Brian Paddick
|
|
Brian Paddick was a Commander of the Metropolitan Police in England who currently holds the post of Deputy Assistant Commissioner. In 2002 he caused outrage in England when, as borough commander for Lambeth, he instructed his officers not to arrest or charge people who were found to be in possession of cannabis. His instructions were for officers to issue on-the-spot warnings and confiscate the drugs. Although he came up with the idea, the pilot programme was sanctioned by the Commissioner of Police for London.
His actions had an extremely positive effect on the crime rate of the Brixton area, and relations between the community and police improved dramatically. His popularity was also boosted by his willingness to engage in debate with the local community: he registered an account on the forums of urban75, a Brixton-based community website. However the national press in the UK heard about what he had done and overnight the issue became a national scandal.
The situation worsened when the press published a story by a former lover that Commander Paddick had used cannabis himself. They also highlighted his homosexuality as an area for concern, and claimed he was an anarchist (taking a comment made on urban75 completely out of context).
Although he was never suspended from the police while the allegations made by the press were investigated, no charge was brought against him; he has been reinstated, and subsequently promoted to Deputy Assistant Commissioner.
The situation did, however, encourage the British government to re-evaluate their policies with regard to drugs, and a change in the law to decriminalise cannabis from a class B to a class C drug was suggested. Subsequently the law was altered in February 2004. See Cannabis: Legal issues.
He is not related to the actor Hugh Paddick, who was also a famous gay man in his day.
External link:
- The post on urban75 by Paddick which begins with "The concept of anarchism has always appealed to me." (http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=8148&postcount=70)