British policing has “lost its way” and officers should stop taking actions – including ‘taking the knee’ and wearing partisan political badges or symbols – that could be seen as ‘woke’ by a public which has lost confidence in many forces across the country, a hard-hitting report has warned. MailOnline has more.
A manifesto by the Policy Exchange think-tank has urged Britain’s next Prime Minister to implement a series of drastic reforms that would protect citizens from a mounting tide of violent crime and disorder and restore public confidence in policing.
The report, entitled “What do we want from the next Prime Minister?”, makes 11 recommendations including a “return to basics” and “focus on fighting crime”, “no more taking the knee and other acts that could be seen as ‘woke’”, tougher laws to clampdown on road-blocking eco-zealots and left-wing statue vandals, and a drive to recruit “hacker cops” to tackle a surge in fraud and online sexual abuse.
The author – David Spencer, a former Metropolitan Police officer and the head of Policy Exchange’s Crime and Justice department – also suggests abolishing the College of Policing, developing an app so local residents can report a range of offences directly to police, from violent crime to street-drinking and aggressive begging.
Critics have accused many of Britain’s police forces of “going woke” – whether by officers “taking the knee” as they did during the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd in the U.S. in 2020, “going soft” on eco-protesters from Extinction Rebellion and one of its offshoot factions, Just Stop Oil, or adopting the LGBT colours of Pride parades.
Read More: Police Told to Stop Being ‘Woke’ and Get Back to Basics
