Thursday, 20 October 2011

2157 Boris Johnson at Home Affairs Committee September 2011

With the benefit of hindsight it is possible to argue that because the August disorders were soon contained and did not continue for weeks as has occurred in the USA or those in France which destroyed so many public building and vehicles, or those now taking place in Greece, the number and levels of investigation presently taking place is not necessary and it is just a further example of the British public and media waking up to changes in collective behaviour occurring everywhere in general. We were collectively shocked when we should not have been. This was one of the points raised with the Mayor of London and his deputy at a meeting with the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee Tuesday September 6th 2011 to consider concerns about the policing of large scale public disorder following the killing of Mark Duggan in Tottenham a month before. The response of the Mayor was to argue that we should considered what has been achieved in capital over recent years stretching back beyond his administration to the dark days of the mid 1980’s

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, can be described as avuncular but he is a street wise politician who can communicate in language which the public understands and is therefore trusted by many in the capital unlike politicians who are regarded as too clever or slippery. I exclude Ken Livingston who has always struck me as having his heart in the right place although I suspect he has been a professional politician for too long and his spell out of office will have done him no end of good, hopefully.

I thought the session was very informative and that the approach taken by the Mayor was sound and balanced. Yes I was surprised. I admit that. He exploded the myth that under the present arrangements politicians have no control over what the police do and how they do it. At one level it is about the public appearance of situations. However as I have previously said the main power is through over finance and appointments. It is another aspect of the perennial tension between the politician and the official with both seeking to protect and further their different interests and responsibilities.

There was reference to the claims and counter claims made about the decision to cancel leave, bring in the special constables and flood the streets with police officers. It was the Deputy Mayor who expressed the position sensitively and well saying “Fundamentally, in the end the decision to cancel leave is for the Commissioner, but obviously in any dynamic situation like that there are discussions that take place at a political level, and indeed, at a financial level that underpin his ultimate decision.”

The issue of the level of control was also reflected first in questions about the appointment of the new Commissioner which is made by the Queen on the advice of the Home Secretary but where Boris made it plain that he and the Metropolitan Police Authority had an input and that it was unlikely that in such a situation the Home Secretary would override objections from the Mayor and Police Authority. He did disclose at the end of the meeting that all the candidates under consideration were male. He also confirmed, what we already knew, that Bill Bratton of the USA had been ruled out because of the Met’s responsibilities for National Security together with the Anti Terrorist force working directly for the Home Office.

I had intended to leave talking about the new Commissioner until reporting on his appearance before the Home Affairs Committee but to-date the transcript has not been published so I will include here the Wikipedia based note on the new appointment.

Bernard Hogan-Howe, QPM (born 25 October 1957) was previously Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, an Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, and more recently one of Her Majesty's Inspectors of Constabulary.

Hogan-Howe was born in Sheffield in 1957, the son of Bernard Howe. He attended Hinde House School, a dual primary and secondary school, where he completed his A-levels. He was brought up single-handedly by his mother, whose surname of Hogan he later added by Deed Poll. After leaving school, he spent four years working as a lab assistant in the National Health Service.

Whilst still with South Yorkshire Police, he was identified as a high-flier and selected to study for a MA degree in Law at Merton College, University of Oxford, which he began at the age of 28. He later went on to gain a Diploma in Applied Criminology from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from the University of Sheffield and consequently rose to the rank of District Commander of the Doncaster West area.

In 1997, he transferred over to Merseyside Police as Assistant Chief Constable of Community Affairs, moving onto area operations in 1999. He then transferred this time to the Metropolitan Police Service as Assistant Commissioner of Human Resources, July 2001-2004. He then took promotion and transferred to become Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, 2005-9. He then became a member of the Home Office Inspectorate before appointment as deputy temporary Commissioner following the resignation of the Commissioner in the lights of the Phone Hacking scandal, allegations of cover up and too close a relationship with Newspaper proprietors and their editorial staff involving senior staff at the Metropolitan police, albeit going back nearly a decade and before his time as Commissioner.

