Police Priorities

Back in August I posted about the bureaucratic nature of our police, linking to the estimable Inspector Gadget website, in which I said:

"How about getting rid of all that bureaucracy that seems to have 'invaded' the police and their procedures? How about actually listening to Inspector Gadget? How about dismissing all that 'Brass' at the top of the police organisation who know how to fill a form in and 'present' statistics - and installing some of those below who actually know how a police force should work"

I believe that, if asked, the public would complain about the manner in which our police fulfill their duties, the lack of a police presence when needed, and possibly their attitude when approached by a member of the public. But how many of the public are aware of the restrictions under which the police operate - restrictions caused by and as a direct result of the 'politically correct thinking' that is imposed on the lower ranks by senior officers? Human nature being what it is, it is just possible that those police officers who seem curt to the point of rudeness, disinterested in their job, slow to respond to 'emergencies', are in fact totally frustrated at the constraints under which they have to operate?

Nothing illustrates this more than the latest posting by Inspector Gadget and ask yourself this question: Having read the list of achievements that this officer's team had accomplished over the Bank Holiday weekend, to receive not one word of praise but only a 'rollicking' because some forms were not filled in correctly and 'on time'; what would your attitude be?

Mind you the good Inspector is probably expecting too much when he asks that a 'senior' police officer 'reads' and 'thinks'. To expect a 'senior' officer to read - fair comment, but think? Probably why the good Inspector is still an Inspector and has not attained membership of the senior ranks, where thinking would appear to be an attribute which is not needed.