Page 301 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

“The police are, and ought to be, independent of political control. They are there to hold the
ring of democratic argument and they rely for their effectiveness on the decent instincts and
civilized standards of the people they represent and defend”.
Politicians were running the job now, from the outside and within and it didn’t
appeal to me one bit. Perhaps I was too idealistic, perhaps I was expecting
too much. I knew I couldn’t see myself doing the same DC’s job for another
20 years, although I had that option. I also knew I could not face a future as a Page300
bureaucratic politician. Whilst Leadership had never frightened me, I knew it
wasn’t my raison d’etre for joining the police.