Middle Class

Gorse Fox notes that Sir Ian Blair believes that Middle Classes look down on the Police Force. Gorse Fox has thought about this, and can speculate from his own position:

• GF is (at best) middle class
• GF has the utmost respect for individual policemen
• GF also has great respect for their authority and leadership during major crises
• GF thinks they have a very difficult job, but
• GF has a diminishing respect for the "Force"

Now what's behind this:

• The political posturing of the police hierarchy
• The apparent obsession with targets which seems to divert resources to "easy targets"
• The reliance on speed cameras for gathering fines without any significant traffic controls to monitor poor driving.
• The arrest of a walker for using a cycle path under the Prevention of Terrorism Act
• the stopping of 600 people in Brighton under the new terror laws
• The time delay in getting assistance when calling the police
• The prosecution of a woman for eating an apple while driving.

But more significantly the Police Force are the public face of Law and Order, and

• They are expected to enforce ridiculous laws
• There appears to be a bias towards the perpetrator not the victim
• The inability to get convictions because of trivial and inconsequential technicalities
• The apparent disconnection between the judiciary and real life
• The use of Human Rights legislation to avoid prosecution
• Trivial and vexatious prosecutions

and these latter items are NOT really the fault of the Police.

[File under: Police, Law & Order]