Today's pathetic appearance by the Chief Constable of South Yorkshire police before the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, was overdue and showed what a shower his force are. Sadly, it probably showed how appalling our police are, generally, and what a depth our law enforcement services have sunk to.
South Yorkshire police entered into a deal of sorts with the BBC when they searched a home owned by Cliff Richard; basically, they told the Beeb what they were doing, told them where and when they were doing it and collaborated in a shocking act of utter injustice.
Richard was, apparently, unaware of what was happening, while the BBC and other media knew all about it. After the event, the police attempted to deny the truth of what had happened and they and the BBC blamed each other for the mess they'd jointly created. However, while the BBC has much to answer for, it is the police who are almost entirely to blame for the publicising of a search based on an unsubstantiated claim that Richard had assaulted a young man some 30 years ago, a claim that Richard vehemently denies.
Whether or not Richard did anything wrong is not the point. The actions of the South Yorkshire police in colluding with the BBC to publicise their search were utterly wrong and totally ignore the time honoured principal of 'innocent until proven guilty'. Their behaviour was disgraceful and their Chief Constable, the man ultimately responsible, must be sacked, along with whoever was involved in discussing their proposed actions with the media.
Have neither the police nor the media learnt anything from past events ?
No comments:
Post a Comment