UK Riots: Acting Met Chief Rejects 'Feral Underclass' Analysis

Tim Godwin challenges Kenneth Clarke's description of people involved in last month's riots.












Tim Godwin has challenged the justice secretary’s description of those blamed for England’s riots as a 'feral underclass'.

Britain's most senior police officer has challenged the justice secretary's description of those blamed for England's riots as a "feral underclass".

Tim Godwin, the acting commissioner for the Metropolitan police, said he would not have used Kenneth Clarke's term as he outlined his vision for the future of policing in the wake of the violence to the London assembly.

Writing in the Guardian on Monday, Clarke said the civil unrest over the summer had revealed an urgent need for penal reform to stop reoffending among "a feral underclass, cut off from the mainstream in everything but its materialism".

His comments came as figures revealed that almost 75% of those aged over 18 who were charged with offences committed during the riots had previous convictions.

Godwin – one of four candidates aspiring to be the Met's next commissioner – queried Clarke's choice of description when asked by Brian Coleman, a Conservative member of the London assembly, what he wanted politicians to do as a result of the riots.

He said: "The one thing that has struck me about the comments made by the justice secretary recently in the Guardian article was that he used a term – that I particularly would not use myself – about 'feral underclass'.

"The use of the term 'feral' in terms of youth and inner-city was first used, as I recall, in my service here in about 2000 following the death of Damilola Taylor.

"I think the fact that term is still being used in terms of young people in our inner city … is a great challenge to us as a city."

He added: "It's a term I would not personally use, but I think we do need to understand the level of fear of crime that actually encourages them to join gangs."

Godwin said the revelation that the vast majority of people involved in the summer riots had previous convictions had been a "wake-up call" for the criminal justice system.

He added that there has "got to be a big debate in London in terms of how we empower local communities" and called for "a wholesale change" in the way people first entering the criminal justice system are dealt with.

This should include developing a "cohesive plan", such as increasing local justice, which would see people coming forward from communities to sit as local JPs.

Godwin said: "Robust enforcement is key, but at the same time we need people to volunteer and come forward and work to make those communities better and to reduce the fear of crime – specifically among young people in inner cities."

He also told the assembly that police had not anticipated the scale of trouble that hit the capital across 22 boroughs last month, but said his force would do everything in its power to avoid a repeat of the disorder.

"In terms of the future, we will make sure that we over-egg the pudding in terms of numbers," he added.

Godwin told City Hall on Wednesday that morale at the Met was as strong as it ever had been. He also said next year's operation at the Olympics "will be better as a result of the experience we have had".

His comments came a day after he gave evidence to the home affairs select committee on the riots.

The panel of MPs heard that the rioting will cost the taxpayer more than £133m in policing and compensation for businesses hit by the violence.

Cameron 'Will Allow TV Cameras Inside Courts'

The Prime Minister is expected to announce that television cameras will be allowed to film some elements of court proceedings, according to Sky sources.











At present cameras are banned from courts, apart from the Supreme Court.

The breakthrough comes after the Head of Sky News, who has spearheaded a campaign to televise court cases, wrote an open letter to the Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke urging him to take action.

John Ryley told him the public would have better understood controversial sentences passed on those involved in recent rioting and looting if judges' remarks had been televised.

Broadcasters have been pressing for some years for cameras to be allowed into courts, but at present cameras - including video cameras - are banned from courts in England and Wales by section 41 of the Criminal Justice Act 1925.

The one exception is the Supreme Court where, for the past two years, cameras have been allowed to film proceedings.

Sky's home affairs correspondent Mark White said the changes, set to be announced by Mr Cameron on Tuesday, were a "significant development".

He said that the move would probably see broadcasters allowed to air the sentencing remarks of judges rather than entire trials.

Mr Ryley's proposal, put together with senior management at the BBC and ITN, was for limited coverage of court proceedings, which would not show vulnerable witnesses.

He said: "Sky News welcomes the decision and looks forward to working with the judiciary to bring about more transparency in our justice system."

Legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg said he was surprised that the Government was moving to change the guidelines so soon after the renewed pressure.

"You will see someone convicted, you will see someone being sentenced, but the witnesses who might otherwise be discouraged from giving evidence won't be shown under what we understand the Government's plan to be," he said.

