In the early days the police wore a servants jacket and a top hat. This was to signify that they were the servants of the people but also had authority over people breaking the law.
Oh how things have changed…
Over zealous policing is reported on at Samizdata and one of the commenters directs readers to this Telegraph article.
No law-abiding citizen should have anything to fear from the police. It is as simple as that. And yet as Labour has become more authoritarian the police have too; and this while riots and organised gangs have become less common.
While I’m writing about the police, I should also mention how poor I think Sir Ian Blair is. He is clearly in love with his own voice and is unable to keep out of the public eye. Does anyone remember Sir John Stevens, who was commissioner from 2000 to 2005, making such a public noise?
Policing should be simple:
- More police = less crime
- Fewer traffic police + more on the beat = less crime
- Concerning yourself with being politically correct = more crime
- Arming police officers = De Menezes
- Authoritarian Labour + police = Walter Wolfgang and Anne Evans
- ID Cards = Police State
Simplifying things? Maybe, but it’s late and I’m tired of Labour. Will the public please start voting on issues?
February 20th, 2006 at 4:07 pm
Can I add a few things.
More uneccassary laws = less time to protect us from serious crime
“The innocent have nothing to fear” = “if you’re innocent - prove it”
Centralising police = weaker community ties = more crime
and remove one:
Armed police can be a good thing when they are trained to use restraint. I don’t normally subscribe to conspiracy theories but I don’t think the people that shot De Menezes were police - more likely they were military or at the very least, some secretive Home Office unit.
February 20th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
As was mentioned on a TV program last night, Tony Blair said that the police should be given the powers they ask for. Surely it is for an elected government to decide what laws to impose, not the people paid to enforce those laws.
As an aside; I saw lots of people dealing herion today in Brighton. But not one policeman/woman.
February 20th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
I was told by a source in the MoD that they were involved. Conspiracy theory’s are not required. In fact the word “police” when used by the media can often mean many different things…
But I continue to assert that I would not want the police who so maltreated Walter Wolfgang and Anne Evans to be totting weapons more dangerous than a tazer.
February 20th, 2006 at 9:13 pm
Oh, and drug dealing in Brighton is not the police’s priority — not all the time someone’s driving slightly over 30mph on a road with railings and no pedestrians…
If I am elected as a Councillor in May I will make sure I understand just what exactly the police do… Everyone knows where and when the police should be… And the police, I guess, know how to keep themselves out of trouble (target easy targets).