James Anderton

For other people named James Anderton, see James Anderton (disambiguation).

Sir Cyril James Anderton CBE (born May 24, 1932) is a retired British police officer who served as Chief Constable of Greater Manchester from 1976 to 1991. Anderton is considered the most outspoken, controversial and idiosyncratic Chief Constable in British policing history.

Early life and career

Born and raised in Wigan, Anderton served in the Royal Military Police before joining the Manchester City Police force in 1953. He rose rapidly through the police ranks, studying criminology at the Victoria University of Manchester. He became Assistant Chief Constable of Leicestershire Constabulary. In 1975 he became Deputy Chief Constable of the Greater Manchester Police (GMP), which had been founded a year earlier. On October 23, 1976, he was appointed Chief Constable, the youngest person to hold such a position at the time.

Chief Constable

One of Anderton's first acts as Chief Constable was a drive against pornography and prostitution. A special squad raided 284 bookshops, newsagents and warehouses, confiscating a total of 160,000 magazines to a street value of £200,000. Seizures included the Sun Page Three Annual. The crackdown received support from feminists and anti-pornography campaigners, but was criticized by civil liberties groups. Anderton stated that he was responding to public complaints regarding the graphic nature of the material available in shops across Greater Manchester.

There was also a drive against late night drinking in the city centre of Manchester with particular focus against illegal drinking clubs and after hours drinking in licensed bars and clubs. As a result, 24 nightclubs had their licences revoked by magistrates. Regular patrols were also conducted into the Canal Street area central Manchester, a red-light district and the centre of Manchester's homosexual community. Anderton was criticised by gay rights activists of devoting undue attention to the policing of the area. According to The Guardian, Anderton "encouraged his officers to stalk its dank alleys and expose anyone caught in a clinch, while police motorboats with spotlights cruised for gay men around the canal's locks and bridges". Anderton responded to criticism by stating that he was merely enforcing the law regarding sexual activity in public toilets and that there had been a significant number of complaints from local people regarding police inaction.

Anti-riot measures

Between 1977 and 1979, Anderton received media attention by successfully ensuring a series of marches by the far right National Front passed without serious incident. In summer of 1977, marches in Ladywood and Lewisham had been marred by riots. After initially banning a march proposed for October 1977, he met secretly with the National Front's deputy leader, Martin Webster, and agreed to allow a march to take place if the location was kept secret. In order to control opposing demonstrators, GMP was placed on standby, reinforcements drafted in from neighbouring forces and helicopters deployed. The cost for this operation - the most sophisticated public order operation in Britain up to that date - amounted to £250,000. Another two massive policing operations allowed Front meetings to take place in Hyde and Bolton town halls in January and February 1978.

In 1981, Anderton had to deal with the Moss Side riot, arguably his sternest test as Chief Constable. That year a series of riots in Bristol, Brixton and Toxteth had hit Britian, with GMP officers having been deployed as reinforcements. In order to avoid the high police causualties seen in these riots, Anderton decided to avoid the usual of cordons of officers with long protective shields, feeling that such tactics would only encourage confrontations. He instead ordered the GMP to be supplied with riot control equipment such as protective crash helmets - at the time the only English police force with such equipment.

When riots broke out at Moss Side in July, GMP at first kept a low profile, while community leaders tried to defuse the crowds. However, after two days of street violence, Anderton ordered a swift and hard intervention, sending in his Tactical Aid Group (TAG) to clear the streets. Specially trained snatch squads deployed from fast moving vans made 150 arrests in the space of two hours and quelled the disorder. Interviewed in 1992, Anderton described his strategy during the Moss Side riots:

"When trouble arises and violence occurs on the street, you hit it fast and hard. And that's what we did the following night. We hit the rioters fast and hard with all the force at our disposal-legitimate and lawful force-and we crushed the riots in Manchester in 24 hours."

GMP's rapid and flexible mobile response was unique in British public order policing at that time and and received much praise from the media, politicians and the general public. The response of GMP was contrasted favourably with the perceived police loss of control in other venues. William Whitelaw, the Home Secretary, described the dispersal operation as a "conspicuous success".

The media often depicted Anderton as the polar opposite of John Alderson, Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall. While Alderson was portrayed as a liberal who favoured community or "soft" policing, Anderton was depicted as a authoritarian who pursued a line of "hard" policing against crime and public disorder. Anderton disagreed with this juxtaposition, stressing that policing in Greater Manchester was community based and argued that effective protection of the community required the deployment of both "hard" and "soft" tactics.

Clashes with politicans

During his tenure, Anderton repeatedly clashed with the Greater Manchester Police Committee and later the Police Authority, especially with its Labour Party members. Anderton was wary of poltical influence interfering with the way he conducted police work - especially during protests, demonstrations and industrial disputes -, fearing that such interference would weaken the police. In a 1982 speech, he said:

"I see in our midst an enemy more dangerous,insidious and ruthless than any faced since the Second World War... a long term political strategy to destroy the proven structures of the police."

Following this speech, Anderton was called in front of the Greater Manchester Police Committee, where he was told to lower his public profile and to allow himself to be directed by its members regarding police operations. Anderton refused, comparing his questioning with the crucifixion of Jesus.

When the Miners Strike in 1984/85 saw violent clashes between striking miners and police, Anderton spoke out against extremists in the trade union movement:

"Mass picketing, If I can use that popular misnomer and violent street demonstrations,are acts of terrorism without the bullet or the bomb. There must be few countries in the world prepared to watch, so patiently, a politically motivated industrial mafia at work, causing friction between the people and the police. I saw sometimes get a dreadful feeling that democracy, like the setting sun, is beginning to sink in the West. It is time we did something about it."