He said the law will have to be changed in Parliament - meaning it might be up to a year before the first television pictures are aired from criminal courts.

I find it quite difficult to think of any arguments against doing it.
John Whittingdale MP

Conservative MP John Whittingdale, the chair of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, told Sky News the changes were "long overdue".

He said he would be "surprised" if any MPs or peers objected to the proposal.

"I find it quite difficult to think of any arguments against doing it.

"It seems to me fairly evident we want to encourage people to... respect the law more, this has to be the right thing to do."

However, not everyone is in favour of the changes.

Baroness Helena Kennedy, speaking earlier on Sky News, warned that such a move "undermines justice" - and that the only cases that would be given real coverage would be "salacious" ones.

In January 2010, Mr Ryley announced a campaign to get TV cameras into other courts, which he said would include legal challenges to the current ban on cameras in court.

Kenny MacAskill Looks Abroad For A Case For Single Police Force

Kenny MacAskill has outlined the case for a single police force in the face of opposition from councils and some parts of the service across Scotland.







Kenny MacAskill: ‘We will not attack pay and conditions'.

The justice secretary told a conference of police leaders from this country and across Europe that the alternative to reform was to "jettison" officers and slash their pay and conditions.

The International Policing Summit was held yesterday to hear from other countries that have faced reform, or are going through it now.

Representatives from Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands all spoke about the benefits and problems of restructuring.

It followed a conference held by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) last week as part of its campaign against a single force.

The Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, has also voted against a national structure, while superintendents have backed it and chief officers have been split.

However, Mr MacAskill, who is expected to spell out the timetable for the creation of a single force following an announcement on 7 September, said it would provide "greater benefits" which other options for change do not deliver, and he was "convinced" the case had strengthened following debate over the summer.

"I can't expect people to do more with less, or the same with less, but less there will be," he said. "The way to deal with that is to change the way we do things, to do away with any unnecessary costs."

Referring to proposed changes in England and Wales, Mr MacAskill added: "We will not see officers jettisoned. We will not attack the pay and conditions of those whose service we rely on.

"That, ladies and gentlemen, is the alternative."

There were plenty of warnings from representatives of countries further along the path of police reform than Scotland.

In Northern Ireland, a huge number of watchdogs had meant the national police force had at times found itself more interested in "measuring and not on delivering", Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said.

Denmark found that reform made policing better, but not cheaper as it had hoped.

Norway - whose experience Denmark had tried to learn from - said hopes that it would deliver more uniformed officers on the streets never became a reality.

In Finland - which already had a national force, but reduced the number of districts while also creating a national board - local councillors lost all say in the way policing in their communities was delivered, although Senior Officer Konsta Korhonen told the conference this had not been seen as a bad thing.

In fact, he added, Finland had one of the highest rates of police satisfaction in the world.

Deputy Chief Inspector Simon O'Brien, of the Garda Siochána Inspectorate, warned a robust external inspector would be essential to the success of a single police force.

However, none of the delegates warned Scotland against the expected moved to a national structure.

Cosla criticised the Scottish Government for not inviting delegates from countries with strong regional policing models.

Cosla president Pat Watters said: "Why is the government unwilling to listen to any examples from abroad of strong regional policing?

"The government's unwillingness to listen is both dispiriting and disappointing - one police quango, one fire quango, one view allowed, one theme emerging - a government that, certainly on this issue, will not listen.

"It seems that the government does believe that it has a mono-poly on wisdom after all."

Alison McInnes, the Scottish Liberal Democrats' justice spokeswoman, who was in the audience, said outside the conference: "These flawed plans will only erode local accountability and community decision- making."

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland has been divided on whether there should be a single force, with Colin McKerracher of Grampian, and Ian Latimer, who retired this year from Northern, being vocal in their opposition.

However, Kevin Smith of Central said he was convinced that restructuring the police force in Scotland "would not break it".

He added: "There are many, many positive things that will be achieved by a single service."

Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland, Scotland's most senior public prosecutor, said "certain safeguards" would need to be part of any new police structure.

He warned the police must work "for reasons of public justice" and "not to create tabloid headlines or serve the interests of the political party in power".

"Independence is crucial and should be incorporated in law," he added.