The Committee took the opportunity of the meeting to confirm that Deputy Assistant Commissioner Akers had sufficient resources to conduct the ongoing investigations and the Mayor also asked to explain why former Assistant Commissioner Yates had been allocated funds to bring legal actions against the Guardian and the Solicitor Mr Lewis when they were conducting investigation into the cover up. The Mayor said they had been given legal advice that they had a duty to do so in terms of the defending an attack on the general integrity of the force, but the amount had been capped at £1500. The Mayor was then advised that in a case involving another police authority the Courts had declared such payments as illegal and that the Guardian and Mr Lewis had only been reflecting the ongoing inquiry of the Home Affairs Committee whereas the Metropolitan Police Authority had not undertaken any formal inquiry into the allegations, since proven accurate and substantial. The Mayor said they had raised the issues in a forensic way with the police at the formal monthly meetings to which a committee member commented, “without success.

The Mayor also disclosed that he had been immediately notified by text message on the same day as the killing of Mark Duggan by special police forces when on holiday in a camper van in the Rocky Mountains of the USA. He had then also been advised by text of the rioting on the Saturday.

The Committee disclosed they had obtained the movements of the Home Secretary, who returned first, of the Mayor who had returned next and of the Prime Minister who had returned last of the trio. It is always difficult to make a judgement in such situations. I was telephoned while on holiday in one situation where it was evident there was a political storm about my personal position where I decided to continue with the holiday in order to work out the best way of handling the situation and for the temperature to cool. In another instance I sat up all night working out the best way to handle a crisis and caught the first train back from London to the office. In former the example my prior actions had led to the row whereas in the second, interests waited until I was away to initiate the crisis.

I must confess my instinct about conspiracies was raised because the killing by the special police squad who had notified the local police commander of their intentions in a week when it is known that political leaders and top officials in national and local government go on their main holiday of the year. I suspect the reality is that those involved were too young to know of the previous rioting involving the Broadwater Farm estate in 1985 25 beforehand although it would be surprising if they had not heard of the horrific slaughter of PC Blakelock in the midst of the rioting against the police. Certainly this will have been a factor in how the protest march and the subsequent rioting were handled.

The separate roles of politicians and the police was also discussed when the Deputy Mayor explained that in the absence of the Mayor on holiday he had been notified by telephone of the disorders that had taken place on the Saturday evening. The time was not stated. The deputy Mayor said he was broadly satisfied with the police tactics used at the start of the unrest. He said that it was important to leave the Police to undertake the responsibility for dealing with the disorder and not interfere. I disagree profoundly with him as this is typical political get out of responsibility and therefore any blame which politicians use all too frequently

I fully appreciate it is the decision of the police to take decisions without interference in relation to the actions of individuals and in the every day policing of public events such as sporting and entertainment. But the policing of legitimate protesting under the constitution and the handling of major disorders, insurrections, and criminal rioting which affects the lives and property of those not directly involved in a democratic society ought to rest with national and local government, that is the elected representatives of the people.

Asked the direct question about the number of police deployed on the streets while the deputy said that with hindsight more had been required however the Mayor interjected to argue that given the action that had been taken with the number of arrests and charged he considered the overall performance was exceptional. There are 32300 officers in total serving in the Metropolitan police. Later it emerged that there are usually 3000 on duty across London which the committee pointed out meant that 90% of officers were not available at anyone time.

The issue of financial savings potentially resulting in a reduction in front line staff was raised and the Mayor who also mentioned what happened in relation to the G20 riots and the experience there and the real risk to the careers of officers who are found guilty of using excessive force. The committee pressed that the Authority was working to get more officers out from the back offices into the front line.

The witnesses declined to give a view on the extent to which the killings led to the rioting or to go into the specifics of the policing in relation to the Tottenham because of the depth and length of the investigation which the Independent Police Complaints Commission states will take four to six months to complete and that the report will be further delayed if it should be found that disciplinary or criminal prosecutions are required.

