A Policeman's lot

The BBC is not generally known for supporting a Conservative line. However, their website today refers to tonight’s Panorama programme about a blog written by a police officer here which shows just how right we are to keep reminding people about how our public services are being strangled by red tape and paperwork. The blog has been anonymous up to now and tells about an officer’s daily routine within the police force and how when the public think that the police solve burglaries, the public and are on patrol accosting thieves and people who are up to no good, what they actually do is “attempt to meet government statistics by solving trivial crime”. The key quote for me is that Stuart Davidson, the officer said “I was sometimes tempted not to make an arrest because processing it would mean so much time off the street.” I, for one, will be watching this evening.