Police gangs

Here's the article, and there's further video footage.Metropolitan police officer suspended over attack at G20 death vigil | UK news | The Guardian. What I'm getting concerned about is that despite all sorts of reforms of the police service that things are happening that seem to indicate that the police continue to need careful scrutiny: "fresh video surfaced showing him striking a woman who was attending a vigil in honour of Ian Tomlinson, the man who died after being attacked by police at the G20 protests.".

Now don't get me wrong. I have personal contacts with the police force and a great deal to be thankful for in the way that various officers have carried out their duties to my personal benefit and in ways that I have felt have shown tact, understanding and support. I'm no police-hater. But I am concerned about the way that before the G20 demonstrations there were reports of some police informal communications which seemed to hint at 'spoiling for a fight'. In addition, recent trailers on the Bravo TV channel have a police officer saying something like, "They [implication of footage: drunk and disorderly people and gangs] don't rule the streets, we do." I'm worried because that's the language of gangs. Police language has traditionally been about keeping the peace, not ruling the streets. Is the problem here a kind of militarisation of policing?