It can be argued that it was fear of being accused of the use of excessive force led to the police standing by in some instances subsequently but as has been shown there was engagement in various instances and I suspect the truth is also revealed by the Metropolitan Police in their letter submitted to the Committee that it was such a fast moving situation on such a scale. And that it involving the use of personal communication devices and programmes so that decisions had to be left and were taken for good or ill by those responsible for each incident. If with hindsight bad decisions were made but in good faith then it is a matter of everyone learning for the future. Each situation and those involved needs to be assessed.

The costs of what happened in London appear staggering when first considered.

The policing costs were put at £74 million in total. Sounds a lot but is less than £2000 per head costs for the 40000 or so officers likely to have been involved from within and outside London over the week it took to establish order and normal street activity.

There had been 100 separate claims under the Riot Damages Act totalling £9.3 and average of £93000 which will vary from that of the Sony warehouse and Reeves Corner furniture store to the loss of contents from a small corner shop which was then able to continue trading. It is not always appreciated that even where a premises was insured, the insurers obtain reimbursement under the Riot Damages Act.

The mayor disclosed that about £4 million had been donated to the High Street Fund to ensure that staff continued to be paid and stores recommenced trading as soon as possible. Shell and several banks had made substantial donations.

The Mayor said that London Government had set up a separate £20 million fund for the recovery of Tottenham and Croydon and which is also additional to a general £50 million London Recovery fund.

This means that in total the rioting and looting is costing in financial terms £150 million to put right and prevent further occurrence. Added to which will be the costs of the trials and imprisonment of offenders which I assume will be separate.

The Mayor said that to date 2088 individuals had been arrested and 1230 people charged which means that so far those arrested each cost the taxpayer over £100000. The mayor confirmed that for London 75% of those arrested had previous criminal records and another 8% were already known.

Where I thought the Mayor was on the button so to speak, is that while he accepted that the attention to gangs and their culture was important he made the point that the immediate evidence suggested that while there was a hard core of people set on causing trouble, only one in five of those arrested were known gang members, and only 21% were under eighteen years of age, and there were others who just happened to be in situations at the time or who were naturally inclined to get involved.

In relation to the gang culture the Mayor mentioned the appointment of 2000 adults across London by Team London to act as mentors to individual gang members to kelp provide them with alternative lifestyles had been place before the rioting.

One of the Members of Parliament for the nearby local authority of Sunderland raised with the Mayor the allegation of the Justice Minister Kenneth Clark that the disorders were caused in the main by a feral underclass, an expression which those from or who represent predominantly working class areas tend to strongly object, at least in public, claiming that issues of economic and social deprivation are the underlying cause. From my experience of working with politicians in a predominately working class area this not a claim they make and they and the majority of their constituents are too well aware of a feral underclass living amongst them who cause disproportionate harm and misery and which neighbours in particular, those in public housing have had limited protection.

There is need for a word of caution as subsequent testimony confirmed over the following month. It was inevitable that the overwhelming majority of those arrested and charged were already known to the police because the police had photo recognition software available which enabled them to identify the criminals from the Close Circuit Television footage which is available in vast quantities and which is still being studied and will continue to do so for months ahead. What has emerged is that the extent of the involvement of a feral underclass. The 20000 families with multiple problems and well as psychopathic and criminally orientated individuals does exist and my impression has been increasing over recent generations even if the extent of involvement will be shown to have been not as great over time, similarly the balance between children, young people generally and adults, the balance between those who are of gangs and those who are not has and will change as more information is systematically analysed.

The pointed out that during the past three years crime in London has reduced by 9.2% and by young people by more than 15% with also considerable reduction of crime on public transport. He was also sympathetic to Ken Clark’s concern about the cost and uselessness of much short term sentencing because of re offending rates within year of release. He mentioned that in the Heron wing of the once notorious Feltham Young Offenders institution they had reduce reoffending rates from 80% to 19% albeit by selecting those who said they wanted to turn their lives around.

There was also the issue of closing down social media which again the Mayor was followed by other witnesses including Bill Bratton from the USA who had been in New York at the time of 9/II and had been unable to communicate with his wife and family because all the communication systems had been shut down, The Mayor drew attention to the use made by the authorities of the system and had advised the Home Office that his Authority was against shutting down the system for these reasons.

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