Home secretary Teresa May has said that policing has been damaged by the investigation into the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation.

The report found that a police officer had spied on the Lawrence family and it failed to rule out that corruption may have compromised the investigation. It is over 20 years ago since Lawrence was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack by a gang of white men. There is now to be a judge led investigation into undercover police activity.

It said that Detective Sergeant John Davidson, involved in the Lawrence enquiry was guilty of corruption, even though this was not revealed in the McPherson review, a previous 1998 enquiry. It was though previously revealed by BBC’s Panorama in 2006. The report also said key evidence into corruption had disappeared.

The damning report puts the spotlight on the police force once again after damaging recent reports into corruption and dishonesty in the Hillsborough disaster and during the miner’s strike.

A new inquest into the Hillsborough disaster which cost 96 Liverpool fans their life in 1989 is set to start at the end of this month. It is likely to find that officers on duty on the day lied to the media and altered police reports. The South Yorkshire force has claimed for years that extreme drunkenness by the Liverpool fans was to blame for the tragedy. These claims have always been denied by the families of the dead.

Police have also been accused of brutality in the ‘80’s during the miner’s strike.

These reports and others, do nothing for the reputation of our Police men and women despite many of the incidents in question taking place over 3 decades ago. As more details of corruption, racism, violence and dishonesty come to light, the public’s trust of police sinks lower and lower.

The average starting salary of a Police constable in England and Wales is £22,680 rising to just over £25,000 on completion of training. The average wage of a primary school teacher is £24,000 while the average for a bin man in some parts of the country is over £30,000.

In 2012 seven police officers were killed while on duty making a total of over 4000 in the last 180 years.

When I was a young lad growing up in the 1970’s I would have been terrified of going home and telling my parents that I had been told off by a Bobby, because people had respect for the law. There is barely any respect for the profession any more or the authority they hold. We are constantly hearing bad story’s about the actions of police from brutality to criminals in custody and violence against protestors to senior officers hiding evidence of corruption and institutionalised racism. But the question remains – where would we be without the thousands of honest conscientious and brave men and women who risk their lives every day to protect us?

We should not judge the many by the actions of the few and should instead acknowledge the noble job these people do. They have a thankless job. If they do nothing they are attacked. If they act they are attacked. They face hatred and hostility each and every day, in town centres around the country, purely for pulling on the uniform to serve and protect us. The dangers they face in situations such as the wave of demonstrations by the EDL and other groups sweeping the country or simply at a football match on a Saturday afternoon are such the most of us will never begin to imagine.

While it is fair and correct that the bad apples and guilty are sought out and punished we must not penalise the entire police force. They deserve respect and gratitude for their endeavours in keeping us safe in our homes and on the streets or we would live in a vigilante wild west.