With cops’ grab-bag

Punters reckon police warning is too much

T H E sk ies da rke n , a crackle of thunder rips through the Dundee air and punters are ready to believe it’s the end of the world.

A Police Scotland tweet about stuffing a Grab & Go bag to prepare for emergencies prompted more than a little alarm on Twitter.

The idea was to recommend that households are poised for unspecified catastrophes with September dubbed “preparedness month”.

But with no full explanation, added to the constant warnings of Brexit bringing down the country, a political coup and food and medicine shortages, it was looking like a Black September.

I was sent on the path to packing my emergency bag for a mission of survival.

But I have to confess that with no Boy Scout training, I was hopeless at trying to start a fire with kindling.

But I did pack food – well, a chunky chap has to eat.

The official advice is to squeeze a host of items into your rucksack and have it ready.

But the word “prepared” is, for some, too similar to the Preppers who head for the hills in the US with assault rifles, bottled water and enough cans of food to fill a small supermarket.

The Grab & Go bag is recommended to include: flashlight (torch), phone charger, battery bank, batteries, a wind-up radio, first aid kit, food and water, season clothing and, wait for it, an emergency plan.

I also asked people in the street what they thought and many were baffled while others were upset at what was perceived as scaremongering.

Student Ceidyn Berry, 25, from Dundee University, said: “I saw the tweet and I didn’t really know what it was about.

“I know some people who said they didn’t have a flashlight but had a torch, which was quite funny.

“But some people were taking it really seriously as if there was going to be a huge disaster. “I think the Grab & Go bag is an idea from a Canadian wildlife group and to do with camping overnight.

“But I won’t be packing one any time soon.”

Law students Sophie Reid and Emily Harley (left), both 20, echoed those thoughts. Emily pointed out: “I travel light and, to be honest, if I have my purse with keys, bottle of water and my phone which has a torch on it then I’m prepared. It seems a bit of a scare story.”

Sophie said: “It seems like scare tactics.

“I heard about the tweet and the grab bag with a radio and stuff, but I always have stuff with me.

“It did sound like it was an apocalpyse coming the way it was worded. But I am a prepared person anyway, so I don’t need to get a Grab & Go bag.”

Dundee student Shawna Milligan, 22, added: “I thought it was an interesting tweet!”