At the BBC we used to do our public order training alongside the Metropolitan Police. As they practised dispersing “rioters” on a mocked-up council estate in Gravesend, we practised hurling interview questions at harassed unit commanders. Nearby, every so often, a volley of automatic gunfire would go off, as the elite specialist firearms unit MO19 were put through their paces.
The unspoken question was, of course, why does the Met spend so much time and energy practising being at war with London’s population? Thanks to the Casey Report we have a definitive answer. Mentally, the force is in conflict with the values of the very society it is supposed to be policing.
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