Call the cop
Post categories: 5 live blog,ÌýChris Mason,Ìýpolitics
| 15:19 UK time, Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Where else on national radio could you pick up the phone and have a chat with the UK's most senior policeman?
The Commissioner of the Bernard Hogan-Howe, was on with Victoria this morning.
An hour of conversation, with questions via text and calls from you.
The gist of the reaction we had from most was he sounded like an ordinary bloke you could have a drink with. In public life, that is a line worth banking. Mind you, and as Mr Hogan-Howe happily acknowledged, he's only been in the gig for a few months, and there may be quite so much effervescent praise a few years down the track.
So what did we learn? And what did you make of it? You can listen to Victoria's interview here on the 5 live website - scroll about 20 minutes in.
Mr Hogan-Howe said he agreed with remarks by the Chief Constable of , , that the riots in the summer probably would not have occurred elsewhere if police in London had acted faster.
But he is clearly irritated Mr Fahy decided to share his thoughts publicly. The new Commissioner told Victoria he wished Peter Fahy had kept his thoughts private, because it created tension between different police forces.
What else did he tell us?
He's clearly irritated too by a judge ruling that swearing at officers shouldn't be a crime. Yes, swearing is a part of life, he said, and we respect the law, but it's not a good thing for officers to be abused in that way. What do you think?
He also confirmed that next year a new campaign will be launched in London, called KnifeStoppers. It'll encourage people to tell the police about those who are carrying knives. Would you shop your own child? Mr Hogan Howe said he would, but added he hoped it'd never get to that stage.
And should all police officers carry Taser stun guns? Mr Hogan Howe confirmed that he wanted to see "wider availability" of stun guns, but that did not mean that every police car or every police officer in London would be equipped with one.
What else caught your ear? We learnt his police issue clip on tie is useless, and falls off repeatedly. We learnt too he has made an arrest at every rank of the police service he's occupied, and will do again if he gets the chance when he's out on patrol as Commissioner.
The full interview with Bernard Hogan-Howe is available as Victoria Derbyshire's Interviews of the Week podcast.
is 5live's Political Reporter. You can follow Chris on Twitter -
Comment number 1.
At 24th Nov 2011, zelda wrote:I thought it was a reasonable interview with a bloke who on face value sounded like a very down to earth person. Being the chief of the Met can only be a very difficult job and I wish him well.
I don't think that all coppers should be armed with tasers. Having seen some footage on Ö÷²¥´óÐã programmes (NOT Met) of some taser armed coppers during arrests, I wouldn't allow most of them within a mile of a taser unless they had been trained to within an inch of their lives.
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