The police watchdog had failed

The Guardian online reports: On Tuesday Jessica Leigh, one of the original vigil’s organisers said the watchdog report had failed to investigate how the cancellation of the event had led to more anger and the greater likelihood of public disorder.

Let me add: the watchdog failed to investigate the police's and  politicians' inability to foresee and anticipate what happened when they refused to cooperate with Reclaim These Streets and cancelled the event.

The Guardian online reports: The group Reclaim These Streets, formed of local women, had originally worked with police to organize a peaceful and short vigil to honour Sarah Everard. They said local police had originally been willing to work together, but had then said their “hands were tied” and they had to ban the event because of coronavirus restrictions. The group took the police to the high court for an emergency hearing on the day before the event was due to be held, but after their challenge failed, they cancelled the event citing the police’s “lack of constructive engagement”.

Jessica Leigh said: “There is no attempt in this report to address the issue that women now have less trust in the police than they did before the vigil. It is a missed opportunity to recognise the damage done by the police’s decision to push for the event to be cancelled, and exacerbated by their actions while policing the event.”

Let me add: the watchdog failed to anticipate the profoundly negative effect of its report. Young women determined to Reclaim These Streets have now less trust in the police than they did before the watchdog’s report was made and published.

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On March 13 I tweeted: Shouldn’t the police have helped to organise Sarah Everard vigil – helping to preserve social distancing, offering face masks to those who wouldn’t wear one – instead of cancelling it?

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The watchdog’s report is bedevilled by glaring inconsistency. It says on its website: ‘HMICFRS found that an event on Clapham Common could have taken place because the right to protest remains even during the pandemic. However, it said planning a COVID-friendly event at Clapham Common was not realistic because of the high number of people expected to attend and the limited time available to plan the event. The inspectorate concluded that, in this case, the Met’s decision to prioritise consistency with their approach to policing other mass gathering during the COVID-19 lockdown was right.’

The Associated Press says on its website on March 14: ‘Emotions were still running high Sunday, as several hundred demonstrators gathered outside London police headquarters. The crowds, which were peaceful, then marched to Parliament and laid down on the ground for a minute of silence to remember Everard.’

The policing of the event was impeccable. But imagine what would have happened if the event had been policed in line with ‘the Met’s decision to prioritise consistency with their approach to policing other mass gathering during the COVID-19 lockdown’.