Good Policing

Having thrown some brickbats at the police I thought I had better praise them when due!  Last night I attended the local NAG (Neighbourhood Action Group) having been invited by their guest speaker, who I knew.  The police were represented at the meeting by PCSOs and there was a short presentation on Anti Social Behaviour in which a number of quotes were provided including this one:

The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress.

No, it isn't very current - it is attributed to Peter the Hermit in A.D. 1274, albeit on shaky grounds.

However, what impressed me was the way in which the police listened to the members and discussed the issues raised, explaining what they could and couldn't achieve.  There was also an emphasis on prevention from the use of temporary speed guns (not always ticketing those stopped), to cutting back the undergrowth so that pavements were wide enough for pedestrians when cars parked on them, to the desire to stop disaffected youth growing into criminals. 

In particular we were told about one PCSO who had been out to South America with a local charity to see the street kids there, and who had spoken with the local Chief of Police about community policing.  He was  going to return with some local youth to help build a house to take some of the street kids off the street.

If only some of the police in the other posts had behaved like this!