Police Powers

Hello All,

A belated entry today.. Having been pulled over by the Thames Valley Police! When I asked the reason... "because we are the police and we can!!!!". No good evening, no "Hello, please may I see your licence" - just Blue lights, sirens and extreme rudeness! And when I made a complaint - his Sergeant, felt that his officer had not done anything out of the ordinary! And I was wearing paramedic uniform!

I guess that the days of proper policing in the UK are long gone. Funnily enough, my last dealing with the police was in another town when my car has been broken into. The police gave me a report number and suggested that I contact my insurance company. They told me that crimes of this type "were not attended as a matter of policy"!!!??

I recall in the days when the ZRPolice resembled a force - this type of thing would never have been tolerated! And if one doesn't attend every scene of crime - how does one establish MO, how does one make a crime map? How does one prosecute an individual other than if he is caught by mistake?

Hmm. Does make one wonder - what actually constitutes a "police state"?

Clearly no comparison can be made between the Zimbabwe of today and the UK - particularly where policing is concerned, however, with the introduction of ever longer periods of detention without a warrant or court - how different is the UK? Could it be argued that it is slowly but surely heading in the same direction as Zimbabwe? Or does it merely mean that the UK are finding out what it is like to guard against terrorism - and how difficult it is to draw the line between using the powers legitimately or to be heavy handed! These are decisions that need to be taken carefully by officers on the ground - or the risk stands that they will creep further and further to the point where the lines become so blurred that it is easy for corrupt individuals within government to further subvert the law - until eventually we end up with Zimbabwe!

More tomorrow.