Some very good news on the Conservative policy front
The Telegraph has some very cheering news on Tory policy development - they've /finally/ cottoned on to the idea of localism in policing:
"Communities unhappy with the priorities of chief officers will be able to withhold part of the budget and spend it on beat patrols of their own, or reopen mothballed police stations. The funding reform would be backed up by new political arrangements, such as directly elected police authorities or – the favoured option – an elected police commissioner".
Not before time, frankly. However, unless something can be done about the mountain of paperwork the plod have to deal with every time they question, caution or arrest, I can't see this making a huge difference.
The three national policing models I have some idea about our ours, the American and the French and I see a continuum from the military policing of the French, through the policing by consent model of the UK through to the localism of the US, and would very much like us to move towards the US model as a matter of urgency. Anyone who has watched a US police TV series will know that their cops are embedded in their communities to a far greater degree than they are here. Why all the jokes about doughnuts - because American cops eat in their local cafes etc rather than going back to the station's canteen. So why not do the same here? - it would keep a visible police presence for longer during the day.
I have found my exposure to the French (and presumably wider EU) model quite unnerving - their cops are housed in barracks in small towns, and are treated even by the respectable middle classes as being something akin to an occupying army. They certainly look like one, and based on tales I've heard, police men and women, their spouses and children are routinely shunned by the civilian population. My father died in a French hospital, and because this was in a departement other than the one where he had been resident, the Gendarmerie sent a uniformed, gun-toting officer to question my grieving mother while she was still at the hospital. Nice, huh?
The Telegraph has some very cheering news on Tory policy development - they've /finally/ cottoned on to the idea of localism in policing:
"Communities unhappy with the priorities of chief officers will be able to withhold part of the budget and spend it on beat patrols of their own, or reopen mothballed police stations. The funding reform would be backed up by new political arrangements, such as directly elected police authorities or – the favoured option – an elected police commissioner".
Not before time, frankly. However, unless something can be done about the mountain of paperwork the plod have to deal with every time they question, caution or arrest, I can't see this making a huge difference.
The three national policing models I have some idea about our ours, the American and the French and I see a continuum from the military policing of the French, through the policing by consent model of the UK through to the localism of the US, and would very much like us to move towards the US model as a matter of urgency. Anyone who has watched a US police TV series will know that their cops are embedded in their communities to a far greater degree than they are here. Why all the jokes about doughnuts - because American cops eat in their local cafes etc rather than going back to the station's canteen. So why not do the same here? - it would keep a visible police presence for longer during the day.
I have found my exposure to the French (and presumably wider EU) model quite unnerving - their cops are housed in barracks in small towns, and are treated even by the respectable middle classes as being something akin to an occupying army. They certainly look like one, and based on tales I've heard, police men and women, their spouses and children are routinely shunned by the civilian population. My father died in a French hospital, and because this was in a departement other than the one where he had been resident, the Gendarmerie sent a uniformed, gun-toting officer to question my grieving mother while she was still at the hospital. Nice, huh?
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Not all live in barracks, that tends to be CRS ans some GN units
You are correct in that their police are even worse than ours and that is saying something.
It is possible to have
Gendarmarie nationale
CRS
and mayoral police all patrolling the same streets and non of them knowing what the other is up to, same with investigations.
Here is a link to a nice video showing GIGN dogs in action, I want me one of them there dogs.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UZ_7CquNZ7U
OK, apart from barracks, there are also housing compounds where they cluster together.
The Armee Revolutionnaire Bretonne bombed the police station in my ex-wife's home village in '98. It made a dent in the security blinds....
So you married a Frenchie uh?
That's never a good idea, Australians are also worth giving a miss,I highly reccomend Irish Girls.
Your security shutter anecdote reminded me of something, how security conscious the French are, their houses are like fort knox, steel gates and steel shutters seem obligatory, maybe that is due to them having second/third homes and not being there all the time.
in my experience of tit balancing,French women are mad.
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