POLICE CHIEF FACES MUSIC OVER OUTBURST ON WEBSITE

The senior police officer in charge of a controversial cannabis initiative
found himself at the centre of another furore yesterday over outspoken
remarks he is supposed to have made to a website renowned for its coverage
of direct action protests.

Commander Brian Paddick, who is in charge of policing in Lambeth, south
London, told www.urban75.com that "the concept of anarchism has always
appealed to me".

Using the chatroom name Brian: The Commander, he also implied that certain
drugs should be legalised. "What do I really think? We need to take the
criminality out of it by legislation and strict control."

Mr Paddick, whose candour has not always been appreciated by his bosses at
Scotland Yard, used forthright language to make his points.

"Bottom line - screw the dealers, help the addicts ... I don't give two
hoots about my promotion prospects ... do not treat all police officers as
lapdogs of a corrupt capitalist system. Dogs sometimes turn on their owners."

The highest ranking openly gay officer in the Met, Mr Paddick also admitted
that "someone has already found out which gay club I go to and is trying to
cause serious shit for me."

Other senior officers at Scotland Yard indicated that a more immediate
worry is the reception he will get when he returns from holiday in
Australia and is summoned to headquarters.

Although Mr Paddick has not broken any disciplinary codes, some at the Met
believe he is "too honest for his own good" and needs to be persuaded that
there are occasions when, for the sake of the force, his maverick views are
best kept to himself.

It will not be the first time Mr Paddick has been called to Scotland Yard
to clarify his position on a sensitive matter. Last November he received
unwanted headlines when he appeared to tell a committee of MPs that he was
not interested in "weekend" drug users who take small amounts of cocaine
and ecstasy.

"If I felt my officers were going into nightclubs looking for people in
possession of ecstasy, then I would say to them, and I would say publicly,
they are wasting valuable police resources," he said.

Mr Paddick, 43, inspired the "softly softly" drugs scheme that has been
operating in Lambeth since the middle of last year.

Under the initiative, people caught with a small amount of cannabis are
cautioned rather than arrested; the pilot has already saved officers
thousands of hours of work, but it has been severely criticised by the
Police Federation and rightwing critics who believe that it sends the wrong
signals to drug users. An independent study of the scheme is expected to be
published next month and the Met was hoping that Mr Paddick would keep a
low profile until then.

Before leaving for Australia, the borough commander told the Big Issue that
he had contributed to the website, but Scotland Yard said it could not
comment further until Mr Paddick returned.

"We cannot confirm that Commander Paddick made these remarks," said a
spokesman. "He is on annual leave and there is no way of verifying the
alleged comments."