Coppers: Brilliant Photographs of British Police in the 1980s

Photographer Dave Sinclair captured Britain at a time of social unrest. As official photographer for The Militant, Dave saw first hand the turmoil in his native Liverpool, Belfast and London, where he now lives. His used his camera to record a time of strife and protest.

He laughs upon his duty, he laughs upon his beat
He laughs at everybody when he’s walking in the street
He never can stop laughing, he says he’d never tried
But once he did arrest a man and laughed until he died
– The Laughing Policeman by Charles Penrose, 1922

 

This was a protest in support of the Newham 7, black and asian youth who had been fighting with fascists - London, 1985 - black police

This was a protest in support of the Newham 7, black and asian youth who had been fighting with fascists – London, 1985

Photographer Dave Sinclair captured Britain at a time of social unrest. As official photographer for The Militant, Dave saw first hand the turmoil in his native Liverpool, Belfast and London, where he now lives. His used his camera to record a time of strife and protest.

The lead picture was taken in 1985. Some context is useful. Racism was rife in the UK. On 7 April 1984 in Newham, east London, a white gang drove around the area attacking random Asians. One disabled Asian teenager was taken to a flat and beaten with claw hammers. Angry at what they saw as police inaction in a London borough infected with violent racism –  including the murder of Pakistani teenager Akhtar Ali Baig in East Ham by skinheads for a £5 bet, Asian youths descended on a pub in Green Street, Plaistow, described in TV reports as a “fortress of white racists”. There was fighting. Seven Asians were arrested. A short while later black teenager Eustace Pryce was murdered in a racist attack in the same area.

On 11 May 1985, over 2,000 anti-racists demonstrated in Plashet Park. Photographer Dave Sinclair was there. So too was the policeman and his detractors in the lead image. An apparent eyewitness noted: “In a tense atmosphere, the manhandling by police of one black youth led to confrontation, the emergence of officers on horseback and riot officers who charged into the park. It appeared that this had been deliberately engineered: three to four white men in ordinary clothes were seen throwing sticks at the police; but were later seen behind police lines with police radios. Later, riot officers paraded along Green Street and East Ham High Street North in a show of strength”

Aside from the racism and the quest for equality, the two main social and political events happening were the Miners Strike and the battle by Liverpool Militant Labour Council against Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government. This was also the time Dave covered the School Strike.flashbak.com/coal-not-dole-sublime-pictures-of-striking-miners-at-home-1984-46101

 

West Ham Park, 1985 police

West Ham Park, 1985

South Wales police at the begining of the Miners strike, 1984

South Wales coppers at the begining of the Miners strike, 1984

British police

Robocop:
The first anniversary demo made up mostly of men over 50, women and children was confronted by heavy over policing.

Coppers at a protest against Argos in support of Dockers.

Coppers at a protest against Argos in support of Dockers.

coppers in Newham, 1984

Coppers in Newham, London

Police at Student anti-loan protest 1988

Police at Student anti-loan protest 1988

Miner arrested, Westminster, London -1985

Miner arrested, Westminster, London -1985

Police outside Eddie Shah's Warrington Messenger, '84

Police outside Eddie Shah’s Warrington Messenger, ’84

Welling anti-fascist rally 1993

Welling anti-fascist rally 1993

Welling anti-fascist rally 1993

Welling anti-fascist rally 1993

Copperas Hill post office protest, Liverpool - 1987

Copperas Hill post office protest, Liverpool – 1987

coppers Parkside

Police at Parkside Colliery in St Helens.

coppers with moustaches

Coppers with moustaches

Stamford Hill, London in 1988

Stamford Hill, London in 1988

Anti-nuclear protest at Greenham Common

Anti-nuclear protest at Greenham Common

Copperas Hill police

Copperas Hill, Liverpool

News International, Wapping, '87 police

Police at News International, Wapping, London, 1987

Port Talbot BMX's, 1983

Port Talbot, Wales – BMX riders, 1983

Police arrest pickets at Sutton Manor colliery, St.Helens.

Police arrest pickets at Sutton Manor colliery, St.Helens.

police at Liverpool councillors and police on Miners picket 1984

Liverpool councillors and police on Miners picket 1984

Supporters wind up coppers during occupation

Supporters wind up coppers during occupation

Police arrests at Newham 7 demo, London - 1985

Police arrests at Newham 7 demo, London – 1985

 

Seaforth early morning arrest, 1996

Seaforth, Merseyside – early morning arrest

Dave Sinclair has published three books: Liverpool in the 80s, The 95-98 Liverpool Dockers Lock-out, both with Amberley and the 1985 School Strike with Cafe Royal.

You can buy remarkable prints of his outstanding work in the Shop.

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