It is time we start showing our police officers some respect and stop this anti police narrative.

In 1966 Harry Roberts was sentenced to life imprisonment after brutally murdering two police officers in cold blood. Roberts had feared that plain clothes officers who had approached his vehicle where he sat with an accomplice, would see the firearms he had in the vehicle that he and his gang had planned to use in a robbery. Roberts exited his vehicle and shot two officers, whilst one of his accomplice’s shot a third.

This caused a huge stir across the capital. Londoners were shocked and appalled at the execution of three police officers. When the men, including Roberts were bought back to Shepherds Bush police station, over 600 members of the public stood in solidarity with their police officers. The 18,500 London police officers all pledged to donate a day’s pay to the families of the officers, people rushed to show their support to London’s officers and stood side by side with them.

The most moving story is that of ten year old Nigel from Peterborough who heard of the horrendous murders and held a jumble sale at his home. His money was just short of the 30 shillings he aimed to make, so he literally sold the shirt of his own back.

Sadly in today’s society, the exact opposite would happen. Money would be raised for those who killed the officers and the police station would not see any protest against police murderers. So, the question to ask is just why have our officers, the majority of whom do an outstanding job in our community, reached levels where some members of the public show them complete contempt and disdain?

The answer is a combination of events that has seen a comprehensive guide to ruining our police services right across the country. The biggest factor has been as we so frequently write about, the brutal cuts in funding that has meant police forces have not been able to function as they should. This has consequently caused the public to rightly be angry when officers have not come out for burglaries or their crimes have gone unsolved due to the extremely high quantity of work officers have had.

The cuts have also meant vetting processes for officers has not been at the high standard it should be and as a result officers were employed who definitely should not have been. There have been numerous cases as we have seen of disgusting and appalling behaviour from officers that have left the public shocked. Behaviours that we do not expect from our officers. It is also important to note that that it is these horrendous officers that have given the many, many decent officers out there a bad name.

There has also been a proactive anti police campaign that has given those who love a bash at our police officers, even more impetus to make their dislike as vocal as possible. There are some across our communities who will actively look to be as negative and detrimental as possible towards our police officers, regardless of the situation. It was just last week that we saw members of a church, yes that is correct, members of a church in Hackney complain at officers throwing a few snowballs as the snow fell across east London. Not only did they complain but they asked that officers be reprimanded. Unbelievable. It is also worth mentioning here that in the summer, a member of the public complained at an officer for talking to him whilst he was wearing sunglasses. Let’s leave that there.

Unless you have spent a shift with frontline officers and have actively seen what they face daily, then your complaints are frequently unjustified. We know that officers undertake 12/13 hours shifts with very little time for breaks daily. We also know that what they deal with today, is often extremely traumatic and many as a result suffer high levels of PTSD that they struggle with. We also know that most of them joined to make a real difference in our society and do actually do that, even if they may not realise it. We also know that despite it being the most challenging job there is, it is one of the most vital and needed roles in our community.

It is time now that we stop this disrespect of the ‘feds’ and the ‘pigs’ and start returning to having appreciation for our officers, our decent, hardworking bobbies out there that are still doing their job despite the barrage of abuse they face.