Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

I recall 1984 in Silksworth, Sunderland watching a Black Maria pull up outside the small defensive picket-line who had suffered for the preceding five months with no pay, and many with families to feed.
The picketline were armed with bare knuckles and some harsh words for the men that disembarked from the rear of the Black Maria.
The average height must have been in the region of 6' 4", heavily armed men with truncheons, body armour, face protecting helmets. Some of them them had especially picked from surround forces for their sheer size and power.
One of the police (a seargent County Durham Police Force) instructed the others to clear the picket lines, and what followed was perhaps the worst 2/3 minutes of my life.
I was 22 at the time, and the seargent is my father, who decided to 'show me what power was all about'.
I'm still ashamed of what I witnessed.

... but yes, without them where would we be?

Certainly, we have a need for people who track down rapists and burglars and whatnot. That does not in any way balance out the brutality and repression they mete out as standard.