Back in Suffolk in the 90s I used to rough shoot with a bloke who'd bagged several empty Halls to market and sell; this was before City, pop-star and footie player money moved out into the country, and though just about every village had its Hall house, an astonishing number were empty and unwanted. Anyway, point is this gave him many hundreds of acres of rough shooting whilst he was agent. One morning after shooting the grounds of Mockbeggars Hall we stopped at the village shop for a couple of ham rolls. The cottage next door to the shop had been bought by a county copper, who had an irrational dislike of anyone parking outside his house. Not a great deal of foresight in that mind. Sure enough, while we were in the shop he was out there examining the Landy for Road Traffic Act breaches. In the (locked) back were our guns. He was pumped like a toad when we came out
"Do you know how many times I've had to face someone holding a shotgun?" he demanded
"Never" replied my mate, a Countryside Alliance gun-rights star, with a hard light in his eye. He did actually know every single shotgun crime incident in the county for the past twenty years and was just waiting for the parking space bully to challenge him. The toad crumbled, mumbled a few words of advice about gun security and retreated into his cave.
Today of course, a selfie with the Landy in the background would be on Instagram within minutes. If there's one myth plod loves to perpetuate about the Job it's their contact with weapons. That and dead bodies. "Do you know how many bodies I've had to ...." must be the most popular opening police line in constraining human joy - and in most cases the answer will be, as it was with our plod, "None".
So when two junior officers were tasked with guarding a murder crime scene recently, neither could resist taking selfies with the dead and posting them to Whatsapp. How many more officers have done the same, and keep the pics on their phones, so if anyone challenges them with a "none" they can provide evidence that they have, in fact, seen a human dead body? Police are no more immune to the Instagram culture than any others of their age, background and education.
There is a serious question. Should we continue to allow police officers to go on duty with their mobiles? Or members of the armed forces, or the emergency services? Or should we just accept that these distasteful records are a part of modern human culture?
9 comments:
Maybe the chief constable should haul them into his office and bollock them for being stupid. Or bollock them for some obvious breach of GDPR / privacy / distasteful action - or whatever. On duty their phones are not required; they have bodycams, a radio that works pretty much anywhere for contact, so the smartphone should stay in their pockets until breaktime, whereupon they can phone the missus.
Choosing to take money for 'Enforcing The Rules' seems to me to include an obligation to 'Obey The Rules'. Anyone who cannot do the latter should not be allowed to do the former.
Let them have their mobiles for 2 reasons:
1) You won't stop them. Sad but almost certainly true.
2) There is a stronger defence for people capturing Police shenanigans on their mobiles.
The problem with the modern mobile is that it is just so much more than camera - it provides a backup to a failed radio, a gps positioner, map reader, aide memoire etc
Agree they should keep their phones. What should happen is a bit more training. This isn't the first time such an incident has occured. One other such wa swhen the officer watched porno on the victim's TV and charged it to the victim's credit card. simply a matter of the wrong people being officers of the law these days. Plus, the more ridiculous red tape, obstacles, loveyism and complete shit that are meant to abide by fewer and fewer of the right sort of people are even applying.
Needs a polling of several layers of PC (haha) wankers fast tracked in. needs phased and structured retraining of all officers. needs politicians to fuck off out of it. The public would be behind a police 'Force', they are not behind the 'service' we have.
btw, I have a direct personal connection to Kevin Hurley (he who fatso Bolton on Sky cut off from interview the second he mentioned BLM but luckily he got in a few good and true stats before that.
Kevin Hurley has penned an excellent piece in the Speccie - but I fear his quite reasonable views may be mis-represented by both the far left and far right. However, he's spot on in his view that non-graduates and ex-forces recruits can make excellent coppers, and that all the wrong offers are being promoted to senior ranks.
Yes, we really do need police reform.
Yes, Boys Days Out are great. Making bangs, coming home with jam jars full of frogspawn and stuff. You can't beat them.
....and that all the wrong off(ic)ers are being promoted to senior ranks.
Same as in every other aspect of business - more specifically GOVERNMENT initiated business. How often have you heard of the 'moron' being promoted because they speak the right language and lick the right arses?
I hope this isn't true but I think it probably is. So many of my colleagues want to share their whole lives on social media and I'm old school about this issue. I don't care what you had for breakfast and I certainly don't want to see pictures of it.
A few years back I policed a royal visit to my borough ( William and Kate) and we were told by the chief super not to take pictures of them or ask for selfies. Unbelievable that he had to mention this but a sign of the times.
Jaded
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