Commander Paddick, Say It Ain't So?
BBSNews - 2002-12-11 - I've spent several days absorbing this news from Commander Brian Paddick, former
Lambeth Borough Police Chief in London, England, who has now stepped away from the
community that supported him. I duly got my notification from urban75.com as a not so
regular participant and reader that an announcement was going to happen. After a
false start and some help from a friend I found it. I read it. I didn't believe it. I
didn't understand it.
I'm biased, this I admit. I've been covering this story on BBSNews since March and I
was the first media outlet to do so in the US market. I was rooting for a fair end to
this story. Indeed Page Two at BBSNews has been Paddick country for months. Right is
right and surely after Paddick was exonerated he would be returned to his post? That
was what was promised. That would be the expected outcome.
There was certainly no lack of public support. By all accounts every headline that
said "unprecedented support," including here at BBSNews, was an understatement. What
happened? I suppose it's easy for me to be on this side of the pond and be critical
but that is not my intention. Over this past week there has been a lot of news come
out of the UK about drug policy. Some of it has been covered, some not so much.
I'm going to depart from normal reporting, commentary or storytelling and answer the
goodbye message of sorts that Brian Paddick posted on urban75.com to those who
supported him so much in a little different way than usual. I'm going to answer it in
USENET style because his online story really began in a BBS forum over at Mike
Slocombes place, Urban75, and I think it is fitting to utilize that similar 'quote
back' style of discourse as a means of keeping it real.
Michael Hess
What follows is Brian's letter to those at the Urban75 Website, his words are in dark
blue and bold. Mine, and also the quotes from various sources I am weaving in per
USENET/BBS style, are in black and not bold.
"Brian Bows Out of Brixton"
 "To be the police Commander for Lambeth was my career ambition from 1980 when I first
served in the Borough. My fifteen months as Lambeth’s Commander were the most
challenging and most fulfilling of my police service. For me it was not just a job,
it was a personal commitment to those I worked for, both to the people of Lambeth and
to those brave and committed men and women, the police and support staff of Lambeth.
I look back on this time with enormous pride."
In the Home Affairs section of Saturdays The Guardian December 7th, 2002 Alan Travis
reports "In 15 months as commander of the south London borough, he [Paddick]
pioneered the "softly,softly" approach to the cannabis laws to be adopted in a
modified form around Britain next year. He also built up an impressive anti-crime
record."(1)
(1) - http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,855631,00.html
Paddicks announcement came Friday. Early Sunday morning from Ananova: "Police chiefs
drop 'three strikes' cannabis policy." They report: "The Association of Chief Police
Officers will abandon the tactic they announced just three months ago, the Police
Review magazine says."(2)
(2) - http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_723754.html
When The Guardian reports "modified form" apparently they are not kidding. It appears
that Paddick AND the "softly, softly" policy which he pioneered with success will
both be shoved aside. The very situation that the softly, softly approach was poised
to alleviate; that of some jurisdictions arresting everyday people with a little bit
of plant material deemed politically incorrect while others in other parts of the
countryside may be given a warning will apparently continue unabated. The "downgrade"
of cannabis will now likely have no real effect in the areas which needed the most
attention. Any chance at consistantly enforcing cannabis sanctions in a uniform way
will now be lost. But much more than that, with Brian Paddick "bowing out" of Lambeth
the orginating voice of reason and change for progressive cannabis policy is now also
lost. In fact under this scenario it is likely that the concurrent part of the policy
which increases by 100% the sentence someone may get for dealing in cannabis will
just push the price up.
"Were I now to return to Lambeth as the Borough Commander, certain sections of the
media, whose intentions have been clear from the start, would no doubt highlight and
exaggerate the challenges that Lambeth faces. I would anticipate unreasonable and
unjustified attention on the work of my colleagues in the police and unfounded
criticism of them should crime rise for any reason."
I'm sorry I just don't buy this line of reasoning. To do otherwise is to admit that
tabloid journalism rules the Metropolitan police force. Paddick was cleared.
