Police officers who conceal their Force Identification Numbers “will face the sack” according to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson. He said it is “totally unacceptable” for officers not to wear their shoulder numbers.
From the BBC:
His comments follow allegation against several officers at the G20 protests – including the man who pushed newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson before he died.
New footage has emerged of the moments leading up to his death, as a third post-mortem examination was held.
Mr Tomlinson, 47, died minutes after he was pushed over during the demonstrations in central London.
The officer at the centre of the allegations has been suspended and interviewed under caution on suspicion of manslaughter.
Two previous post-mortem examinations have come to different conclusions on the cause of death – one coronary artery disease, the other abdominal bleeding.
Sir Paul said: “If somebody is trying to deliberately avoid being identified and the reason he is doing it is so he can behave inappropriately, badly or criminally, then of course they will face the sack.”
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3 Comments
How about “Will be sacked”, or is that a step too far for the man to say?
I’m afraid Sir Paul Stevenson’s comment is largely empty rhetoric. It will be quite impossible to prove that “somebody is trying to deliberately avoid being identified and the reason he is doing it is so he can behave inappropriately, badly or criminally,” unless the policeman is stupid enough to cough. Hence they will never face the sack. Every case identified, irrespective of the officer’s reason or behaviour should be a disciplinary offence that is dealt with most severely. Also, in order to make it more likely that unacceptable behaviour such as this does not go unmissed; it could be made an offence for the officer with the direct command role of the perpetrator to be disciplined as well.
A year later and not one officer has even been disciplined for it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/18/g20-protest-officers-not-disciplined-report
What a surprise.