"The Fire Rages In Every Way"

Tottenham, London.

The title of today’s blog is a quote from the diary of Samuel Pepys, 1966 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Pepys). Pepys was a 17^th Century London M.P whose famous diary gives the reader a snapshot of the most colourful city on Earth at a time of great change and progress caused by the restoration of the monarchy after years of instability and unrest caused by civil war and the Interregnum, the posh name for the period when we were a republic & had no Royal family.. Bad times.

Anyway, I’m not intending to give you a history lesson but after watching today’s news and the coverage of the rioting, looting and general civil unrest that has been tearing Tottenham apart for the last 2 days (Link- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14442935) I couldn’t help but wonder what the famous diarist would have made of it all.

The weekend of chaos, where fires were started and stores such as Currys were looted, (if anyone hears of a flat screen going??? 42’’, mail me!) started after an initially peaceful protest was hijacked by angry young hardcore fanatics and developed into full on violence that has continued for 2 nights.

The protest or vigil was organised by the family of Mark Duggan, a 29 year old man who was accidentally killed by the gunshot of an officer from the Metropolitan Police’s “Operation Trident” unit, which focuses on black gun crime in the area.

The family of the victim felt the need to protest at the way the Metropolitan Police handled the case and at the level of information that was available and the level of contact that was offered during the days after. I feel for the family. The Met handled my mother’s case and they are incredibly tight lipped. The make YOU feel like the criminal with the approach that it is “Police Business, NOT your business!” not that easy to swallow when a loved one is involved.

The family of the man were not initially contacted for 48 hours after the initial incident where the shooting took place, a disgusting amount of time without even a call to acknowledge the loss, if nothing else.

 A complaint has reportedly been lodged with the Police Complaints Commission but sadly, this, in MY experience is a total waste of time. The Met does what it seems to do best, (well definitely better than catching criminals) they conceal, they deceive and they control all available information in matters that are deeply important for the family of the victim in order for them to come to terms and deal with their loss.

The result is a tangible disconnect between the police and the methods they use when handling delicate issues and situations that has (in my opinion) only ever served to antagonise and aggravate situations that could be quelled and calmed.

To whip up frenzy when it could be controlled.

 To fail where they SHOULD succeed.

The spokesman for the MET said that the police knew nothing of the fact that the rioting had been advertised on Facebook and other social networking sites.

 ADVERTISED?

These guys had rallied together from miles around but hadn’t worked undercover or in secret they had advertised their plans. And the police missed it. 

Surely this is another sign that our law enforcers are out of touch with a vast section of the society that they are aiming to police.

This is all only weeks after the allegation about deception with regards to the press, specifically The Murdoch Empire and “those tapped calls”, that sparked a flurry of resignations ( which all SCREAM of dodgy goings on to me)

All this said it’s not shaping up to be a great summer for the Metropolitan police, who now have “thousands of hours of CCTV footage…” to trawl through identifying and convicting 100’s of rioters who "stole tens of thousands of pounds worth of property…."

Maybe if they spent those hours identifying & correcting the problems within their own establishment they would be better in tune to cope with their task.

Which brings me nicely back to my headline…

 “The fire rages everywhere & nobody, to my sight, endeavouring to quench it…”

The fires in Tottenham will be put out and the damage repaired. How long will it be before the flames within our establishments will be quenched too?

TheArtfulBlogger