An international security expert says “wokeness” is destroying Britain’s police service, warning, “we’ve got dark times ahead.”
Will Geddes, who has provided security to celebrities and foreign royal families for over 20 years, said policing is in “dire straits” with cultural views taking priority over front-line defence.
In an interview with BTL’s Lee Hall, the security expert said political parties are failing to “get a grip” and address the issue.
“Our police service is in a very dire straits,” he said. “I have great friends in the police, many of whom are of similar age to me and a few younger, and they’re giving up, in some regards.
“They’re saying we’re not able to obviously prosecute what we do and execute what we do as a job because of the social conventions which are beginning to impose.
“In fact, I spoke to someone who was in elite forces, so he’s going through elite forces recruitment at the moment and training and, and he’s been pulled up on basically on being a bully.”
Mr. Geddes said the officer, part of an elite regiment which protects the nation, is being questioned by police chiefs over name-calling.
Weaker World
The security mogul said that although he doesn’t want to sound negative, he believes we have dark times ahead.“I think sadly, we’ve got to start realising and recognising that we’ve got some issues and these issues need to be addressed head on,” he told BTL.
“And sadly, there is no one within the political sort of circles on whichever party it might be, who seems to be able to grip this accordingly and actually address it.”
Criticising former Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision to cut policing numbers during her time in Downing Street, he added: “And yes, they may have recruited back to the original numbers, but you’ve lost a legacy of fantastically well-qualified officers, and introduced a new influx of officers that are coming with these new attached cultural views. And what’s the best word for it?
“Wokeness, for lack of a better word. So you get a different beast.”
Touching upon the “woke” impact on young people, Mr. Geddes said it is harming a generation.
“I am of the Gen X, fall over, brush yourself off and get back up and crack on,” he said.
“I fear for the younger generations now. The ambiguity, the confusion, the offensiveness, the wokeness, obviously, to anything and everything that you do.
“I am a meat and potatoes kind of guy and I think we’re losing many of those kinds of elements that create our personal resilience.”
Adding that he doesn’t condone bullying or “hardships,” the security expert said those tough life experiences help to build resilience in later life.
“I think if we pander too much to people’s sensitivities all the time, and unnecessarily, I think we’re not doing them a favour,” he said.
“And we’re not doing ourselves a favour, and we’re creating a weaker world.
“The world needs warriors, whether they be in my world, whether they'd be in the business world, whether it be in the journalistic world, we need warriors, and without warriors, we are defenceless.”
Street Crime
Mr. Geddes, who has worked in some of the world’s toughest war zones, said rising crime levels in the UK are endangering public safety“We are in a really troublesome time in terms of personal safety and security,” he told BTL.
“I think in terms of walking around in some of our largest cities, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and for example, as it’s becoming more and more gentrified, that doesn’t diminish from the street crime, that is escalating.
“I think also, with the prevalence of social media, there’s almost an encouragement to certain groups and certain individuals with a criminal intent to utilise that, and to exploit that and to mimic it in many regards.”
He said the rise in technology, including smartphones, is leading to people putting their own safety at risk on the street.
“I would always say to people, lift your heads up from your phones,” he said.
“It upsets me when I walk around here in central London, and I get on the tube and I come out of the tube station exit and people immediately eyes down to their phone […] they are literally just absorbed in it.
“So you’re not giving yourself any chance. If I was a criminal, and I wanted to steal the latest iPhone, I would hang around outside a tube station exit, wait for someone to bring out their phone, I can go, ‘great, that’s the new iPhone, I'll have that’ and I walk away with it.
“And they won’t have seen it happening or even coming.”
