This whole thing really worries me. I'm an ex officer.
I don't actually have a problem with the officers stopping Ricardo Dos Santos. Driving at 32mph in a 20 is a good reason for that. But it goes horribly wrong after that. I've stopped more cars than I care to remember, been assaulted plenty of times, and been scared for my safety on several occasions, but I think the level of aggression displayed by the officer who went to the driver's side door was excessive and set the tone for everything that followed. It's simple Bettari's box.
I'm not afraid to admit to and call our poor behaviour on the part of police. And I think the police have to do that before the public can be expected to change because as a public sector organisation funded by the public they have to be the one to make the first move and lead that change.
But as a former officer I also think the police can't do right for doing wrong. Decades of being run down by successive governments because it suited their ideology and allowed them to reduce public sector pay, years of being asked to do more with fewer officers (despite the uplift there are way less officers per head of population than before), gradual encroachment into areas that have nothing to do with the police and take away from core policing responsibilities have all contributed to this mess. We have a situation where local police consistently let down victims of crime because they spend most of their time picking up the pieces of an equally damaged NHS and social care system. Most police attention is gobbled up by a small proportion of incredibly demanding individuals, a surprisingly high proportion of whom aren't criminals at all but are very vulnerable. But it makes the police largely invisible to the rest of the population except for cases such as this (where they sometimes get it badly wrong). As a result the police no longer have a relationship with the local population. It's massively eroded the principle of policing by consent.
Police are human. No one joins to be popular and you do so with the knowledge that there will be times when you are in physical danger. However, I rarely felt that people were out to get me. A lot of police officers do feel that way now and worry that if they were attacked the crowds would be more likely to join in or film it rather than help them. This means they are constantly on the defensive and it doesn't have a positive outcome in most cases.
I genuinely believe my career was easier in some ways because I'm a fairly slightly built female. I don't look physically imposing, even in uniform. Like most cops I've learned how to project authority when I need to and I was physically quite capable of handling myself too, but my starting point was always communication because I didn't want to fight. My kit gave me an advantage but I'd prefer to avoid it as you've already lost control if it reaches that stage. Because we live in a society which is still quite sexist really, this worked for me really well. I had many a burly criminal with a long arrest record for assaulting police be very well behaved with me. I wouldn't necessarily expect it to go the same way with a male colleague, where patience can sometimes be interpreted as weakness, but a renewed focus on the ability to communicate with people is in my view one of the main ways out of the current mess.
The trouble is that the police need to feel confident to do that and I don't think a lot do. In my old force (not met) you'd spend 80% of your time single crewed. If that made you anxious and feeling under threat (which it does for many) there are negative coping strategies some officers learn - puffing yourself up to look more imposing and head off the threat, trying to dominate the situation, only going for the easy wins, etc. The trouble is you don't unlearn them on the rare occasions you're double crewed or out in a group and the combined effect is horribly authoritarian. It's really damaging.
I haven't read the hearing findings like @capabilityfrowns . I'd be surprised if all the officers who have donated to the fund have to be honest. I think what we're seeing is police officers using this fund to voice their collective discontent with police leadership and the government. The police never get a slap on the back for a job well done, no one promotes the good work they do. All that ever makes it into the press are the cases of misconduct. There are structural processes that force good officers into making poor decisions or not doing something properly and leave them open to misconduct allegations and yet they have no choice but to keep doing that in full knowledge that if it goes wrong they'll be hung out to dry. They're not allowed to strike or join a union. They have the federation but it has no teeth whatsoever. There's no other outlet for them to be heard. It's misplaced but this go fund me has become an outlet for all that anger, anxiety and disillusionment.
I don't know what the answer is. I think policing is in real trouble if I'm honest and I'm glad I'm no longer in it. I think the solution requires money to fix, too, which no one wants to spend on the police because they're a bunch of "racist, misogynist, homophobic idiots".
I'd start with a way more robust recruitment process. But if you want the right calibre of applicants you have to make policing an attractive occupation. At the moment, it's more denigrated than revered, so we need a PR campaign to balance the cases of wrongdoing with the multitude of occasions someone has had their life saved, or a dangerous offender is prosecuted, for example. If we only feed misconduct to the press can we be surprised if public confidence hits an all-time low? It encourages people to be wary of the police and encourages the fear and hostility on both sides.
Much, much more training on communication.
Targets set for positive engagement - instead of go out and stop search, go out and strike up a random conversation with a member of the public, for no reason other than because. It builds trust. Won't happen though because most cops are too busy being despatched to jobs to be actively patrolling these days. Stop search is increasingly rare on frontline teams.
Existing officers need to be double crewed. Evidence shows they make better decisions, investigate more thoroughly and quickly and morale is boosted.
BWV on at all incidents. Has a huge cost implication because of digital storage though.