The thin blue line is broken – no-one trusts the police anymore after Henry Nowak

The thin blue line is broken – no-one trusts the police anymore after Henry NowakTwo-tier policing is no longer nut-job internet conspiracy, it is de facto force policy. Share Article Share Article Facebook X LinkedIn Reddit Bluesky Email Copy Link Link copied Bookmark Add us as preferred source OPINION By Paul Baldwin 13:38, Wed, Jun 3, 2026 Updated: 13:45, Wed, Jun 3, 2026 Demonstrators protest on the streets of Southampton (Image: Getty)Some years ago I was in charge of selecting the “quotes of the year” for this website, for the New Year’s Eve edition. I selected “the Metropolitan Police has apologised…” – thinking myself quite the witty incisive satirist. However, the following year carrying out the same task I realised I could use the same quote. And the year after that. And the year after that. Such was the ongoing institutional dysfunctionality of our biggest police force. window.scriptsToLoad.push({url:'https://live.primis.tech/live/liveView.php?s=118222&vp_content=plembed3a6btjknzwqh&cbuster=%%CACHEBUSTER%%&playerApiId=v118222',triggeredBy:'tcfLoaded',delay:1500,containerId:'ovp-primis',title:"Primis player",beforeLoad:()=>{window.top.addEventListener('primisPlayerInit',e=>{try{if(e.detail&&e.detail.playerApiId==="v118222"){if(window.document.getElementsByClassName('jwplayer')[0]){e.detail.float('disable')}}}catch(e){}})},}) These pro-forma police apologies come with the mandatory “we will learn from the mistakes of….” whatever hideous example of dangerously muddle-headed policing was in question. But they never do, do they? And the Met of course is just the biggest and usually most visible example of the undeniable core-deep cultural problems which extend to forces nationwide. Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT Get the day's biggest headlines in UK and World news and more Subscribe Invalid emailWe use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd partie...