I HAVE today cancelled my membership of the SNP.
I have just reviewed the decision to publicly castigate innocent police officers in the absence of evidence (as assessed by the Lord Advocate) in order to appease Aamer Anwar and his clients regarding the unfortunate death of a drug-taking body builder, Sheku Bayoh, who had been reported as behaving recklessly while under the influence of drugs (MDMA and Flakka), in possession of a knife and constituting a serious threat to public safety ("Family’s delight as public probe to be held into death of Sheku Bayoh", The Herald, November 13). The absence of any injuries which could have caused death, other than the self-induced harm, appears to have been set aside in preference to accommodating persons who are pursuing civil claims for damages.
As a retired police officer who has experience of being asked to face up to dangerous individuals who were reported as being in possession of weapons, I do not support the SNP policy of assuming that police officers who put their lives on the line every day are guilty unless they can prove their innocence and that a public inquiry is to be held to establish “whether race played a part in the death”. There has never been any suggestion that the officers acted in any way different to that which would have been justified while trying to subdue a 6ft tall bodybuilder of any race while he was under the influence of psychedelic drugs and reportedly believed to be concealing a knife on his person.
The SNP appears to be more concerned with its image at the BBC, where Mr Bayou is constantly portrayed as a loving father smiling over his two children rather than the glazed expression of a dangerous drug-taker who is alleged to have a knife, and I find that my patience has finally been exhausted on the pursuit of nonsense policies (men can self-declare as women and use their toilets – really?) with this supposition that politicians can overcome the normal rule of law as adjudicated by professionals such as the Lord Advocate.
I will continue to support our SNP candidate David Linden personally in any vote because of the good work which he has done in the constituency and I will support independence in any referendum. I can only hope that the public see that we can assess different parties on the strength of their policies after we achieve independence.
Christopher Keegan, Glasgow G69.
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