& the news from the West Country includes …
A village shopkeeper claims she has been threatened with arrest after warning customers of approaching traffic officials. Alma Floyd, 60, started tipping shoppers off when "over-zealous" police community support officers (PCSOs) began a ticketing campaign on people parking outside her store. The family-run grocery has no car park but shoppers have used the pavement outside its door without incident for more than 60 years.
We all know that Police Community Support Offices aka plastic policemen are generally the sorts of 9 stone weaklings that got bullied a school. Given them some sort of uniform to compliment the bum fluff that a lot of them seem to wear as a badge of pride on their upper lips & before you know if you have a wannabe copper who at best could never pass the full police physical but is probably emotionally retarded to boot. Anyway, according to Mrs Floyd
... she was told by police that she risked arrest for her actions.
She said: "I rushed out to say, 'Don't book them, they're only here for a few minutes', but the over-zealous PCSOs wouldn't listen and it led to an argument. I'm not proud of my actions, but I found it extremely difficult not to raise my voice and I told them to bugger off.
"The following day a police sergeant appeared at the door and warned me that I could be arrested if I interfered with PCSOs in the line of duty. It's very upsetting,."
An Avon and Somerset police spokesman said: "We have been working with residents and traders in Cheddar to solve the problem of parking outside of the dairy involved.
"The owner of the diary has never been threatened with arrest. She was spoken to by the neighbourhood sergeant following verbal abuse which was given to a PCSO, but no further action was taken."
Just remember that the Avon & Somerset Constabulary was recently getting all angsty because it hadn’t met its diversity targets. Not its crime clear up rate, but diversity targets
The CRE let Avon and Somerset police force off the hook after another investigation found that the force had breached the Race Relations Act when it rejected 186 white applicants because its workforce was “over-represented by white men”.
That’s the measure of the quality of this particular organisation.
Frankly when I read this sort of article, I cant help but thank the dear Lord that I am currently over 8,000 miles from home because if it were down to me, I’d be agitating for the good residents of Cheddar to start building the barricades in the face of this nonsense.
Oh, & BTW, telling these numpties to “bugger off” is not “verbal abuse” it is a statement of what used to be known as common sense. If the police refuse to use some good grace & judgement when it comes to exercising their duties, then their mandate to exercise those same said duties should be immediately & irrevocably revoked i.e they should just bugger off so that they have more time to worry about things that they & they alone seem to think are important... such as diversity targets.
However, in Dorset, things are even worse …
A privacy watchdog is to investigate a council that used powers to spy on people, including a family suspected of lying about where they lived. A couple were monitored for nearly three weeks by Poole Borough Council to find out if they were really living in a school catchment area. Covert surveillance was also used to check for the illegal harvesting of cockles and clams by fishermen. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) said it has "concerns".
Concerns?? The Information Commissioner’s Office has concerns?? WTF is that supposed to mean?? When local councils start mounting surveillance operations the only concern of the Information Commissioner’s Office should be is that all of Poole Borough Councils offices have been collectively burnt to the ground by normally decent law abiding citizens & so-called surveillance officers heads are being proudly displayed on pointy sticks by the now smoking ruins of the town hall.
See, I told you that it is just as well that I am a long way from home at the moment
Comments
To paraphrase Adm. Chester Nimitz, "Common Sense is an Uncommon Virtue"
Posted by: LCpl Dan | May 31, 2008 9:51 PM
Now aren't you glad they don't carry firearms?
She told a cop to bugger off and he is howling about 'verbal abuse?'
Good grief.
I guess being exposed to the seamier side of life in Cheddar wasn't covered in his training course.
Posted by: Cricket | June 11, 2008 4:15 AM