Not altogether true as many of The Met were themselves from mining areas including Scotland and Wales.
I'm intrigued - can you quantify what proportion of the Met officers were from mining areas back in the early 80's?
Sorry newboy but I can't give you precise figures. What I can say is that (from knowledge) The Met of that period comprised a majority of 'non-Londoners' with a significant number coming from South Wales, Central/Easten Scotland, Yorkshire and The North East.
Perhaps I should clarify by saying that I didn't mean they were all from mining 'communities' but many of them did originate from what were mining 'areas' and often had relatives who worked or had worked in coal mining.
I often think that the public perception of police officers is that they are all ultra-Tory. In fact, many hold the opposite view having hailed from areas with a strong heavy industry (and trades union) history.
Of course there will always be (sadly) the 'bully boy' types who will use any excuse for unnecessary violence but there are always many officers who have sympathy with the cause(s) of any dispute having been born and bred in areas now decimated by the government politics of the time.
During the miners' strike, as per usual, only the 'bad' actions hit the press but I can tell you that there were many 'good' actions performed by officers posted to mining areas. The press never reported things like the 'food parcels' and 'whip rounds' for the miners' families but then I suppose that doesn't sell papers.
Don't get me wrong, there were 'bad apples' and the whole idea of deploying police officers who were only trained in riot tactics to an industrial dispute was a massive error.
I was merely trying to point out that the image of The Met being full of Londoners and Home Counties English heading North to do 'Northener Bashing' wasn't the truth of it.
The Met has always recruited all over The UK until recently when it announced it now only wants 'Londoners'.
Personally, IMHO, I think that recruitment decision is a big mistake.
B
