Echo Comment on Polanski’s judgement over Golders Green
Mr Polanski showed a very bad error of judgement. Confronting a man who they believed had stabbed two Jewish people, and who, according to videos, was not releasing his weapon, the police understandably felt the need to restrain him as rapidly as they could. Many people will think they did a good job. A brave job, as they didnβt know what other ammunition he might be concealing.
Even if he did have genuine concerns about the arrest, he should not have raised them in such a public manner at a time of such tension. It is almost as if he were thinking more about the political positioning of the Green Party than about the situation on the ground.
So there are very worrying questions about his judgement, but we must also ask whether Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police commissioner, was right to write a letter to Mr Polanski, effectively calling upon him to wind his neck in.
It cannot be right that a policeman can dictate to politicians what they can and cannot talk about. As a member of the London assembly, Mr Polanski has a genuine role in scrutinising the Met police and so a democratic right to ask questions β only he chose the wrong forum, the wrong language and the wrong time to do so.