East Oxford Green Party subsidising local cops

Sadly this is true of most Greens. Best of intentions, but absolutely no class politics whatsoever.

until someone near and dear to you gets mugged/burgled/raped/murdered.

I don't think I know of one Green Councillor who hasnt been on the receiving end of police 'neutrality'. But not every policeman is bad. Proper, accountable, community policing is the soundest option but - in the absence of this - local cycle bobbies who know their patch and are responsive to local communities are the best compromise. It is either bike bobbies or imported panda car hard nuts. Doing nothing would have meant more of the latter.

The Greens have taken up many cases of 'excessive' policing. Most recently, the very same East Oxford Green Cllrs criticised here took up the Robin Goodenough case - for which police are currently on trial (incidentally, none of the bike bobbies were involved).

We take all complaints about local policing seriously and pursue every one.

Hmmm - so if I have no insurance, the point of going to the cops about a burglary would be what exactly? They don't have a very good clear up rate .......

As for muggings and murders - a lot of muggings aren't reported, but you hardly have a choice with murder - the cops have a monopoly on crime solving, and they're pretty bad at it, as well as disempowering ordinary people to deal with the stuff they see happening.

None of which changes the fact that in face to face dealings with coppers, they are shit.

;)

"until someone near and dear to you gets mugged/burgled/raped/murdered" - that's because the police haven't done their job and prevented crime. Low crime clear up rate, New Labour growth industry. And we don't have a choice if there's no alternative to the police.

To take you up on your point about 'bicycle bobbies who know their patch' versus 'imported panda car hard nuts'. I have seen bicycle mounted police harassing youths on a regular basis -- overwhelmingly they harass asian, black and white working class youth. I'm talking about an area of East Ox where many students live. Many of the students cycle without lights, but for some reasons they are never the ones pulled up for it, or for having loud parties.

In most cases, city police 'knowing their patch' means that they know whose interests they work in -- who to harass and who to protect. East Ox is being gentrified fast, and the 'bike bobbies' are just as much part of this process as police transported any other way.

Really, the idea of Greens supporting bike-mounted police -- simply because they are bike mounted -- rather calls to mind the old joke about ozone-friendly CS gas and renewable wood truncheons. I'm all for measures designed to increase residents' powers over the police, or to make the police more accountable to our needs, but I can't see that this bike measure actually affects this.

What makes you think I'm American??

To be controversial on this most activist of websites its probably not going too far to suggest that most people in East Oxford probably don't want a radical alternative to the police and arent interested in anarchist dreams of self organisation. They just want their councillors to fund the most community based form of policing available which is bike police. I dont think that councillors should strike radical poses to the detriment of the majority of people who elected them. Its fashionable to hate the police but I dont see most of the people on this website forming community self defence squads and I also dont see the government letting them if they tried!

I don't think that the overall tone of this message is intended to be a call to mobilise East Oxford into a radical self-organised, self defencing community (although that would be pretty cool).

Basically, this is a question of fairness and accountability for both Greens and the Police. Think about it - why buy brand new bikes when there are so many, decent second hand ones to be had (and the Greens could probably have purchased 4 bikes instead of two). Buying new is hardly "Green"!

The argument here is that many people in the East Oxford area may not be able to afford bikes old OR new. Why should only two police benefit here whilst many others don't?
As for 'A Green Councillor's' point on:
"It is either bike bobbies or imported panda car hard nuts. Doing nothing would have meant more of the latter."
Then why not tackle the root cause (and culprits) then? Seriously, do you think that two bikes is going to stop these 'hard nuts' or lessen the police's ecofootprint?!

Theoretically, if you're going to preach a green political mandate why not buy the entirity of the TVP bikes?! If you're wanting "proper, accountable, community policing" then make it a priority in your dealings with the council. As 'A Green Councillor' admits - many people (be they Green Party members, working class Oxfordians or students) have been on the wrong end of police 'neutrality'. In stating: "Proper, accountable, community policing is the soundest option but - in the absence of this - local cycle bobbies who know their patch and are responsive to local communities are the best compromise" seems to be harking back to some halcyon by-gone days where community policing was like the script from Heartbeat. Sadly this isn't the case and I too have seen police harassing locals rather than dealing with 'real' crime (and here the debate floodgates can open for what people perceive 'real crime' to be).

Maybe the East Oxford Green councillors thought it was a nice idea, an early Christmas present for the cops, but I personally believe they have misjudged the situation. The reaction from the local community could be quite negative and this won't win them any votes.

Following the shooting of Charles de Menezes, perhaps you could fund knives for the officers to execute their duties in a more environmentally aware fashion similar to the bike initiative.

Why keep on whinging about the pigs you middle class individuals?

You could take in some of the following:

 http://www.iwca.info/

However, the Green Party are terribly middle class and I'm not sure I'd like to vote for those nasty workers.