Anarchy has always appealed to me, says police chief

The London police commander who championed a liberal approach to cannabis possession has confessed that anarchism has always appealed to him.

The admission by Brian Paddick, Britain's highest-ranking openly gay police officer, was one of 25 frank contributions he has made this year on drugs and other policing issues to a discussion website.

Commander Paddick, 43, who is based in Lambeth, south London, describes his interests on the website as "police, gay issues, drugs". The www.urban75.com site is well known for discussions of direct action and anarchism.

Mr Paddick confirmed in an interview with yesterday's Big Issue that the comments that appeared under the moniker "Brian: The Commander" were his. In one of his postings he says: "The concept of anarchism has always appealed to me. The idea of the innate goodness of the individual that is corrupted by society or the system.

"It is a theoretical argument but I am not sure everyone would behave well if there were no laws and no system."

In a discussion about drugs, he says: "What do I really think ... we need to take the criminality out of it by legalisation and strict control.

"We need to educate people as to the effects drugs will have on them short term/long term and allow those old enough to make their own decision about what they do to their bodies."

He adds: "The bottom line is, screw the dealers, help the addicts."

In another posting, he says: "Do not treat all police officers as lapdogs of a corrupt capitalist system.

"Dogs sometimes turn on their owners."

He said he used the website to broaden his own understanding by speaking to people with differing views on policing. He told the Big Issue he became aware of the site when he learnt that racist and inflammatory remarks had been posted there by one of his own officers.

Mr Paddick said he only regretted one of his postings, a remark about Kylie Minogue which he said was "a bit shallow".

Mr Paddick, borough commander in Lambeth, has attracted huge publicity for his controversial stance on dealing with cannabis possession. Scotland Yard said last month that since the scheme started in July last year, 2,000 hours of police time had been saved.

The radically different approach, a trial project, is estimated to have avoided potential court costs running into hundreds of thousands of pounds.