably, these ‘public order’ events as they are known to police, resulted in allegations of police brutality. Those who have studied or been on the receiving end of public order policing across the continent, notably football fans, do find the concept of British police brutality rather perplexing.
It is of course, those same police who, every day deal with numerous calls to those suffering from mental health issues. Most front-line officers will say that helping those which such issues takes up fat more of their time than crime. Often, photos of numerous police vehicles in hospital parking bays tell their own story. Occasionally and it is very occasionally, something may go terribly wrong, but in the vast majority of cases, police respond with both professionalism and compassion regardless of the race, religion or sexual orientation of the patient.
Much has been made lately of deaths in police custody which is normally conflated with deaths during or after police contact, Figures bandied around by activist groups speak of 1,700 and at the most recent protest against police, a leaflet which was circulated put the figure at 3,000 over 30years.
As we have seen with both Brexit and Covid, figures can be distorted every which way to suit opposing viewpoints, but the reality is that deaths caused by some form of actual police restraint or other forms of physical force are, mercifully, extremely rare.
Where they do occur, lessons are learnt and put into practice, which is why armed policing is now a totally specialist role. Similarly, deaths in custody after arrest, are also mercifully rare despite the fact that many detainees are suffering from serious drink, drug or mental health issues and frequently a combination of all three.
When I was a custody officer, we sergeants took it in turns to undertake the unpopular role for a shift. However, as concern for the welfare of those detained increased and their needs became more complex the role became a specialised one.
Caring, compassionate and brave.
This was the final role of Matt Ratana and, as with his those he undertook previously, he carried it out with distinction. As stated above he was a remarkable individual who cared about his colleagues and all those with whom he came in contact.
Andrew Harper too was a model police officer and across the UK’s police service, whatever detractors may say, the numerous challenging incidents dealt with by police on a daily basis show that the overwhelming majority of our officers are caring, compassionate and brave.
The morning after Matt’s tragic death, I was interviewed by a sympathetic Mike Graham on Talk radio. I finished thus: “Yet when police do something that’s positive and good, when they help someone, when they save lives as they often do Mike, by being first on the scene of stabbings and shootings (as) police are often there before paramedics and perform life-saving first aid on the unfortunate victim, do they ever get credit for that? No, they don’t, because political groups across the spectrum and indeed sections of the media, are not interested in positivity, they’re just looking for negativity and that makes police far more vulnerable on the streets than I think they’ve ever been before.”
Chris Hobbs
Retired Metropolitan police officer
Edited version of the above originally published in London Economic.