philsmove wrote:The police don't just have a difficult job, they have an impossible job
...
They , like us, are human, they make mistakes
but they should not be used as scape goats:
Certainly not, and the police on the street mainly do a good job. But the police have to take some of the blame for the escalation of the situation. Why? When the UK UNCUT and student demos happened the police were shown on the news at standing by as "anarchists" destroyed windows etc.. despite outnumbering them. The vast majority of the protesters were peaceful. They have a serious PR issue if I, as an arguably sensible person, thought they seemed happy to allow criminality to happen on national tv. That'll add a few people to the roster of rioters - they'll think they'll get away with it. And it is very easy to use technology to keep informed of flashpoints.
Thats after the trouble has already started of course.
The initial trigger was a police shooting. There is an issue with the police being "PR negative" due to shooting inocent people after hunting them down (de menezies) and then rather than just holding their hands up to a truly awful mistake - attempting to defend it. Same with Tomlinson. A little more positive engaging with the public would be nice. But then again, perhaps our tabloid media does not always (ever?) have the PR of the police in mind.
I'm surprised it could be read otherwise. But I like Maxine so I'll not bear a grudge
