In the past few years, there have been grievous mishaps to the public image of our police. Recent weeks have brought two further setbacks.

First, came the case of a man who had died during a minor riot in the City of London during the G-20 summit. At first it was thought he had succumbed to a routine heart attack, but amateur film footage made public soon after the incident suggested a different version of events. It seemed to show him being struck from behind by a baton-wielding cop.

The man, who died a few minutes later, was behaving in a manner perhaps describable as drunken or idiotic or stroppy--but not seriously violent. The policeman was not only dressed in a heavy-duty crash helmet but also wore some cloth over his lower face, as though to disguise his identity.

Second, Britain's top anti-terrorism officer had to resign after blowing the lid off a secret operation. The Metropolitan Police's assistant commissioner, Bob Quick, was photographed outside the prime minister's house holding a document clearly marked "SECRET." This document was photographed by the press snappers who loiter outside 10 Downing Street most hours of every day. It was a moment to make a cartoon character slap his forehead and say, "Duh!" As a result of Quick's gormless mistake, a large police maneuver in the north of England was brought to light, possibly to its detriment.

The assistant commissioner's gaffe might have been excusable had he not been the same Bob Quick who just a few months ago ran an operation in which an Opposition parliamentarian was arrested under dismayingly political circumstances. Quick was described as being the "favorite policeman" of Britain's interior minister, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. He also, reportedly, erupted into a bilious temper about the Opposition Conservative party.