Surplus to requirements...

It was a warm, sunny day, and you were rolling around the floor in front of a betting shop. A stop and account had gone awfully wrong, and a male was in the process of being arrested for breach of bail. As you placed your knee in the centre of his back, a woman with a nose ring, and an ample midriff, shouted at you to stop hurting him, to stop being brutal.

About three weeks later, you attended a suspected assault, the same woman was now playing the role of injured party, and now wanted your help. She didn't remember you, but you remembered her.

People need the Police - They like the Police.

People don't need the Police - They hate the Police.

You would like to think that this kind of mentality, this kind of opinion only belongs in the lower areas of society, but it doesn't. It seems to be present amongst the educated, the 'examples'.

On Panorama last night, Hannah McClure said this:

'The first thing I remember seeing is, a man in full riot gear, pointing a Tazer gun, well it felt like it was at me.'

It was a planned arrest, of suspects wanted for serious offences of violent disorder, what did she expect? A Police Officer to arrive and offer them tea and cakes, whilst perhaps dressed in shorts and an anorak?

What people don't seem to understand is that the Police have a job to do, if searches are not carried out, if intelligence is not gathered, if strict rules are not enforced, if a line is not drawn, innocent people can get killed, this can happen:



'Our failures are known, our successes are not.'

Walter Burke, The Recruit.