Theresa May stuns Police Fed with vow to break its power

source: The Guardian
published: 22 May 2014

Theresa May said on Wednesday that the legitimacy of British policing was in jeopardy following the Stephen Lawrence and other scandals, in an uncompromising speech that also pledged to break the power of the officers’ once feared trade union.

The home secretary stunned delegates at the Police Federation conference in Bournemouth as she criticised officers for in some instances displaying a “contempt for the public” in their handling of sensitive cases.

Citing excessive stop and search inflicted on black communities and failures in handling domestic violence cases, May said problems appeared to lie with a significant minority of officers rather than just “a few bad apples”.

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