But what if you’re afraid of the police?
Mar.01, 2010 By: Davy in
Police, Quick posts, UK Politics
Gordon Brown tells police to keep officers on the beat:
Gordon Brown has urged police forces to keep officers on the beat in an effort to reduce the public’s “fear of crime”.
The PM said it was not “acceptable” to miss the Home Office target of having neighbourhood Pcs spend at least four fifths of their time on patrol.
This is all well and good, but what if it’s the police you’re afraid of?
Katabasis, who posts on our forums, has worked as a nightclub doorman on and off for over a decade. Now I’m a cynical guy when it comes to government and the police, but even I was shaken when I read this blog post from his website.
What exactly, may I ask, have the politicians got planned to stop that?
March 1st, 2010 at 8:21 pm
I can’t remember who said this first, but I thought it was a good way to tell if you’re living in a police state.
Imagine you’re driving down a road. It’s late so there’s not much traffic around. You’re not paying much attention to your speed, but you’re not in a hurry so you’re not driving particularly fast. You’re certainly not speeding; you’re just trying to get from point A to point B.
Now imagine a police car pulls out from an intersection and gets in right behind you. Are you happy to see it? Do you feel safer now with the knowledge that there are officers out on the beat ready to protect you? Or do you start to feel nervous and fidgety? Are you now apprehensively looking at your speedometer all the time, making sure you’re not ‘doing anything wrong’? Do you feel agitated because you fear they might pull you over for some unknown reason?
If it’s the latter, you’re living in a police state.
March 1st, 2010 at 9:11 pm
By that criteria, I can say with certainty: we’re living in a police state.
I get those feelings regardless of the time of day or where I am, by the way. I could be driving home from town at 2pm and I’d still get nervous feelings if I see rozzers in my rear view. Would be worse if nobody else was around though, of course.
March 9th, 2010 at 12:43 pm
[...] Jesus. Fucking. Wept, Labour, Plod — Al Jahom @ 12:43 pm … is the question posited by The UK Libertarian. Gordon Brown tells police to keep officers on the beat: Gordon Brown has urged police forces to [...]