Police culture and policing must improve
JVL Introduction
The police continue to make mistakes; handcuffing Henry Nowak as he was dying is one of them but there are many more. Here Jonathan Cook makes the connections between the this tragic incident and the treatment of Child Q, the response to the murder of Stephen Lawrence and to the policing of Palestine protests and of the importance of evidence.
Politicians like Nigel Farage are happy to ignore the wishes of Henry Nowak’s family not to use his death to divide and prioritise making political capital from the appalling treatment he received as he bled to death. However, all research shows that Black people are, for example, significantly more likely to be stopped and searched and to use force against people from minority ethnic communities than White people. Report after report and commitment to improve have led, perhaps, to incremental changes but not to the meaningful improvement that is needed.
But, as Cook shows here, the police have (at best) learned the wrong lessons from the Macpherson report that followed the murder of Stephen Lawrence; in relation to antisemitism and actions in support of Palestine and Palestinians, feelings of discomfort by (some) Jewish people take precedence over facts.
This article was originally published by Jonathan Cook's Substack on Thu 4 Jun 2026. Read the original here.
UK policing culture – from the Nowak murder to crushing protest – grows ever more rotten
The goal of the Israel lobby has been to loosen evidence thresholds, constrain critical thinking, and redefine racism and criminality. The effects have bled into dangerous new policing norms
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I have encountered local policing at basic level which is ignorant, uniformed and crudely biased. I have rarely met with better elements in the police.
Compliance of the police, establishment politicians, media and judiciary with the requirements of the truly terrorist and genocidal zionist state of Israel is sadly well established within our country to the detriment of most of us.
Among the many important articles JVL has shared, this is one of the most important. I urge JVL to urge Jonathan Cook to urge the Guardian and others if possible to reprint it in a prominent place in the newspaper. The fact that the Jewish community is at war within itself, full of anger with each other, because of the unwillingness to condemn Israeli genocide and mass murder, also needs more attention. It helps to let Israel off. Moreover, the impunity being permitted to Israel, which I think is at least partly a consequence of Hitler, also needs recognising, naming and challenging.