British Police on Defensive Over Downing Street Clash LONDON - As an experienced politician, Andrew Mitchell might well have known it was a bad idea to swear at the police officers who had just ordered him to get off his bicycle outside the prime minister's office on Downing Street in September 2012. But 13 months later, the police, whose account of that now-infamous episode led Mr. Mitchell, a Conservative, to quit a cabinet post, are feeling the heat. The officers involved are waiting to hear if they will face prosecution following evidence that suggests their account of the altercation was inaccurate. On Wednesday a second group of officers, who a month after the Downing Street episode held a meeting with Mr. Mitchell that further inflamed the situation, were told by Prime Minister David Cameron that they owed Mr. Mitchell an apology for apparently misrepresenting his words. The episode threatens to diminish another British institution in the eyes of a public already angry over the behavior of bankers, journalists and politicians. Home Secretary Theresa May said Tuesday that public trust in the police was at risk and suggested that if the police could misrepresent their discussions after a meeting with a cabinet minister, no one was safe. If this has happened to a lawmaker or cabinet member, she said, many people will conclude, "What chance is there for a member of the public?" Mr. Mitchell's case has rarely been out of the headlines since Sept. 19, 2012, when the police refused to open the gates at 10 Downing Street, ordering him instead to get off his bicycle and walk through a smaller passageway. At the time, Mr. Mitchell was the chief whip, in charge of party discipline in Parliament. Mr. Mitchell admitted using profanities, and apologized, but what made the squabble combustible was the officers" assertion - which he disputed - that he had belittled them as "plebs," a contemptuous way of dismissing social underlings. That disputed word seemed to confirm perceptions that the Conservative-led government was run by a wealthy, expensively educated elite that was disdainful of ordinary people. But the police version of events started to look shaky in December, when video from a nearby security camera was broadcast on a Channel 4 news program, casting doubt on a claim in the police log that Mr. Mitchell's expletives had left bystanders visibly shocked. Instead, the video suggested that only the officers involved were within earshot. The Crown Prosecution Service is considering whether there are grounds for a case against the officers involved in the episode now known as "plebgate." A month afterward Mr. Mitchell met three representatives of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The representatives told reporters later that Mr. Mitchell had still not disclosed the precise words he said to the officers at the gate, but their version now appears to be contradicted by a recording made by Mr. Mitchell. An internal investigation into the meeting concluded there was no support for a misconduct case against the Police Federation representatives. But in a statement on Tuesday, Deborah Glass, the deputy chairwoman of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said, "The evidence indicates an issue of honesty and integrity, not merely naïve or poor professional judgment" on the part of those representatives. On Wednesday, Mr. Cameron weighed in, saying Mr. Mitchell was owed an apology and calling the Police Federation officers" conduct "not acceptable." All of which is good news for Mr. Mitchell, who could be making more trips through the gates of Downing Street. A colleague, Greg Clark, suggested Wednesday Mr. Mitchell be reinstated. "I think he should have his job back if he's exonerated," he told the BBC, "and I expect he will be."