‘Supervision’ is not enough; the IPCC must handle this investigation themselves
Jody McIntyre (Photograph: Hamde Abu Rahme)
When yesterday’s headlines announced that the police would be ‘probing’ my official complaint to the IPCC, after being dragged out of my wheelchair by an officer at Thursday’s student demonstration, some kind of medical examination was the first thought that popped into my mind. But upon closer examination, it becomes evident to me that the IPCC have no interest in getting to the truth of the matter, let alone handing out some kind of justice.
Of course, I will be fully co-operating with the investigation, and will be offering my help in any way possible, but if the IPCC were intent on ensuring this incident was independently and fairly investigated, then they would manage the thing themselves. Instead, they have left the matter to the Metropolitan Police Service’s Directorate of Professional Standards, under their ’supervision’. Essentially, the police are being left to investigate their own actions. Sound a bit suspect?
IPCC Commissioner for London, Deborah Glass, said in yesterday’s statement – “There is no doubt that this footage is disturbing…” But why is this footage in particular disturbing? Surely it is no more disturbing than the footage the Metropolitan Police must be in possession of? Footage of what happened to Alfie Meadows? Footage of mounted police charging into crowds of students and school children?
The government certainly isn’t disturbed, calling for the police to be “more robust” at future demonstrations. This provoked shock throughout the country, with the suggestion of water cannons proving one step too far, even for Theresa May. But British forces have been using water cannons for decades in Northern Ireland, and far more dangerous weapons in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of course, under the ideology of imperialism, they are the “unpeople”, and any amount of violence can be used to deal with them, without a second thought. By the sounds of the government’s increasingly threatening rhetoric, however, it seems that it won’t be long before we are treated to similar measures.
I am not the real victim of police violence; the cases of real concern are Sean Rigg, Ricky Bishop and Blair Peach. The real victims are all those who have died in police custody, but never got a front page story. Their families will never get justice, until this out-dated system is drastically reformed.
The IPCC may not consider the attack of a disabled man by police officers as sufficiently “serious” for them to investigate themselves, but, with 5000 complaints against the BBC, and 1000 complaints against the Daily Mail for their coverage of my story, it is becoming increasingly clear that the majority of the public thinks that it is.
