Police must stop their inane selfies -- and start to nab villains

Wasn’t it the sort of picture to turn your stomach? Grinning alongside the multimillionaire ex-footballer Ian Wright, no fewer than six police officers posed for a selfie after his car was stolen.

the tV pundit raved about the boys in blue’s response. ‘Car got nicked tonight and got found by a tottenham fan policeman,’ he giggled online.

Yet less than a mile away, natalie neal called police when her car — along with jewellery and other valuables — was stolen. the response? she says they sent a forensics officer to take fingerprints but were ‘too short-staffed’ to send a detective.

‘Perhaps one of the six officers could stop posing for a pic and pop round to help a non-famous taxpaying victim?’ she observed tartly.

Doesn’t her all-too-familiar story say it all about our modern police? the sad truth is they no longer even bother to investigate burglaries for most ordinary folk.

the only time we seem to see them now is in the inane selfies they keep posting online. Last week, two Met officers snapped themselves larking around in a north London children’s playground. they wanted to be ‘visible in the community’, you see.

all well and good, were it not for the fact that days before a 20-yearold had been stabbed to death nearby, taking London’s death toll from stabbings and shootings to more than 50 this year.

Weeks earlier, two London officers even took a selfie at a murder scene, as if starring in a crime drama.

Yes, of course, there are a great many cops doing sterling work. a few days ago a friend found officers on her doorstep, asking for entry into her garden. they had been watching a known criminal a few houses away and were ready to pounce.

she couldn’t have been more excited. Because that’s what we love about our police — they’re there to look after us and, on the whole, are fearless. and they got their man.

But increasingly it no longer feels that way. and the nauseating Ian Wright picture only underlines that.

May I offer a suggestion to Cressida Dick, head of the Met? that she gets a grip on her gormless troops, imposes a selfie ban — and tells them if they can’t investigate crime, they could at least respect their uniform.