Do police officers really ‘dread’ policing Notting Hill Carnival?
The question to ask is do our police officers really ‘dread’ policing the Notting Hill carnival? This has become the topic of discussion as the carnival returns after a two year absence due to Covid. However, its return has been marred by a fatal stabbing, further stabbings, the sexual assault of two female officers and 74 police officers assaulted. We have also seen streets covered in literally mountains of litter that would make the anti plastic campaigners cringe in horror.
Police Federation boss Ken Marsh stated on radio that police officers dread policing this event every year. This has left many angry at his comments saying they are completely unhelpful during a time when policing is in a very fragile state. Yet we ask the question do they really dread this carnival?
Imagine having your rest days cancelled, something officers are more than used to due to the ridiculous cuts. Starting your day at time when alarm clocks are still sleeping. Heading off to parts of London that are possibly miles away from your designated working area. Perhaps meeting old friends as you all head off to the same destination.
Lining the streets in preparation of the event, then policing the event for many long hours. A day of standing with with very little respite, very few breaks. Toilet facilities are very poor with your base perhaps a good 15 minute walk from where you are and having to fight your way through very large and noisy crowds to get there. For female officers, conditions can be even more challenging having to deal with poor access to toilets.
The noise factor can also be an issue for some, surrounded by very loud music non stop throughout the day for those with possible mental health issues, this can be a real challenge.
Then sadly as the evenings draw in, the violence erupts and the atmosphere changes drastically as things take a turn for the worse.
Could these factors be the reason some officers dread policing Notting Hill carnival?
Positive community engagement is vital to London and nobody wants to stop an event that brings so much enjoyment to many. Yet could this be the time to move this event now and not let it continue on our streets?
A bereaved mum has recently told the Havering Daily that the carnival should be cancelled until the horrors of knife crime have stopped, adding her voice to the many calling for it to be relocated or cancelled.
This debate will continue.
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Ken Marsh is a self-publicising motormouth, who repeats the same tiresome nonsense year after year, too lazy even to change the script.
Here’s news to Marshy: not all police officers dread policing Notting Hill Carnival. In fact – shock, horror! – some love it (and not just because of the tasty overtime payments). The two officers who accompanied our group all round the circuit had big grins on their faces at the end, posed for photos and said they couldn’t wait to do it all again next year.
Yes, some of their colleagues had a harder time of it and some were put in horrible positions in frightening situations – but sadly that’s the nature of the job, wherever and whenever it is. Police officers are assaulted daily on Britain’s streets, but we rarely hear about this. People are murdered every weekend; in fact, someone was stabbed to death in south London on August bank holiday weekend but they barely warranted a news in brief.
ONLY when someone is hurt at Notting Hill Carnival, ONLY THEN, does the media go into a feeding frenzy of hatred. Why? Well, let’s be blunt, it’s the UK’s biggest annual event run by (whisper it) black people. So any crime at all offers a (barely veiled) excuse for the Neanderthal prejudiced classes and their little troll friends to come out of the woodwork and demand that the event be “banned”. And are these complainers living in Chepstow Road or Ladbroke Grove? No, they write from Shropshire, Yorkshire, Essex… What right do they have to demand “banning” an event 100+ miles away that gives pleasure to a million people a year and generates £130 million-plus annually for the London economy.
Then there are those who comment ‘below the line’ from Russian troll farms. Their style gives them away – it’s English, but not quite as you and I know it. When you challenge them, they have no answer and disappear. Yet certain redtop national dailies actively encourage these socially divisive elements to sow racial hatred and suspicion.
I’m far from uncritical of the way Notting Hill Carnival is run. In my view it needs some radical changes, which will need buy-in from the councils, the Met and the residents. The real danger at Notting Hill is not that it’s too big but that it’s too small. The Met’s policy of ‘containment’ results in too many people being squeezed into too small a pressure cooker, meaning that overcrowding and crushing are a far more serious danger than crime or violence (which is actually below the London average per million people for a weekend).
As I always tell people, if you don’t go looking for trouble at Notting Hill, you won’t find it. After 35 years of attending the event, I never have, and nor has anyone I know.