Joe Woolfall, Liverpool Socialist Party
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has released long-delayed findings on the behaviour of South Yorkshire Police during and after the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, when a fatal crush killed 97 Liverpool FC supporters. It is the largest independent investigation into police misconduct in UK history.
The IOPC concluded that 12 police officers should have faced gross misconduct proceedings for serious failings connected to the disaster and its aftermath.
On 15 April 1989, the police opened a gate to reduce congestion outside the stadium. The officers’ failure to direct incoming supporters away from the central tunnel led to fans entering already overcrowded central pens in the Leppings Lane stand, which caused the deaths of the Liverpool fans.
The current IOPC investigation only began in 2012, 23 years after Hillsborough, and was triggered by another report, the Hillsborough Independent Panel, which exposed failings and inaccuracies in previous accounts of the disaster.
The officers who would have faced misconduct proceedings would also have faced discipline for efforts to shift blame onto supporters after the disaster. The consequences of the attempt to blame Liverpool supporters by the police, Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and a certain ‘newspaper’ are still felt today by Liverpudlians.
The IOPC, however, states that it did not find sufficient evidence, as required by its evidentiary standard, of a fully orchestrated cover-up. This is despite evidence of attempts to deflect responsibility from the police to those who were present at Hillsborough and losing family and friends in the process.
None of the 12 police officers mentioned will face disciplinary action, because all had retired before investigations were launched. At the time, regulations prevented disciplinary proceedings against retired officers. The law has now changed, but it cannot be applied retrospectively.
The IOPC says victims, families, and survivors were “repeatedly let down” across decades. Lawyers of Hillsborough families have said that although the recent report reveals more of the truth, there is still “bitter injustice”.
As the truth that the families and survivors always knew comes out, and the Hillsborough Law makes its way through the committee stage in parliament, there is still no real justice. And nor can real justice be truly won whilst the economic system which grants power to the super-rich and exploits the working class still exists.
The Hillsborough Law is a step forward, but it doesn’t prevent disasters from happening, and the capitalist state is still set up to protect its component parts as the police force have again walked away without consequence.
