Page 156 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

Acapulco café on Lozells Road, Handsworth and a police raid on the Villa
Cross public house in the same area.

Afterwards the blame game began with the police bearing the main brunt.
West Midlands Police Chief Constable Geoffrey Dear was quick to quash
allegations that officers were slow to respond.

A variety of organisations were blamed, including the Church of England,
with one minister saying “white-led churches had hardly learned to care
properly for their black members from the first generation of immigrants”.

A lack of black people working within social services was also used as an
excuse for the riots as well as jealousy of the successful Asian businessmen.

But eventually Geoffrey Dear, now a Lord, told how the root causes were
down to five factors: massive social deprivation, inadequate housing,
unsuccessful education, mass unemployment and racial discrimination.

Figures showed how unemployment in the area was running at 36 per cent,
three times the national average, and the worst in inner city Birmingham.

It was also claimed that drug dealers had feared for their livelihood after
police were carrying out raids in the area. It was this that initially orchestrated
the disorder, Lord Dear had said.

He added: “The police are all too often seen as the only readily identifiable
representatives of local or central government and can become the target
for hostility from those frustrated by the state of their society. What is certain is
that the start of any riot or serious disorder almost always involved a police
officer who may very well be carrying out his duty in the most thoughtful and
sensitive way possible.”
Figures released afterwards showed that more than 420 people were
arrested in connection with the event, including two for the murder of the
Moledinas, 18 for arson and 115 for burglary. Eventually it emerged that 236
had been convicted of looting. Goods worth more than £75,000 were
recovered.

Authors Riot

According to the media, the Second Handsworth Riots started on Monday 9
th
September and ends on Wednesday 11th September 1985. Whilst these were
nights when the violence, disorder and damage took place, officers would
be assigned to patrol duties in the area for weeks ahead until senior officers
felt that calm had returned.

I was assigned to riot van duties in Handsworth on Tuesday 10 and
th
Wednesday 11 September. I was assigned duties on a frequent basis over Page156
th
the following weeks, on either riot standby or additional foot patrol duties. This