The bleat goes on
Stone the crows, or shoot the gulls. Anthony Steen MP (up for reselection) is still bleating on about policing. Bobbies on the beat, his argument goes, cut down crime, like grafitti, or burning stuff in toilets.
A uniformed presence on the street, say the police, does indeed make people feel safer – but Bobbies (that’s police men and women to those of us who don’t hanker back to the hanging days of the ‘50s) are now rarely on the beat, which is why they are employing more community wardens. And these wardens, with their limited scope, won’t be taken off the streets for murder inquiries or, should the gulls decide to attack, terrorist activity.
So what are we left with? More cries for a police state, more cries for more policemen, more hand-wringing and more head-shaking that yoof crime can’t be contended with without the strong arm of the law, less CCTV, lower council tax and the end to rationing!
We at the People’s Republic abhor crime, not because it affects our property prices, or makes us scared to leave our second home unattended (yes the South Hams is third on the list of highest second home ownership – that must be where all the civic pride comes from) but because of the impact crime has on normal everyday, common or garden people like you and me, and the fear it generates in a community, which leads to alienation . . . do I really need to go on?
Well done community leaders.
Do you ever get the feeling you’re living in one of those Westerns where the sheep need to be driven off the land for the cattle farmers? We’re the sheep. They’ve already started by shooting the gulls, for goodness sake.
Posted by Cptn
If you liked this story, you could buy us a coffeeMay 19th, 2006
