JBids

I can’t wait to work with you! 😅 My contact details are in my bio. 📲 And the new link is right here: open.substack.com/pub/brickc… #ThinBlueLine 🚨

A little trigger warning; that if you are or ever have been under investigation this will feel very, very familiar. But unless we talk about it, nothing will change. Police Misconduct processes are a mess and need sorting out, now. #ThinBlueLine 🚨

You know the best bit? Neither of these opinions matter. The use of force is up to the individual Officer to justify. Not the internet. The real question goes much higher. If you’re deploying Level Two Public Order Officers, why aren’t they in full kit? If they’re making arrests when outnumbered, they should be in the right dress to be protected from assault in the first place…🤷🏼‍♂️ #ThinBlueLine 🚨

Lots of messages and DMs about the PM’s suggestion to allow drinking in the stands at regulated football matches, so let’s dive in. 👀 I was a ‘Football Spotter’ (which became an ‘Operational Football Officer’) for a decade. The name change meant nothing other than more formal training by the UKFPU (United Kingdom Football Unit) which I would add is very good and thorough. I worked predominantly in the Premier League, but also in the Champions League and the Euros. I’ve worked in Holland, Germany, Poland and Italy and with Police Officers from all over the world in London when their teams have visited. I have met and policed a lot of football supporters from all walks of life and from all over the world too. The vast majority of football supporters love their team, travel everywhere they can with them and simply want to have a good time and see their team win. There is and has always been an element within some clubs that revolves around organised disorder and violence. I once stupidly put myself between two such elements on my own and was very, very lucky to come out unscathed. Policing operations when there are such elements, are huge. Take a look at last weekend’s London Derby in the Championship if you’d like to see the scale of the policing operation. These elements within a fan base are already very drunk and under the influence of controlled substances on the way to a fixture. Thankfully there is legislation to prevent someone who is drunk from entering a regulated football match as their propensity for anti social behaviour and spontaneous violence is high. Now you add a fresh pint to that combination that’s been missed on entry and there’s one outcome; it’s getting thrown, normally at the supporters across the segregation line or at the away goal keeper. In Europe they deal with this with huge spaces between rival fans and nets physically covering supporter groups to stop them throwing items at other fans and on to the pitch. Away supporters are also held back for hours for their own safety at these fixtures too. Now let’s get into that. It is an offence to throw anything anywhere inside a stadium during a regulated football match. So what happens when a passionate supporter celebrates too hard with a pint in their hand and it goes up in the air? Probably arrest and a football banning order in all honesty. Let’s also remember Baroness Casey’s damning report of the EURO’s final and that ‘Policing needed to take the ground early’. Ok so we’re stopping people drinking on the way to the game and outside the stadium, but not dealing with it in the stands anymore? And finally violence against women and girls, (which quite rightly remains a government and policing priority by the way.) We know statistically that domestic abuse rises after a loss during a football fixture, influenced by alcohol and or controlled substances. So why are we encouraging it? Football supporters all know they can have a drink at half time in the concourse and then return to enjoy the second half without needing or getting covered in beer. And frankly they’re happy with it. Here’s hoping the PM sees sense. #ThinBlueLine 🚨

September is suicide awareness month. We still don’t talk about Mental Health enough in Policing. So this is your reminder; at work you’re a number, but at home you are you. There’ll be other ways, and they’ll be other days, but they’ll never be, another you. #ThinBlueLine 🚨