Long arm of the law is remote
I PREDICT that in years to come, the closure of local police stations will have an effect on law and order and respect for the law, which is equal to the effect that a failure to build sufficient housing stock has had on today’s housing market.
For the record, I do not blame the Metropolitan Police or any other Police force for these cuts, they are as much a victim as we are.
Even in the Wild West towns, there was always a Sheriff’s office.
Shops are closing down because of on-line shopping. Law and order may well close down because of on-line policing.
The local police stations are the showrooms of law and order, where anyone can walk in and chat to a friendly local bobby about any concerns they may have, indeed many a problem was solved in doing so before it got out of hand.
The utility companies used to have showrooms, where one could sit down to discuss any problem you had with them.
Now you have to phone up and speak to someone 5,000 miles away
and that’s if you succeed in getting through in the first place.
How long before the emergency services are forced to use these methods?
Press 1 if you want the Police, press 2 if you want the Fire Brigade etc.
Re: the Police, press 1 if you’ve been burgled, press 2 if your neighbour has been burgled, press 3 if you’ve been murdered etc.
Re: the Fire Brigade, press 1 if your house is on fire, press 2 if your neighbour’s house is on fire, press 3 if it’s a big fire, press 4 if it’s a small fire, press 5 etc.
Don’t forget to phone an ambulance if you are injured and if you think the fire was arson, hang up before we cut you off and report the matter to the Police.
This call has been sponsored by Grab All-You Can Claims and would you mind taking part in a short survey to help us improve our service? Press 1 if ..... etc.
P.S. If we are robbed or burgled etc we go th the Police and don’t take the law into our own hands. This is all part of a social contract. To close Police stations, is to break that contract and if that contract breaks down, then you get things like civil disobedience, people taking the law into their own hands, revenge attacks, people throwing bricks etc.
You can move a factory elsewhere and produce the same goods, but you cannot do that with law and order. David James Scanlon Address supplied