Raising awareness of Police Priorities
June 2000
Another initiative we are
in the process of formulating: a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of
police priorities.
In that context, we might say to residents of rural Norfolk -
and anywhere else for that matter - who are concerned about the low profile (to
understate the situation) of their police:
"Why don't you ask the National
Trust to take over your area, and then complain that there are nudists at the
bottom of your garden. You would then be inundated with more police than you can
shake a hairy stick at, and all the burglars would be scared off" Our
cartoonist Ricky has a word or several to say about that, introducing his not
altogether tongue-in-cheek comments with a merry musical jingle:
If you want to know the time - ask a policeman
If you want to find a policeman - go to Studland
During the winter, when there is probably no more than a handful of nudists
about, the police can be seen either spending an afternoon walking in the nudist
area of Studland or roaming around the tracks in their (sponsored) 4WD vehicle.
In the summer, even more regular visits are made when they take routine walks
along the dunes and paths on sunny days, patrolling at the behest of the
National Trust to ensure that nudists stay within the restricted area. From the
nonchalant manner in which they patrol it is obvious they have not been called
out specially because a crime has been committed, but only at Studland is crime
prevention taken seriously, so if that means patrolling, so be it.
It appears that more serious crime takes place on our streets every day than
ever does at Studland. This must be because of the regular presence of the
police on the beach. The public clearly feel confident about this, which is why
people flock to an already overcrowded Studland in the summer, because they feel
safer there than on the streets or at home.
If the same amount of police attention was given to our streets as we see at
Studland, would the crime figures be greatly reduced? The answer has to be
"no" -because of the usual "lack of resources" Studland
would be left exposed to a tidal wave of serious crime with drunken assaults,
criminal damage, theft, mugging and rape becoming endemic on the beach and
dunes, without the reassuringly constant and high profile police presence.
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