Something else has to be at work here. In other news earlier Thursday was this also
from Ananova, they reported a headline "Big rise in stop and searches on black
people" and said "The Metropolitan Police showed huge increases in the number of
blacks and Asians stopped and searched in 2000/2001 - up 30% and 40% respectively -
compared with an increase of just 8% for whites. The rest of England and Wales showed
2% fewer whites were being stopped and searched, while there was a 6% rise for blacks
and a 16% rise for Asians."(3)
(3) - http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_705150.html
Maybe it's the distance. I don't know. It seems to me that in the face of these very
recent revelations Brian Paddick is needed more than ever to play a large part in helping to get these
kinds of trends in true line and more fair for real people. This would be the worst
time to let the tabloids guide British Drug Policy. These three things I have
recounted thus far are a recipe for disaster:
People can still be arrested for cannabis on the first offense so the "softly,
softly" policy is effectively gutted. This fact will be exacerbated by new stiffer penalties
making cannabis dealing an offense that used to possibly garner seven years, now
changed to fourteen. And blacks and Asians are being stopped in record numbers.
Does anyone else see trouble up ahead in the face of all that? Why would this be a
good time to forcefully remove a police chief who was promised his job back by his
boss if the charges proved untrue? Why indeed take him from Brixton when 5,000
citizens signed a petition in his favor? At this obviously troubled and maybe worsening time?
"The Commissioner has made it clear that I should move on to other duties. Were the
Commissioner and his senior colleagues to be pressurised, against their own
professional judgement, into reversing their decision, I could not be sure that the
London Borough of Lambeth would get the level of support from Scotland Yard that it
needs and has every right to expect. My successor is more likely to secure such
support."
This in itself is extremely troubling. BBSNews got the story from John Stevens office
that "Sir John is not a liar." They claimed that he did not issue any statement that
Paddick would be reinstated. And yet the story is still live on The Guardian Website.
The Guardian has proven integrity. If the reporting was incorrect they would issue a
change. BBSNews has already reported this fact. Paddick is not so subtly implying
that if he got his job back, there would be somehow a breakdown in law enforcement
support from Scotland Yard. I find this an amazing assertion. If Paddick is restored
to the community that showed him so much an outpouring of unprecedented support, as
per the word of Sir John Stevens as reported in the Guardian and by various accounts
from those local to the situation in Brixton Forum, urban75.com, this would result in
what? Unanswered calls for service or other slow downs or stoppages that have plagued
various police forces at one time or another on either side of the pond? The $64,000
question is why? Why would Scotland Yard not continue to work well with Paddick reinstated to Lambeth?
"For these reasons it is with great reluctance that I have decided it is time for me
to put the needs of Lambeth before my own desire to return. However unfair and
unjustified, I believe it is now in the best interests of Lambeth that I move on."
If it is "unfair and unjustified," and now that the community is facing these newest
challenges to Britains policing that I have already outlined, it is my opinion that
this is the worst time for Brian Paddick to be forced out of Lambeth. I don't
understand, in the face of the obvious community support in what looks like a
critical need to administer to the community, with one of the most accepted and
experienced officers that have apparently come to the scene in a long time, that this
is a good idea. What on Earth is going on here?
"I have spent most of my twenty-six years police service working in London boroughs.
Having been a commander in two different boroughs over a period of four years, I am
one of the most experienced ACPO rank officers in borough policing. I can with
authority say, based on the size, complexity and challenge of the job, my successor
in Lambeth should be of ACPO rank."
What can be the reason to take
"one of the most experienced ACPO rank officers in
borough policing" away from Lambeth? This is a most crucial time according to the
news reports. A savvy and in touch London Borough Commander would be of the utmost
use in helping to defuse what looks to become a very thorny issue in the UK.
"I want to thank all my supporters for their unswerving loyalty. It was a privilege to
serve you as Lambeth’s Commander. I will continue to have close links with the
borough and with Brixton in particular. I hope to serve you again in the future in
some other capacity. Lambeth is a wonderful place, a great Borough and I wish you all
every success in the future."
Who will be their voice now Brian? Who will be their voice?
Commander Paddick, please say it ain't so?
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