Stop G4S

g4s

by Leigh Harris from Left Unity South Lincolnshire

The Coalition Of Resistance recently brought back to the forefront of people’s minds the
very real situation of privatisation within the Police Service, specifically
Lincolnshire Police Service, by posting a photograph of a G4S staff shoulder badge
embroidered with the County’s Service name; a simple image that said a thousand
words, but for the campaigner against privatisation who is looking to make political
change, it is the accompanying wording used by the organisation to present the piece
that offers the greatest platform for elaboration.

The excellently considered photograph was titled with the equally inspiring and
thought provoking words of ‘Today, Lincolnshire police; tomorrow, the world. Stop
G4S!’. As a call to action this was perfectly fitting and explanatory for sending a
message to a wider audience that it is the security Company G4S, of infamous
notoriety for it’s involvement and subsequent staffing failures at the London 2012
Olympics, which is now the primary operator of privatised departments within the
Lincolnshire Police Service.

The reality for Lincolnshire residents is that at present they will rarely, if ever,
come into contact with a G4S staff member whilst using the Police Service. The
privatisation process of such front line services hides it’s true intentions in a
bid to avoid raising public concerns. Just as we are encouraged to believe that
charging Weekend revellers and visiting tourists to use the A&E services of the NHS
is simply a strategical method to keep our own care ‘free’, so too are we expected
to believe that backdoor privatisation is simply a myth in the Police Service as
well due to initial contracts being only sold to ‘behind the scenes’ positions.

Privatisation of public services is privatisation of public services. There is no
‘light’ version but there exists a starting point.

Comparative to it’s size Lincolnshire has the lowest funding for its Police Service
in the Country, so it comes as no surprise that a 10 year contract was sold to G4S
to handle the task of control rooms, firearm licencing and custody. Police and Crime
Commissioner (PCC) Alan Hardwick heralded the first year of the contract as a
success, saving from the service’s budget £5 million; this led to his further claims
that up to £1 billion could be saved annually if all 42 Police forces of England and
Wales followed suit; and so begins the building of truly Corporate Police Service.

For those still doubtful of any expansion within the Police Service from any further
than ‘the back room’, last year produced an interesting consensus amongst Police and
Crime Commissioners, more so than than their colleague’s jubilation at his savings
revelation. Matthew Grove PCC for Humberside appeared to initiate the controversial
idea of privately owned and operated ‘drunk tanks’ as a means to tackling
individuals committing acts of anti social behaviour whilst intoxicated with
alcohol. There quickly followed an almost universal applaud from fellow PCC’s from
around the Country – even to the untrained eye, this would appear to be very far
from ‘the back room’.

The mainstream media played it’s dutiful part in ensuring an early manufacturing of
consent for this second stage of police service privatisation. The idea of saving
money from the public purse and being for safety, of both those who act without
thought through alcohol and those who may otherwise be affected by their impending
crimes, were the order of the day.

Less coverage was given to the later inevitable evolution processes of maximising
profit for the proposed future contracts when Paul Robinson, Deputy PCC to Matthew
Grove, took the lead to suggest that women should be locked in the forthcoming
‘drunk tanks’ as a method that could protect them from crime.

Of course, this second phase is far more than a simple example of how privatisation
is set to expand far beyond it’s present state in the Police Service, it
demonstrates the callous nature of the inevitable exploitation caused by seeking
profit, specifically through privatising any front line service; certainly, the full
abuse of rights and sexism, as well general morals of policing for profit deserves
far greater attention.

Again, privatisation of public services is privatisation of public services. There
is no ‘light’ version, but there exists a starting point.

How then should the campaigner against privatisation who wants to make a political
change, elaborate further and apply their own methods to actioning the already
excellently worded slogan by Coalition Of Resistance; ‘Today, Lincolnshire police.
Tomorrow, the world. Stop G4S!’

‘Tomorrow, the world’ is certainly no exaggeration; G4S appears to set out cleverly
it’s intentions with the double entendre ‘Securing Your World’ as its chosen Company
slogan. With 620’000 employees across 120 Countries it can be no wonder that
Lincolnshire Police opted to award their controversial 10 year contract to them, but
although they are the biggest G4S are not the sole security Company able to take on
such a role.

Therein lies the problem. Do we want to stop G4S or do we want to stop privatisation
of the Police Service? Political change, in the form of restoring full
nationalisation of the service, means the very act of privatisation must be our aim
and target if we are to achieve this; a danger exists of unintentionally causing the
failings and abuses born from privatisation of the service as being synonymous with
G4S, creating an assumption that change is possible without renationalisation.

If people are dragged from the street, assaulted and incarcerated overnight by
private security firms or women hunted down whilst socialising outside of their
homes and detained in the name of their own safety, our message needs to be clear
that it is privatisation of the front line service to be held to account.

There is however much merit held in the campaigning by groups highlighting the
abuses of contract holders by name, especially in other fields. The retreat by ATOS
stands as a recent example to this; the ability of campaigners and organisations to
raise awareness and form support groups proved vital to many. For the political
campaigner, focus needs to be on change through reversing the Welfare reforms that
still allow the existence of the contract and so both political and non political
exist in unity to challenge both fronts.


2 comments

2 responses to “Stop G4S”

  1. merlin europe says:

    I’ll give you a free tip for merchandise. I would by a black hoodie with the g4s logo and Coalition of Resistance logo, with the text: stop g4s!

    I’d buy one in a heartbeat, two would make me think a half a second.

  2. Merry Cross says:

    It is great that you mentioned ATOS in this very good piece. G4S also had the contract with my previous energy supplier to come and read my meter as I can’t. They had a password so I could be sure I was letting the right person in – but several times the guy who came didn’t have the password. Also did you know that Serco – another company in the same vein – already has contracts such as repairing wheelchairs, in some parts of the country. And I have heard such complaints about them not knowing what they are doing. This is all part of a)privatisation and b)attacks on the wellbeing of disabled people!


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