Just Open Another Box

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If ever I needed proof that the government have succeeded in hoodwinking the great British Public it was served up in abundance on last night’s BBC1. One Show.

Firstly we had Richard Garside from  The Centre for Crime and Justice Studies.  I assume that this is some kind of Think Tank that the government has commissioned to come up with crap ideas.  His astoundingly brilliant theory last night was that we actually have too many Police Officers and the Austerity cuts are to be seen as an ‘Opportunity’.

I was so busy spluttering over this contribution to the problem that I completely missed what Jabba the Hutt was saying afterwards.

Richard Garside’s contribution led to this exchange of Tweets later

 

Then we were treated to a series of street interviews with a random assortment from the Public at Large.  Some, surprisingly if you believe in stereotypes, bemoaned the shortage of Police Officers and were not comfortable with it.  These appeared to be given slightly more prominence by the BBC.  Star of the show was a delightful old lady, just like your favourite, slightly odd, aunt.  She was absolutely convinced that the Police were perfectly capable of dealing with any challenge or scenario that comes their way. She then came out with the quote of the night which seemed to set the tone for the entire piece.  If there were to be a major outbreak of rioting (for example) or any other similar problem that the Police actually struggled to deal with, then the Police would tell the government and they would be given more Police Officers, completely ignorant of the fact that a) Theresa May WON’T be giving us any more and will continue unchecked with her cuts, b) it takes time to recruit, select and train Police Officers and c) the current budgets and government policies will not sustain wholesale recruiting by the Police.

There are no boxes of Reserves that a Chief Officer can open and unleash on any given Policing problem. We cannot just open another box of Policemen.

The two presenters seemed quite comforted by the old lady’s contribution and studio guest Clive James, who I have always credited with more intelligence, did not seem to feel the need to contradict ‘old lady’.

So, there we have it, the government has succeeded in hoodwinking the Public, they are getting away with it. If only we could open another box of politicians and replace some of them.

BBC One Show item 2 June 2015

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5 thoughts on “Just Open Another Box”

  1. All this proves is that the governments brain-washing of the public is working. Read the Daily Mail every day-very sad I know-and the anti-police stories generate huge numbers of comments which mainly agree with the editor.

  2. Mr Garside was corrected and now acknowledges the reduction in Police numbers he anticipated (15000) would take the numbers down to those of 1979/80. Unlike him I was a Police Officer in central London at that time. 25 to 35 hours overtime a week was the norm. All the officers on my team with more than 5 years service were divorced or separated. Community relations in many places were a disaster. It is not a good aspiration to hanker back to those days. Believe it or not things are better now.

    1. retiredandangry

      I too remember the days of 100+ hours overtime every month plus compulsory Worked Rest Days. You are right when you refer to the high number of separations and divorces, and I’m quite sure that it is lower now. I remain to be convinced that everything is ‘better’ now though

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