wheresrhys

Delroy 'Someone get the Febreeze' Smellie versus a threat to the nation

I’ve recently started, against my better judgement, watching Deadwood, which everyone says is a must-watch tour-de-force. It’s better than Lost, I’ll give them that, and is in fact pretty enjoyable. Set in the untamed gold prospecting frontierlands of America, it’s a grittier, darker, more unpredictable picture of the wild west. I’ve just watched episode 4, in which a guy who shoots *censored* dead in front of a bar full of witnesses is found not guilty. It’s unexpected plot turns like this, drawing the world as a corrupt, depressing place where certain people are beyond the reach of justice, that make the series so compelling.

I’d like to say that events like today’s acquittal of policeman Delroy ‘What’s that stink?’ Smellie, who famously hit a rather small woman protester several times on camera make life a more compelling experience, but alas they just give it a sinister air. If you watch the video I’m sure you’ll agree that his defence of ‘self-defence’ is fiction enough for a whole series of Deadwood. Though not as cleverly written; apparently only judges can suspend their disbelief long enough to find the main conceit credible.

The district judge, Daphne Wickham, said there was no evidence that his use of the baton was not approved, correct or measured, adding that Smellie had a “mere seven seconds” to act, and other witnesses had feared for his safety.

Personally I think that “7 seconds to act” when faced with being shouted at is a poor excuse for violence. Especially when you’re a policeman. And if you watch the video I have no idea where this “7 seconds to act” comes from. Just because he lost his cool in 7 seconds and lashed out does not mean he had only 7 seconds to act, it just means he needs to find better ways of dealing with confrontation than violence. I’m reminded of Begbie in trainspotting.

Now that an election’s up for grabs I wish one of the two main parties was less in thrall to the police. I really do. Maybe I’ll write to my MP.

Or maybe I’ll just snigger at the fact that Delroy ‘wake up and smell the faeces’ Smellie is so stupid he beats up girls  in front of  about 20 photographers. And then cower in fear.

It’s become de-rigeur these days to trundle out the fact that the UK has the highest density of CCTV cameras in the world, and then to follow it with the opinion that it’s all some sort of sinister creep towards a police state. I’m not going to do that, but I did however read today about something similar, particularly close to my heart as if it had been the case a couple of years ago I probably would have found myself repeatedly stopped by the police.

Apparently police have been misusing the new anti-terrorism laws to stop people taking photos of buildings in sensitive areas, eg. ‘Alex Turner, an amateur photographer, was arrested under section 44 after taking images of a fish and chip shop in Kent’. Now, I know that the jihadists are eager to preserve cod stocks, and the IRA want to keep all those lovely potatoes for themselves (just in case), but I can’t help thinking that it may have been an over-reaction.

More usual than that bizarre police intervention is that photographers – tourists, amateurs and journalists (presumably with press passes) – are being stopped from taking photos in the City of London. So if I was still writing my London skyline blog I would have either had to stop or accept being hassled by the police as routine. This is the first time* the police’s sinister side has crossed my path (albeit 2 years too late). I don’t like that they can infringe on my ability to carry out my innocent daily business.

I expect a lot of people in other perfectly innocent walks of life have had far more vivid encounters than this to teach them to be wary of the British police, so I suppose I should count myself lucky.

*Aside from busking, student protests, and a horrible incident where a brute of a copper looked like he was going to arrest an acquaintance for accidentally kicking a football at someone who had foolishly decided to have a picnic behind our goals.