What we need is PROPER coppers

November 20th, 2007 Written by Biz

This weekend, whilst enjoying a rare moment of repose on the sofa, circumstance had it that an episode of the ITV series Heartbeat appeared on the television; and having previously challenged a bottle of post dinner Pinot Grigio to a contest…and having lost, I sat back sleepily to enjoy the show. 

 

Watching this nostalgic vignette of times past, I couldn’t help but reflect that even right up to my own pre-teen years, this was a fairly accurate portrayal of how policemen and policing used to be; I also started wondering as to how things had got so bad now, that the opposite picture of the Police is now true. 

 

I didn’t have to ponder too long before the answer came to me; a single event heralded a decrease in respect for the police, a decrease in respect by the police for the public, an increase in crime with decreased detection rates of same and the ludicrous increase in CCTV in lieu of coppers; that event was the phasing out of the local bobby on the beat. 

 

Way back, EVERYONE knew their local bobby…I knew mine from when I was in Infants school until my early 20’s…what’s more the local bobby knew everyone too. Our bobby was PC Butcher, he walked the streets and toured the schools; there was no need of CCTV because miscreants were quietly reported to PC Butcher by some member of the community, he then gave them a swift slap in the head…problem sorted. 

 

The community naturally loved their beat bobby because he kept crime down, would use his discretion in all cases of minor infringements and the only thing that it cost the community (and all shopkeepers were glad to oblige), was a nice hot cup of tea when he stopped for a chat periodically as he paced his beat. 

 

There was one incident, however, that will stay with me forever and demonstrates the endearing fondness that people have for the old beat bobbies; it also proves their worth beyond doubt. It was 1980 and my quiet suburb of London was embroiled in full scale rioting; actually those were the days of quite a few riots in London. 

 

A large portion of the cause of these riots was a severe disrespect of the police engendered by the loss, many years previously of beat bobbies whose positions were filled by unknown transient stand-ins. Backing up these new type transient cops was the hated SPG or Special Patrol Group – a roving, London-wide band of thugs in uniforms, whose ‘pick up and question at a whim’ policies along with the gratuitous use of the hated ‘suss’ laws had ignited a tinderbox of mass discontent. 

 

Anyway, at the height of the riot, a shower of bricks, bottles, sticks and all manner of projectiles was being exchanged between the two groups of antagonists when suddenly, out of nowhere came the incongruous site of the now aged PC Butcher cycling along on his push bike back toward the relative safety of the police lines. I noticed casualties mounting on all sides, but amazingly noticed that no one raised a finger against PC Butcher; yes, everyone there despised the police, but this was PC Butcher…their copper, whom some had known since childhood…and no one was going to do him any harm! 

 

I think PC Butcher retired sometime afterwards; a man who engenders that kind of respect is certainly rare, but couldn’t we do with more of his kind? Instead of spending untold millions of pounds on CCTV and PCSO’s, wouldn’t it make more sense to just spend that money on more beat officers? After all it’s full time police officers on the ground, that prevent crime and catch wrongdoers isn’t it? 

 

It’s time that Governments realised that if they truly want to reduce crime and make this country a nice place to live in again, they should stop poncing about with useless, politically, correct initiatives and look to the models of the past for a proven way forward…but then again, if crime were sorted out and we didn’t feel frightened and under threat, we wouldn’t have to look to them and trust the ever more grandiose promises that keep them in office…and their snouts firmly in the trough. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Entry Filed under: Rants & Views