‘The police already have plenty of powers to tackle terrorism’ - Independent readers have their say

Have your say: Independent readers mostly agreed that officers already had enough powers to adequately deal with acts of terrorism

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Downing Street has said it has no plans to give police more powers, despite calls for tougher terrorism legislation in the wake of a pro-Palestine rally where “jihad” chants were heard.

Earlier this week Sir Mark Rowley met the home secretary Suella Braverman to discuss her demand for officers to use the “full force of the law”.

He suggested that laws around extremism should be redrawn since they had failed to take into account “truly toxic messages” online.

However, No 10 hinted police are unlikely to be given more powers to address chants and other forms of protests deemed to be pro-extremist.

We wanted to know whether you would welcome more powers to allow police officers to tackle terrorism. Or are the options already in place sufficient enough to allow demonstrations to go ahead without impinging on our fundamental right to free speech?

Independent readers mostly agreed that officers already had enough powers to adequately deal with acts of terrorism. However many were also critical of the police, citing lack of “bobbies on the beat”, “training” and “engagement with the community”.

Here’s what they had to say:

‘It’s almost like she wants a terrorist attack to occur’

The police already have plenty of powers to tackle terrorism. More importantly, given the 30 year war against the PIRA, they should have accumulated plenty of experience.

What they need is greater numbers and higher-quality personnel. The BBC’s focus on fraud this week, for example, has revealed a strange unwillingness on the part of the police to arrest members of Organised Crime groups, despite members of the public handing them the criminals on a plate. It’s almost as if too many police officers are only interested in a quiet life and drawing their pay.

As to Braverman’s outrageous demand that the police and “trusted partners” like the CST (!) inform the Home Office so they can deport people who “appear” to support Hamas, quite apart from the onesidedness and racist assumptions of that demand, that seems absolutely guaranteed to alienate the very communities the police would need to pass them intelligence about potential terrorist activities.

It’s almost like she wants a terrorist attack to occur.

Northwing

‘Collective punishment cuts both ways’

The death toll in Gaza of civilians is heading for 6000 with almost half of them children, all killed by the Israeli Army. Our politicians are saying this is legitimate and within international law. There is clearly something drastically wrong with those laws.

When they fail to condemn this slaughter they are acting on our behalf as the leading spokesmen and women in this country. Whether we like it or not we all become targets for revenge. Collective punishment cuts both ways.

Attacks can happen anywhere in the world at any time. More Police will not help. What we need are better, more able and sensible politicians who do not all act in the same kneejerk way to events merely to fall in to line with what dominant world leaders say and do. We need leaders of stature and ability. Harold Wilson resisted enormous pressure from America and kept us out of their Vietnam catastrophe.

At the moment the standard of British political leaders is abysmal and they are putting us all at risk through their irresponsible statements and actions.

fishandart

‘Our police service is supposed to be part of the community’

The police don’t need new powers, they got them in the early 2000s. What they need is training and engagement with the community so they actually know what’s going on.

Our police service is supposed to be part of the community, know the local people, not act like some great jackboot that only intervenes when things go too far.

Streak

‘We abandoned proper policing years ago’

I recognise terrorism as an attack by foreign nationals who live here and their supporters.

Violence inflicted on us by local yobs are a police matter. We abandoned proper policing years ago by closing police stations and withdrawing local beat bobbies. I grew up with literally a supplementary father in the shape of our bobbies patrolling day and night and correcting individuals they found behaving badly.

They knew their beat intimately and provided much support to old and elderly. Feral youths and children were corrected very early on. Information could be passed up to higher authority about any event in their patch. The policeman was often an ex-serviceman with personal integrity and robust manners and leadership style.

Oldandwise