In 1985, Anderton gave another speech:

"In recent times there has been a most determinated and sustained assault, hardly disguised, upon the independence and status of Chief Constables in particular, and the integrity of the service has a role. I believe it has been well organised as part of a wider plan to undermine the stability of the police service."

The speeches were given in the context of attempts by Police Committees in Liverpool and in Manchester to increase their influence over operational decision making by Chief Constables. Policing following the 1981 riots and the Miners Strike had become a highly emotive and contenious issue. Anderton was particularly criticised for deploying mobile armed police patrols to counter an increase in armed robberies and for issuing 9mm MP5 carbines to selected officers. Following the riots in Tottenham and Handsworth in 1985 Anderton announced that GMP would be equipped with Plastic Baton Rounds. Anderton justified his decision with police casualties suffered during these riots:

"We have two choices in the police force-either we stay where we are and die or we ignominiously cut and run. As long as it is in my power, I have no intention of leaving my officers unprotected...I shall never abandon the citizens of Greater Manchester to the mercy of rioters,rapists,looters and criminals."

In 1986, he was embroiled in national political controversy when his deputy John Stalker was suspended over allegations of his friendship with a man called Kevin Taylor, who was accused of fraud and drug-dealing when on the point of completing an official report critical of the policing policies of the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Outspokenness and controversy

Anderton was highly visible and more accessible than any other British chief constable before him, using press conferences, newspaper articles, TV interviews and speeches to set out his beliefs on policing, crime and punishment. Anderton is considered by academics to be the prime example of a new breed of post war professional British Chief Constables who adopted a high media profile in order to shape public opinion on policing, crime and other social issues.

His outspoken views frequently sparked public controversy. He criticized what he saw as "soft" sentencing of criminals and the moral decline of society, stating:

"When standards of decent behaviour fall, the abnormal becomes the normal and people are almost brainwashed into thinking that evil is good. You can rationalise things to an extent that evil conduct becomes acceptable in society and is morally condoned. Someone has to draw the line and it can be done only through the police. I am accused of bringing into play my own Christian principles but those principles strengthen my hand as a policeman. The law is rooted in righteousness and Christian principle. I have no difficulty about enforcing it. Nor do I have a conscience about it."

Anderton was vocal about his Christian faith - he was a Methodist lay preacher before converting to Catholicism - and came to be known as "God's Copper". He frequently criticised church leaders for failing to provide a moral lead. He also denounced some defence lawyers as belonging to a "society for the prevention of the conviction of the guilty", accused the "race relations industry" for creating tension between ethnic minority groups and the wider population and detected a threat by left wing extremists operating in the trade union movement and in society in general. He called for the introduction of National ID cards, the creation of a national police force to replace the current 43 English and Welsh forces and the reintroduction of corporal punishment.

In December of 1986, Anderton's remark that homosexuals, drug addicts and prostitutes who had AIDS were "swirling in a cesspit of their own making" received widespread criticism. Lawrence Byford, Inspector of Constabulary, commented:

"He is his own worst enemy. At his best he captures the public's imagination and support when he articulates his views so persuasively but then he tends to ruin his fruitful endeavours by going too far with his extreme language and religious overtones."

Public perception

Anderton was and remains a deeply polarising figure. Many sections of public opinion admired his outspoken and independent style of leadership as well as his tough approach to policing and crime, while others perceived him as a reactionary, authoritarian and insensitive to the concerns of minority groups. During his tenure, opinion polls showed that public opinion both in Greater Manchester and nationally supported his tough approach to policing and crime and his outspoken style of leadership.

Throughout his fifteen years in command, Anderton commanded the loyalty and confidence of GMP officers, who saw him as a Chief supporting his officers against ill-informed and politically motivated criticism and looked after their welfare and interests and as an upholder of tough discipline. After his retirement, the head of the GMP Police Federation stated that GMP officers frequently got into violent arguments with outside officers deriding their chief constable.

Anderton was also able to count on the support of the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher. According to documents released in 2012, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had supported Anderton after he made his AIDS remark and used her position to prevent an inquiry into his conduct. However, his outspokenness might have cost him an appointment as Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Anderton was seen as potential successor to David McNee in 1982 and a leading contender following the retirement of Kenneth Newman in 1987.

Anderton served as President of the Association of Chief Police Officers from 1986 to 1987 and received a knighthood in 1990, before retiring the following year.

Depiction in popular culture

As Britain's most prominent and controversial Chief Constable, Anderton was often depicted in fiction, almost universally in a criticial fashion. In 1990, the BBC musical satire on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Ten Glorious Years showed actor Ricky Tomlinson portray James Anderton in the style of a US style Moral Majority television evangelist preaching against "Poofs" and "Pinkos". In the same year, the Happy Mondays song "God's Cop" (from their album Pills 'n' Thrills and Bellyaches) lampooned Anderton, who was still in office at the time.

In the same vein, Anderton was also the - sometimes thinly veiled - inspiration of various fictional characters. In 1989, he was caricatured as "James Appleton" in David Britton's satirical novel Lord Horror. The novel recited Anderton's AIDS remark, replacing the word "homosexuals" with "Jews", resulting in the book being banned and Britton imprisoned for four months. In 1990, a "John "Jesus" Wilkinson" featured as a hardline religious minded Chief Constable in the BBC legal drama Blind Justice. In 1993, the BBC police drama Between the Lines depicted a Chief Constable in Northern England (portrayed by Bernard Hill) ranting against "lesbians" and "loony lefties".