In my younger days, I used to delight in some of the satire in Viz magazine. As young adolescents, it appealed to our somewhat warped sense of humour and the characters were literally fantastic - or so we thought.
The news that one of the policemen involved with the Andrew Mitchell "plebgate" affair has been found guilty of misconduct in public office seems to validate the worst aspects of the character "PC Hopper - Bent Copper". Referring frequently to the wrongful imprisonment of the Guildford four and the Birmingham six, this cartoon portrayed the police to be people with integrity of the variety which we wouldn't take kindly to. In time, the references spread to the handling of the Hillsborough tragedy and today's news is just the latest in a long line of examples.
My point though is this. Is there any other organisation in the country which could behave so appallingly and yet take such a painfully long time to take action? All this does is to reinforce the popular view that the police have simply become a law to themselves. There are no winners in this story because Andrew Mitchell has had enough mud thrown at him to put paid to any realistic chances of a comeback. I suspect that this has been the intention all along though and it has done the police no credit. Their recent appearances before the Commons Select Committee showed no regret or contrition. They clearly resented having to be there and their contempt was palpable.
We used to think Viz was just a bit of fun but I'm now starting to see the serious side...
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