“I got into policing because I’m not a nebbish Jew. I never liked the idea of being a ‘heads down’, ‘please don’t hurt us’, you know like ‘don’t cause a fuss’ kind of people.”
Now in his late thirties, David (not his real name) is looking back to his decision to join the force in one of Britain’s biggest cities.
He’s one of a number of Jewish officers the JC has spoken to on an anonymous basis over the past few months to reveal the experience and the challenges they face every day.
What’s emerged is a compelling picture of the men and women from within the community who the public will see as just another ordinary member of the force.
They reveal what’s it’s been like on the ground in the turbulent period since October 7, policing pro-Palestinian marches and campus Gaza encampments, and the emotional impact of the Heaton Park terror attack.
Reassuringly, there has been little hint of antisemitism within the ranks or behind closed doors – yet there is concern from some Jewish officers over a “two-tier” approach and a sense of there being a politically correct culture. Also in her early thirties, “Suzie” has mixed feelings about her career as an officer in London.
“I sometimes feel like I’m not cut out for the job, but then you’ll have one really positive interaction and it’s all worth it again,” she says.
But it’s the climate of anti-Israel activism in recent years that she has found particularly hard.
“I don’t want to be rude but like, I f**king hate public order policing, particularly since October 7," she says.
“I was involved in policing some of the marches.
"I had to protect these people that were calling for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish nation.”
Suzie faced intense hostility against the police as she and her colleagues held the line at a protest on campus. She recalls: “Students have yelled some really horrible stuff at us.
“Like sticking cameras in my face and yelling I’m scum, ‘all cops are bastards’ kind of stuff.
“Screaming that they hope my mother is proud of me. It’s really crazy.”
For Suzie, it seems the political world view of activists both young and old blinds them with bias when it comes to her job as a police officer as much it does their stance on Israel and Gaza.
She says: “They’re just so ignorant of what we do.
"I feel like so many people have been radicalised online by really crazy far-left talking points or propaganda.
“I want to say it’s mostly young people but, thinking back on it, I’ve seen a lot of older people go down that route too. To become ideologically captured.”
For “Adam”, an officer in his forties in the north of England, dealing with the demonstrations that have been so frequent since October 7 has taken its toll – particularly because he has relatives who live in Israel.
He says: “Seeing Palestinian protests every other week was pretty tough. I was taken off my normal duties a couple of times to help with the marches.
“Some of what I saw on the streets was so gross, it was really unbelievable.
"I’m all for free speech but they had such a nasty tone to them. I have family in Israel and so of course we were all affected by October 7.
“You just have to stand there while people carry past you antisemitic images and signs, like depicting Netanyahu as a devil and controlling the world.”
But while Adam has regularly had a close-up view of the extremism that has sometimes seemed to flourish in our current era, he believes this behaviour represents a minority.
It is the country as a whole along with the force in which he is proud to work that has given him optimism.
“In a strange way, though I also saw lots of things that gave me hope: counter demonstrations, the rejection of extremism and polarisation by mainstream British society, and police as an institution, and individual colleagues dealing with protests in a fair and professional manner made me feel proud to be British, and proud to be a police officer.”
Suzie has also found the force to be caring of her and the wider Jewish community, especially at critical crisis moments.
She recalls: “The Heaton Park synagogue attack really had an impact on me. My commanding officer, who knew I was Jewish, was really good to me and asked me if I wanted any additional support.
“He told me that although it was an attack on a synagogue, it was really an attack on Britain, on all of us.”
Another officer in the Met, “Rachel”, has also found colleagues to be dependable – albeit with one exception, and even that was dealt with well.
“I have never experienced antisemitism within the force, thankfully,” she says.
“There was only one off-the-cuff remark I overheard, a comment one of my colleagues made to our skipper about the disproportionate protection afforded to the Jewish community, but it was quickly quashed.
“The sergeant just tapped him on the shoulder and shook his head.”
She adds: “I feel well supported by the people above me. They appreciate the threats facing the Jewish community – at least in my experience.
“It’s like, when you actually get the rundown of threats facing the community, it’s so obvious.”
There are times when being a Jewish officer has been particularly relevant to Rachel in her police work. “I’ll volunteer to go to Stamford Hill or Golders Green because I think I’ll handle dealing with the Jewish community in a more culturally sensitive way, or they might recognise my extremely Jewish surname,” she says.
“I think that’s really important and great for building trust between police and [minority] communities.”
David experienced antisemitism as a child, and it was that in part which motivated his decision to join the police. “I saw Jewish kids being bullied growing up, including my brother, badly, and I fancy myself a bit of a tough guy I guess. At least, that was the mentality I had going into the career, to stick up for people.”
He soon discovered that the job involved more than being “tough” in dealing with criminals.
David says: “I realised after a while of actually being a police officer that there’s a lot of sensitivity, empathy involved in good policing, which I had to adapt to.”
There were moments when it wasn’t always easy to conceal his Jewish identity. Having now switched to a new career, David remembers one occasion in his very final days with the force. “Around the time I left, I dealt with a guy who was drunk and causing a nuisance to a bunch of Jews who had gathered for a public menorah lighting.
“We were there to ensure their safety. The guy was sat outside a pub and was trying to like goad people around him.
“When we spoke to him he just straight up told me Jews control the world, and his evidence was because so many officers had been deployed for the menorah lighting.
“He was like, ‘When I go to church I don’t see a single officer.’
“I really had to bite my tongue. I just wanted to tell him that I was Jewish and he was an idiot. Some people really live in a parallel universe.”
What about the notion that there are double standards that the police apply, and the belief that there are greater protections and sensitivities around the issues for some minorities in society?
Authorities in the government and senior officers would hotly dispute such claims, but it’s a belief that David shares: “I do think two-tier policing is a real thing. It’s not institutionally set up that way, but in practice it’s obvious.”
Another officer, “Barry”, from London, has a similar view of the politicisation of his employer: “I guess you could say the police is quite woke – like hyper concerned with not causing offence or being perceived as biased or racist.
“Or at least that’s the way it is when you’re starting out. It’s kind of drilled into you.”
In his mid-forties, with his identity as a Jew submerged within his uniform, Barry has been exposed to antisemitism in a way he might not have been otherwise.
In one operation he took part in the arrest of a significant Islamist figure with a record of anti-Jewish rhetoric who he had to confront face to face. “I was sitting opposite him in the back of the vehicle, very aware of all the things he had said, against Jews and directly advocating for terrorists and terrorist organisations,” he recalls. “We just sat there in silence. It was pretty surreal. I remember thinking I’m glad this guy is getting nabbed but, is it enough? Like, we got the preacher, but he has followers, and who’s getting them?
“Looking right into the eyes of this bloke, a guy who has called for the death of Jews. Bet he’s never even met a Jew. Well, I guess he did because he met me.”
But on a personal basis Barry says he hasn’t suffered serious hate directed at him as a Jew. “I’ve never experienced antisemitism, you know besides banter with colleagues. But I used to get that because I dished it too.”
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