A proper copper says no to the knee
TODAY’S edition of Mind How You Go comes from Hampshire, where police arrested an army veteran for retweeting a photo of a swastika made out of gay pride flags.
A few weeks ago, in this column, I compared the triumphalist display of pride flags in London’s Regent Street to Berlin 1938. Maybe I’ll be getting my collar felt, too.
Policing the internet for ridiculous ‘ non- crime hate incidents’ has become an obsession with the Old
Bill, who have for years now put ‘celebrating diversity’ way ahead of actually nicking real villains.
At last, hope comes along in the shape of Stephen Watson, new chief constable of Manchester. After telling his officers to smarten up and attend all burglaries, he has condemned the pursuit of trivial non-crimes.
‘We’ve got ourselves involved in stuff which is just not a policing matter. We’ve wasted our time as a result and we’ve caused people to question, frankly, whether we know what we’re doing.’
Hallelujah. There speaks a proper, old-fashioned copper.
Watson also has no time for constantly genuflecting before anti-police groups such as Black Lives Matter. He takes the knee to no one except ‘the Queen, God and Mrs Watson . . . ’
But not necessarily, as Eric Morecambe might have observed, in that order.