"Police are being hung out to dry" retired officer chimes in on viral arrest clips

21 July 2020, 11:30

Ex-Police officer gives very different take to two viral clips

This retired policeman told LBC that he couldn't see any issue in the conduct of officers in the two videos of arrests that sparked pubic outrage.

Stuart was a police officer for thirty years and retired last year. He phoned Nick Ferrari to share his opinion of police conduct in the Bianca Williams arrest video and the most recent video of a police officer appearing to have his knee on the neck of a black man in London.

The caller didn't see any issue in the arrest of Bianca Williams. "They couldn't see into the car because of tinted windows, as soon as they've stopped it she's kicked off. They've done everything right." He said.

"The police officer is in control of the situation, not the suspect. At that time, she is the suspect and if you want to control everything, police officers can just sit in the nick and not do anything."

Nick argued that "separating a new-ish mum from her baby is not a good look" and that's what was clear in the Bianca Williams video.

"This has been looked at twice by the Met's own director of professional standards and they found no issue with it, and believe me, they would find issue if there was one."

Stuart then chipped in on the video of the man with an officer's knee seemingly on his neck which was circulated last week. He reminded Nick that the man was "in possession of a knife acting violently, he's correctly been handcuffed, he's lying on his side, and he's being controlled.

"Now the officer has one knee on his shoulder but he has his hand on his head so he's not going anywhere."

He added that "you've seen an edited clip on social media, nobody's seen the bodycam footage" and suggested that social media videos will always favour the victim.

Stuart imagined that current police officers would be "surprised and disappointed that any apology of any sort was made." To Ms Williams.

Met Police apologises to Bianca Williams for 'distressing' search

"Unfortunately when you arrest people, they don't like it, and if they get upset, well suck it up, buttercup."

When Nick asked the caller what he'd like to see done for confidence within the police service being restored, he told listeners that the "management board need to start actually backing their officers because otherwise they're going to stop working."

"People are definitely being hung out to dry." He concluded.