NewsAugust 18, 2005 5:06 pm
There are no upsides to the London atrocities but the aftermath has shown at least one thing: we have lots and lots of police officers.
I took the tube last week and they’re everywhere, both around the stations, on the platforms and outside. So we do have them - plenty of them.
And while they’re around how many bag-snatchings, muggings, sexual assaults etc are likely to take place? Very few I believe.
So. We want all those police to stay in place permanently. We’ve always wanted more police and now we’ve got them. All that paperwork they’re now not doing because they’re on the beat - it obviously isn’t necessary so scrap it. We want the police.
Spook horse from barn, let horse bolt, lock door.
“Whatever it was, it’s over now. You can tell by the number of suspiciously innocent bystanders.”
- Cmdr Sam Vimes, Ankh-Morpork City Watch.
Comment by Dumb Brit — August 18, 2005 @ 11:53 pm
Gary,
Large numbers of police on the streets is certainly a change. But its rather expensive, and not altogether healthy. Reminds me of he 90s when every other shop was an estate agent.
Comment by DE — August 19, 2005 @ 12:39 am
What do you mean. Without the paper work, the criminal justice system will collapse.
You are forgetting that more police = Less Crime, which means less for the pen pushers to do.
Comment by EU Serf — August 19, 2005 @ 12:15 pm
In light of the current witch hunt & politically correct stop and search nonsense, i think the police should just give up and go home. Disband. Why should they bother? Outsource a few bods from the Brasilian police force to man the tubes and do a better job. Let ‘Liberty’ have a go.
Comment by AF — August 19, 2005 @ 1:52 pm
No doubt that more police = less crime. And I assume less hospitals, schools, roads etc., Unless the boys in blue would accept a pay reduction. I heard the figure of half a million a day being bandied around as the cost for the extra police manpower.
Comment by DE — August 19, 2005 @ 4:10 pm